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| Date: | Wednesday 29 April 1970 |
| Time: | 14:30 |
| Type: |  McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II |
| Owner/operator: | United States Air Force - USAF |
| Registration: | 64-1011 |
| MSN: | 739 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Borghorst/Steinfurt -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
Assigned to USAFE, 10 TRW, 32 TRS
Lightning strike, crew safely abandoned the aircraft abpout 14 miles northwest of Münster. (1) Crashed "in der Borghorster Bauerschaft Dumte...gestern nachmittag".
Flying a low-level mission to photograph four targets. The Phantom descended to 1,000-to-1,500’ AGL towards their first target. An extensive cloud shelf was 1,000’ above them and a dark storm area at their 2 o’clock position. A violent explosion then shook the aircraft. There was an orange glow and flame aft of the cockpit and below the wings. The control stick began to drift aft and the pilot could not control pitch. The RF-4 entered the overhead clouds in a climbing attitude. It entered a steep climb followed by a rapid roll to the right.
The Navigator ejected at an estimated 2,500’ AGL. The pilot then initiated his own ejection. They saw a second flash and explosion through the clouds. They were picked up by German Police.
The RF-4 continued to fly for approximately 80 seconds in a descending right turn and impacted in a small, plowed field and penetrated soft claylike soil to a depth of 70 feet.
Cause was determined to be a severe and unexpected lightning strike which affected the flight control system. The lightning strike caused the separation of the nose radome, breakage of camera windows, and damage to the top of the vertical stabilizer. It also caused a fire below the rear cockpit (probably to the LOX converter).
Sources:
http://thephantomshrine.co.uk/Databases/f4-serials.txt
http://forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/
USAF Accident Report
(1) Borkener Zeitung 30 April 1970, p1
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Apr-2021 11:15 | ASN archive | Added |
| 11-Jun-2025 09:42 | ChrisB | Updated [Date, Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 25-Jul-2025 18:11 | TB | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 26-Jul-2025 06:46 | TB | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
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