Date:	Monday 13 October 1986
Time:
Type:	McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II
Owner/operator:	USAF
Registration:	71-0258
MSN:	4265
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Osan AB, Bravo Diamaond -   South Korea
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RKSO
Destination airport:	RKSO

Narrative:
Crashed.


An eyewitness reported:
"I witnessed the F-4 returning north after making a simulated attack run during an exercise. I was watching the F-4 when I heard a loud bang and observed debris and fire coming from the main fuselage. The aircraft pitched left and started falling from the sky over Gemini Row. Myself and several other airmen were checking aircraft equipment for chemical/physical damage. The aircraft slammed onto the concrete right in front of me, and bounced over the hanger behind me, clipping the top of it. I lost site of the aircraft at this point, but heard a loud explosion shortly after. When I looked around the corner of the hanger, I saw one engine stuck in the hanger where an F-15 was fueled and running and the other engine was on the ground against a aircraft revetment with aircraft pieces everywhere.
I witnessed a good portion of this accident from the Hydraulic shop which was located approximately sixty yard from where the aircraft came to rest. Aircraft first hit the ground approximately one hundred yards from where the aircraft came to rest, which was out of my site.
Aircraft was upside down and skid along the ground; during the skid, the aircraft missed hitting two buildings (Hydraulic shop and another building) by approximately twenty-five feet. During the skid, the windscreen detached from the aircraft and stuck in the ground approximately sixty yards from where the aircraft came to rest, approximately twenty-five feet from the side entrance of the hydraulic shop. It was at this point that the aircraft came into view, it slid across the road in front of the hydraulic shop missing the building on the other side of the road. Aircraft hit the first revetment of a set of three revetments (aircraft enclosed parking stalls) and came to rest on the revetment. it was at that point that the aircraft exploded sending debris in all directions.
Later, the Commander allowed us to listen to the transmissions between tower and pilots. They were ordered to "Eject" but they refused to attempt a controlled crash landing. This was to prevent crashing into the "Charlie" Diamond" which would have set off massive explosions killing hundreds of service members and civilians. Also to prevent the aircraft from crashing into the outside village killing hundreds to thousands of civilians.
These two Lieutenant's are "Heroes" and need to be recognized as such."

Another wintess recalled:
"I was also there.....deployed from Clark AB Philippines, working out of the revetment right across the taxiway....I watched the jet fly over, making bad sounds. I commented to my buddy that it was going to crash....he said no, it's just part of the exercise (Operational Readiness Inspection or ORI)....I said no, that thing is falling out of the sky sideways (pilot was in a hard bank). I watched it come straight towards us. It hit the ground about 30 yards in front of me, and ricocheted into the side of the revetment and exploded. We were all on the ground, covering our heads as pieces of the plane on fire rained down around us. Later had to support the accident site with Light carts and moved freely inside the tape....saw things I wish I hadn't....I felt lucky to be alive, pilot was trying to put the plane over the airfield so he could punch out.....never made it...returned to Osan 20 yrs later and could still see the scar on the revetment where it impacted....."

This is only partially correct. I was the flight commander who scheduled Lt Boles and Lt Segura for a TEREC mission. Our policy was that after takeoff the WSO would call in with their takeoff time. On this flight they had intercom failure and couldn't talk to each other. Lt Boles made the takeoff call and let us know. We advised him to go out and burn off fuel and then come back and land. He did so but because they couldn't communicate, they didn't accomplish the portion of the arrival checklist where the WSO looks at the wing tabs (pilot can't see them). If they aren't even it would imply a fuel imbalance. Lt Boles never knew he had an imbalance. He entered a tactical initial at 400K and did his break turn to slow for gear extension. However, due to the imbalance, the aircraft went out of control and lost several hundred feet. Boles initially rolled out and tower asked if they were experiencing difficulties. The last radio transmission from Boles was that they were experiencing difficulties. He rolled back into the bank and pulled, again causing the aircraft to go out of control. This time they didn't have enough time to recover. They may have decided not not eject because of the attitude of the aircraft. We will never know. There was an attempt to eject at the last minute, but it was too late. May they rest in peace.

Flight International 16 May 1987
http://thephantomshrine.co.uk/Databases/f4-serials.txt
Airman McCoy, 3 TFW Phase Dock, Clark AB, Philippines (TDY to Osan ROK for exercise)

I was the flight commander in charge of the RF-4C aircraft and crews deployed from Kadena for the exercise.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2009 11:55	ASN archive	Added
18-Nov-2011 09:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration, Cn, Source, ]
08-Jan-2015 07:56	Mac	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
15-Dec-2015 16:22	reeves	Updated [Operator, Narrative, ]
23-Feb-2017 07:40	Pacman	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, ]
11-May-2018 17:52	PTSD Victum	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Narrative, ]
11-May-2018 17:55	harro	Updated [Operator, Narrative, ]
03-Jun-2018 07:25	Anon.	Updated [Narrative, ]
02-Apr-2025 12:07	rstev1955	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]