1969 theft of C-130
The 1969 theft of a C-130 from RAF Mildenhall happened on 23 May 1969.[1][2][3]
Background
Sergeant Paul Meyer was an aircraft mechanic in the United States Air Force.[2][1][3] At the age of 23 he was already a Vietnam veteran.[2][1][3] He had married earlier that year and was close to his wife and stepchildren.[2][1][3] He had suffered flashbacks and was homesick and unhappy.[2][1][3] He also was drinking heavily.[2][1][3]
A few days before the theft he'd requested to be transferred from Mildenhall to Langley Air Force Base but the request was turned down.[2][1][3]
Night of theft
On the night of 22 May 1969 he was at a military colleague's house party where he drank heavily and began to behave erratically and aggressively.[2] His friends tried to persuade him to go to bed but he escaped through a window.[2]
Shortly after, Suffolk Police found him on the A11 and he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.[2][1][3] He was escorted back to his barracks and told to sleep it off.[2][1][3]
Instead of obeying orders he assumed the alias "Captain Epstein", went to a hangar where a Lockheed C-130 HerculesE numbered 37789 was and ordered it to be prepared.[2][1][3] He had worked on it so knew the protocols to access it and had a working knowledge of how to fly it.[2][1][3] The stolen aircraft took off at 05:08.[3][4]
Call to wife
During the flight he was able to make a phone call to his then wife, Jane Meyer (now Mary Ann Jane Goodson) which lasted for more than an hour.[2] The last twenty minutes of their conversation was recorded.[3] At one point the voice of Colonel Kingery from Mildenhall interrupts.[3]
Around 06:55 radar contact was lost with Meyer's aircraft and an hour and forty-five minutes after take off the C-130 crashed into the English Channel.[1][3][2]
A few days later small parts the missing C-130, including a life raft, washed up near the Channel Island of Alderney.[2]
Accident report
The accident report records that only two aircraft were dispated to find Meyer, a C-130 from RAF Mildenhall and an F-100 from RAF Lakenheath.[3] Neither aircraft established visual or radio contact.[3]
Allegations C-130 was shot down
Peter Nash was a senior aircraftman at RAF Wattisham with 29 Squadron.[3] It was an airbase with a Quick Reaction Alert squadron.[3] According to Nash, he was involved with preparing three English Electric Lightnings.[3] Two of them took off, loaded with missiles.[3]
In his 2011 book Lightning Boys Rick Groombridge claims that an American exchange pilot took over his aircraft at Wattisham and returned to base minus one missile.[3] Groombridge declined to be interviewed by the BBC but stands by his story.[3] Nash disputes this account - he was chief armourer and his says both aircraft returned to base with all four missiles unused.[3]
Nash says that a few weeks after the event he went on a course and met another armourer from RAF Chivenor.[3] Nash says he was told that at least one Hawker Hunter was scrambled.[3] The other armourer also claimed that the pilot in question returned to base minus missiles, that the pilot was met by RAF police for a secret debrief along with his plane's camera gun.[3] Nash himself keeps an open mind but says it would be within the capabilities of the Hawker Hunter to have intercepted the missing aircraft.[3]
Rediscovery of wreck
The wreck was resdicovered in 2018.[1]
References
- Kirby, Emma (30 December 2018). "Found: The plane wreck that could solve a 50-year-old mystery". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- Kirby, Emma (18 April 2018). "The mystery of the homesick mechanic who stole a plane". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- "Was the newlywed mechanic who stole a plane shot down?". BBC News. 8 July 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- Winston, George. "He stole a C-130 in 1969, he & the plane have never been seen since, was Meyer shot down to keep him from risking lives on the ground". War History Online. Timera Media. Retrieved 13 June 2020.