ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 152845
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| Date: | Wednesday 11 September 1968 |
| Time: | 14:52 |
| Type: |  General Dynamics F-111B Aardvark |
| Owner/operator: | Hughes Aircraft Company |
| Registration: | 151971 |
| MSN: | A2-02 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 90 miles bearing 260 degrees from Pt. Mugu, California -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Culver City, CA |
BuAer No 151971 was the AWG-9/Phoenix Missile System development aircraft, operated by Hughes Aircraft. The original "Flight Data Summary" sheet for 151971 shows the ferry flight to Hughes Aircraft Corp in 3 legs, to Memphis, TN on 19 Feb 1967, continuing to Alburquerque, NM then to Edwards AFB on the same day. The final leg from Edwards to Culver City (HAC) was on 20 February 1967. Pilots were Norris and Young.
Crashed and destroyed off the Californian coast (20 miles NW of the San Miguel Islands) on 11 September 1968. Killed were Hughes Aircraft test pilot Barton Warren and Anthony Byland. Callsign Bartender 201. The accident occurred during test development of the AIM-54C missile. Prior to aircraft launch, an issue was identified by flight crew and engineers where the missile was "hanging up" on the missile mount. A sling was deployed under the aircraft to resolve and test the "fix" where with the aircraft being static (parked & missile dis-armed), jettison the missile from the aircraft landing into the "sling". Paul Alvich (my father, engineer & designer of the AIM-54 Wings/Control Surfaces) was sent to help resolve the issue when difficulties continued. After hours of work, he, the entire Hughes & flight crew were now confident they had resolved the issue and the missile repeatedly, successfully jettison from the air aircraft. The purpose of this flight was to evaluate radar and missile tracking of a manned F-4A Phantom, not to fire or jettison a missile. While in the Pacific Missile Range test area at 20,000 feet, the pilot, Warren W. Barton, reported a problem with three transmissions over the space of a few minutes: “I seem to have a hard right rudder and I can’t do anything about it.”, “We are going into a spin.”, and “We are going to ditch the airplane.” The F-4A target pilot saw a splash (“geyser”) on the water very shortly thereafter, with radar/telemetry indicating a final dive at a steep angle. There was at least one ejection in the last few seconds of flight but both Barton and the missile control crewman, Anthony Byland, were killed. Only a limited amount of debris floating on the surface was recoverable. The probable cause based on simulation and analysis was a disconnect or failure of the control linkage to the rudder actuator, which would cause a hard-over right rudder and a high yaw angle. The pilot was unable to regain control of the aircraft. USN deployed recovery operations but the bodies of Warren or Byland were not recovered.
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20170921070650/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/F_111/F-111.htm
http://www.aero-web.org/specs/genedyna/f-111b.htm
http://www.aviationatwar.com/photo-details.php?id=161
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/f111_4.html
Navy Safety Center (NAS Norfolk, Virginia) Investigation 11-69 dated 5 November 1968
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Jan-2013 12:44 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 11-Aug-2015 20:01 | TB | Updated [Location] |
| 13-Jan-2020 20:34 | Beechkid | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 29-Apr-2021 11:11 | Adell | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Operator] |
| 01-Nov-2023 07:12 | Tailspin | Updated [[Aircraft type, Location, Operator]] |
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