ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 182798
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| Date: | Tuesday 20 April 1965 |
| Time: | 16:00 |
| Type: | McDonnell RF-101C-75-MC Voodoo |
| Owner/operator: | 20th TRSqn /66th TRWg USAF |
| Registration: | 56-0121 |
| MSN: | 367 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Sea, nr Radio London, Cark Sands, off Harwich, Essex, England, -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Laon-Athies Air Base, Laon, Aisne department, France |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
McDonnell RF-101C-75-MC Voodoo 56-0121, 20th TRS, 66th TRW, USAF: Written off (destroyed) 20 April 1965 when crashed into the Southern North Sea off Harwich, Essex. Pilot Lt J C Winn ejected and rescued from ship sent by Pirate vessel Radio London. This event is mentioned in ‘Pop Went the Pirates II’ by former DJ, Keith Skues. The Voodoo came down between the Radio Caroline and Radio London ships, into the southern North Sea narrowly missing their tender which then rescued the pilot who had cut himself loose from his parachute and being swept by a strong current.
Lt John C Wynn was taken to Radio London and given dry clothes before going to Harwich. Radio Caroline dedicated a song to the Lieutenant, ‘Voodoo Blues’. According to a contemporary newspaper report into the incident ("Daily Mirror" 21 April 1965):
'PIRATE DISC JOCKEY SAVES FLIER'
by Alan Gordon..
'An American jet-plane pilot parachuted into the sea 100 yards from the radio London "pirate" ship yesterday. And one of the ship's disc jockeys went into the water and fished him out. The pilot, 26-year-old Lieutenant John Winn, had been on a flight from a base near Paris, in his single-seat F.101 Voodoo jet.
His flight instruments went wrong. So Lieutenant Winn used his ejector-seat and parachute. He was seen by the crews of Radio London and the rival Radio Caroline, which are moored about a mile apart, four and a half miles from Harwich, Essex.
Radio London - the converted American Minesweeper Galaxy - was nearest. Disc Jockey Pete Brady, 23-year-old Canadian, is an expert swimmer. A launch which serves the two "pirates" took him out to the drifting airman. "The pilot was too numb and weak to climb into the boat." Brady told his Mayfair headquarters later. "I had to jump in and fish him out."
Brady added: "He had wrenched an arm, and lost his life-saving equipment. But he didn't appear badly hurt." Lieutenant Winn was landed at Harwich, and taken to hospital. An American Air Force spokesman said later:"We don't know what happened to his jet. We're still looking for it."
Radio London managing director Phil Birch said in London: 'This was a great scoop for us. We gave our listeners the news in a bulletin. It was a nice piece of work by Pete Brady." Rival Radio Caroline put out an eye-witness bulletin about the rescue too. But Caroline's managing director, Ronan O'Rahilly, said in London: "I heard the news over Radio London."
The report includes a black and white photo captioned 'Pilot Winn is helped ashore at Harwich' which shows Lieutenant Winn being assisted by a uniformed Policeman and another man. Possibly a crewman from the boat? There's also a photo of Disc Jockey Brady and the Radio London converted mine-sweeper. On arrival onshore at Harwich, an ambulance took Lt Winn to the USAF base at Bentwaters, Suffolk for a debriefing and further medical checks, followed by treatment for his injuries.
Additional: The following account is by an eyewitness, who participated in the rescue (see link #7):
"...Meanwhile overhead an American pilot was flying a Voodoo fighter aircraft. Based in France he was on a training mission when he was forced to eject at near supersonic speed. The ejection fractured his shoulder and damaged his knee. Dazed, light-headed and on the verge of losing consciousness, he guided his parachute towards the small ships he could see way down below him. The North Sea in April can be pretty inhospitable but, fortunately for First Lieutenant John C. Winn, the tender was in the right place at the right time. Radio London DJs Pete Brady and Dave Dennis were on their way back to the Galaxy. They saw the parachuting airman descend into the water. The tender changed course to pick him up. Some newspapers reported that Pete jumped into the sea to help him on board - which was not strictly true - but the two DJs did assist in getting him onto the tender. The exhausted pilot was then taken to the radio ship to dry off. He was given warm clothes and a drink. And, of course, the station did not hesitate in relaying full details of the drama to their listeners.
Having swapped crew at the Galaxy, the Offshore I then returned to the Mi Amigo. The Radio London DJs going on leave (Dave Cash, Kenny Everett and Earl Richmond) were joined by their Caroline counterparts (Garry Kemp, Doug Kerr and Keith Martin) and the tender headed back for land with the injured pilot.
An ambulance was waiting on the quayside and John Winn was rushed to the hospital at USAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, a very lucky man.
Radio London was not the only radio station to get in on the excitement that day. An air-sea rescue helicopter was launched to pick up the pilot and headed out to sea. Someone must have heard that he was on board a pirate station but got its name wrong because the helicopter landed a man on Radio City's fort. This caused some alarm to the occupants. Once everything had been explained though they too could not wait to inform their audience.
The rescue of the pilot received a lot of publicity on land, which was particularly helpful to Radio London which had only been on the air for a few months and only been broadcasting on full power for a matter of weeks. It seemed that, in a very short time, Radio London had already become an accepted part of the established media. It is thought that the author of the memo was John Dienn, alias DJ Earl Richmond, writing to his colleague Paul Kaye.
Following the rescue, Radio London received a letter of thanks from the Governor of Texas, John Winn's home state, and Programme Director Ben Toney was made an Admiral in the Texas navy!
A couple of years later John C recorded a message of thanks that was broadcast on Radio London".
John Charles Winn died on 4th August 1995, aged 57
Sources:
1. Hamburger Abendblatt 21 April 1965, p.1
2. https://fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=287&t=202268
3. http://www.offshoreradiomuseum.co.uk/page243.html
4. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1956.html
5. http://www.forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/F-101.html
6. Audio (Radio London News Report): http://www.offshoreradiomuseum.co.uk/Radio%20London%20News%20-%20pilot%20rescue.mp3
7. https://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/odds19.htm
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Radio_London
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laon-Athies_Air_Base#NATO_use
10. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13236050/john-charles-winn
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 26 September 1967 | 56-0286 | U.S. Air Force (USAF) | 1 | Groom Lake, NV |  |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Dec-2015 19:29 | TB | Added |
| 23-Aug-2022 20:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 23-Aug-2022 20:09 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 23-Aug-2022 20:11 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 23-Aug-2022 20:14 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 23-Aug-2022 20:17 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location] |
| 06-Sep-2022 17:56 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Location, Operator] |
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