ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 137885
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| Date: | Tuesday 30 October 1979 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  General Dynamics F-111E Aardvark |
| Owner/operator: | 79th TFSqn /20th TFWg USAF |
| Registration: | 68-0012 |
| MSN: | A1-181/E-22 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Harlton, 5 miles west of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Crashed and destroyed 30 October 1979 in a wood at Harlton, Cambrigeshire, (about five miles west of Cambridge). Escape module came down at Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, the rest of the aircraft crashed at Harlton. Pilot - Capt. Eugene S.Ogilvie - and WSO, Capt. Albert P. Manzo, ejected and survived.
I was the first Police officer on scene. It was as though a giant hand had pushed the aircraft into the soft ground. Only thin wisps of smoke were lazily curling out of the two exhausts. I had been to the 20th TFW by invitation a few years before so knew the tail code. I requested the D&D Cell or Upper Heyford be contacted in case it was carrying explosives. I can say the cockpit module came down in Barton, beside the A603 road, not Shelford. The Cambridge newspaper report was grossly inaccurate as I saw no fire damage of any sort. One local told me years later he had taken instruments out of the cockpit when he went to the plane, a fairy story as the cockpit came down miles away. Just illustrated to me how stupid people are at a crash site even when warned to get well away. They were warned over our tannoy to get away, but took no notice and me and my crew mate were not enough to round every one up. We backed off to the safe distance in case the fuel exploded. The aircraft was complete despite having spiralled from 24,000 feet.
I was sitting on my friends climbing-frame in the next village, Haslingfield, when the plane crashed causing a massive explosion lighting up the darkening sky. It felt like it was just beyond the rooftops but in actual fact was about 3 miles away. We drove to the scene immediately, following the fire in the sky. To describe the plane as intact with no sign of fire is ridiculous.
Sources:
http://www.f-111.net/t_no_E.htm
https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?97810-Info-sought-F-111-crash-nr-Cambridge-1979
http://htka.hu/static/cikkek/F-111/acftdata.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20170921070650/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/F_111/F-111.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Aug-2011 22:09 | Anon. | Added |
| 02-Feb-2013 17:09 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 10-May-2020 14:07 | Anon. | Updated [Country] |
| 11-Feb-2021 13:08 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 06-May-2021 08:41 | MiG21 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator] |
| 22-Jun-2023 17:23 | Anon. | Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Operator]] |
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