Abingdon 1988 BoB at Home Day

[capercaillie]

What would have been an awesome static park for the enthusiasts was sadly unavailable after the RAF Phantom display crew lost their lives on the Friday while practising their routine. I'd not long left the base when that happened and not really thinking about why the noise had gone or even why there was now a large fire nearby as we drove back past the base, the news on the TV when we got home confirmed the worst.
Weather on the Saturday would have been rainy and grey, but the Friday was bright but very breezy seemingly contributing to the accident.

Our friend Tiang Shia, had managed to wangle us onto the base on Friday afternoon to help set up his stall, and sneak around the static aircraft parked up at that point which included eight US Navy aircraft off the USS Theodore Roosevelt, with eight different squadrons present, my first US Navy carrier aircraft, very exciting for a then 17 year old as you can imagine! I've retweaked these and I'm slightly happier with the results, scanning negative film is often difficult to get the balance right. Hope they are of interest.
F-14A Tomcat 162689/AJ101 VF-41 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F-14A Tomcat 161134/AJ211 VF-84 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F/A-18A Hornet 163124/AJ302 VFA-15 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F/A-18A Hornet 163099/AJ406 VFA-87 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

A-6E Intruder 157006/AJ503 VA-35 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

A-6E Intruder 155632/AJ531 VA-36 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

EA-6B Prowler 163034/AJ623 VAQ-141 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

The Viking upon arrival had overrun the runway and ended up through the fence on the airfield perimeter, so had to be towed back to the static with a piece of gaffer tape stuck over a puncture wound just behind the nosecone.
S-3A Viking 160147/AJ710 VS-24 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

EA-6B Prowler 163034/AJ623 VAQ-141 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

A-6E Intruder 155632/AJ531 VA-36 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

A-6E Intruder 157006/AJ503 VA-35 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F-14A Tomcat 161134/AJ211 VF-84 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F-14A Tomcat 162689/AJ101 VF-41 US Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Downes, on Flickr

A couple of other visitors
Harrier T4 XZ146/W 233 OCU RAF Wittering by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Jaguar T2 ZB615 RAE Farnborough by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Dakota C3 ZA947 RAE Farnborough by Paul Downes, on Flickr

[JMC]

Lovely!

[binbrook87]

I was due to go to that show too and remember hearing the terrible news the night before. What a cracking show it would have been though. RIP the Phantom crew

[GeeRam]

I was due to go to that show too and remember hearing the terrible news the night before. What a cracking show it would have been though. RIP the Phantom crew

Likewise.

I can still remember their aero's display at West Malling a few weeks earlier at Great Warbirds, and it was the 'sportiest' F-4 aero's display I'd ever seen a Phantom do at an airshow. Sad that it all ended a month later in such a tragic way at Abingdon.

Some might not know that the F-4 pilot, Chris Lackman, was Vulcan XM597 co-pilot for Black Buck Shrike missions 4, 5 & 6 during the Falklands War. BB6 being the emergency diversion to Rio after the failure of the refuelling probe on the return leg to Ascension.

[Thunder City Veteran]

I was on 216 squadron at Brize Norton, and the Phantom crew dropped in on us that morning for fuel.
I remember taking the guys into our tea bar and getting them a coffee. News came back to us later that day that they didn’t survive an accident at Abingdon. Very sad time.

[Blackbird]

Great set Paul, but a tragic "back story".

[binbrook87]

I was due to go to that show too and remember hearing the terrible news the night before. What a cracking show it would have been though. RIP the Phantom crew

Likewise.

I can still remember their aero's display at West Malling a few weeks earlier at Great Warbirds, and it was the 'sportiest' F-4 aero's display I'd ever seen a Phantom do at an airshow. Sad that it all ended a month later in such a tragic way at Abingdon.

Some might not know that the F-4 pilot, Chris Lackman, was Vulcan XM597 co-pilot for Black Buck Shrike missions 4, 5 & 6 during the Falklands War. BB6 being the emergency diversion to Rio after the failure of the refuelling probe on the return leg to Ascension.

I didn't know that! What an extraordinary career

[Unknown74]

I must say that when I heard about this accident and after being at Leuchars around that time it made me very sad when I found out.

[Wrexham Mackem]

Ah it was such a shame. Great to see these pics, I've never actually seen images of the USN stuff that was there.

Just out of interest/tribute, here are some old scans of the Phantom display and crew taken the week before at Finningley

[capercaillie]

Cheers Nige.

Another shot below on arrival at Finningley, not sure if display or spare crew. They seemed to use different aircraft throughout the season which was fairly common back then with the Phantoms and Buccaneers. XV428/CC was the aircraft that was involved in the tragedy and had fairly recently been put into a special colour scheme which was also quite unusual among the RAF front line at the time.

Phantom FGR2 XV499/CF 64 Squadron/228 OCU RAF Leuchars by Paul Downes, on Flickr

[woody]

Not a day I will forget.
I was the tower assistant on that day. It had already been an interesting day earlier with the incident with the Viking. The runway in use was runway 18 due to a brisk southerly wind. The Phantom was displaying on the 08 runway axis as that would have been the display line on Saturday. When the accident happened, i was looking down towards the desk as co-ordinating a departure of the aircraft with Brize (depending on type of departure and direction we had to co-ordinate with either Brize or Benson).

I remember watching the aircraft enter the loop, nothing obvious untoward. It was only when the aircraft was about to impact that I glanced and saw the aircraft in a nose up attitude close to the ground. The subsequent explosion was the reality of the event. It is at that time that the adrenaline flows and you do the job you are trained.

One thing that stays in the back of my mind was hearing the reactions of the crash crews and medics over the radio with their updates. It was clearly harrowing.

It was only that evening that the impact of the event starts to hit home.
One of my colleagues who I was training at the time was really impacted.

On the Friday evening was stood down until Saturday morning. I did get a knock on the door in my room at night by a Sgt who was having to arrange crash guard shifts. I politely told him I was on order to sleep so as to be available the following day as needed for work.
His reply was 'what work - no airshow'. As it happened we had a number of 32 Sqn helis bringing in the early BOI and RAF personnel.

After every BOB airshow at Abingdon we also held a party on the Saturday night to allow everyone to unwind. I was one of the resident DJs in the NAAFI club and it was decided that this should go ahead to allow the unwind. I dread to0 think how much alcohol was consumed, and we were treated to a great live performance by Edwin Starr.

Another hard-hitting moment was in the following few days when the coffins of the the crew were collected (VC10?) and flown back to Leachars.

Steve

[iainpeden]

Cheers Nige.

Another shot below on arrival at Finningley, not sure if display or spare crew. They seemed to use different aircraft throughout the season which was fairly common back then with the Phantoms and Buccaneers. XV428/CC was the aircraft that was involved in the tragedy and had fairly recently been put into a special colour scheme which was also quite unusual among the RAF front line at the time.

Phantom FGR2 XV499/CF 64 Squadron/228 OCU RAF Leuchars by PaulDownes, on Flickr

Early in the season XV428 had been put into a special scheme but at the time of the crash the markings had been removed.

[capercaillie]

Early in the season XV428 had been put into a special scheme but at the time of the crash the markings had been removed.

Cheers for the correction. The Phantom arrived into the overhead as we were leaving the gates that day, our last sighting unfortunately.

[ThreeM]

I was watching the Phantom from the first floor stairwell of a nearby office block. Went back into the office to get the phone and felt the impact resonate through the structure of the building, fortunately I didn't witness it. Many years later Flt Lt Lackman's son started working for the same company.

[NigeF-51]

I was ground crew for the 56 Sqn Toom on static and stood talking to the crew of the Viking when the accident happened. On the Monday after, we had to put hydraulics onto our jet for the Investigators to do control operations for the inquiry.

[st24]

Great stuff sir!!
That really was quite the day, I shared these shots of the Viking being towed back with additional "panel lines" with one of the crew recently, he was amazed anyone had pics of it! That's him walking alongside, he did also mention chatting with RAF guys when the Phantom hit...
Re the display Phantom, XV428, the special marks only lasted a couple of weeks and the only show to be graced by it in the scheme was Wethersfield. Top brass disapproved and the jet was returned to standard scheme, albeit a bit cleaner, in short order!

Abingdon 88 S3 by Geoff Stockle, on Flickr

Abingdon 88 S3 2 by Geoff Stockle, on Flickr

Sorry to jump on your thread captain but here is a link to Lackman's display at West Malling, an incredibly tight display. Many official voices did raise concern about his handling of the jet during the season and his very low pull out from the ill-fated loop maneuver at Finningley the week before. He also unusually displayed the Phantom completely clean, they usually retained the inner wing pylons and the 2 forward dummy Sparrow/Skyflash.

[capercaillie]

No worries mate. I remember we got admonished for trying to go and have another look as they were bringing the Viking back to the static park!

[st24]

No worries mate. I remember we got admonished for trying to go and have another look as they were bringing the Viking back to the static park!

Weirdly I have no shots of it in the static, just these 2, got everything else though.