28th December 1971

VV HL890 45n 20w 1015 F200 40n 23w 1137

U S Navy EC-130G TACAMO II/III, 151890

This aircraft was soon to be written-off, on 15th January 1972, with no fatalities near Patuxent River NAS, MD. The Hercules had flown for over three months with a maintenance discrepancy on the number one fuel tank quantity indicator. Before the mishap flight, another attempt was made to repair the solder connections in the cannon plug. Maintenance personnel were unable to satisfactorily complete the repair in the time available before that days flight. They hurriedly reassembled the cannon plug and verbally warned the oncoming flight engineer to leave the number one fuel tank quantity indicator system circuit breaker out to prevent the indicator motor from running and ruining the internal clutch. The aircraft then flew four flights prior to the accident. The verbal warning was passed between flight engineers, except on the fourth flight. While conducting preflight procedures the fourth flight engineer noticed the circuit breaker to be out and reset it. The circuit breaker popped within seconds and was then left out for the flight back to home field. The circuit breaker was reset by an unknown person between the time the aircraft landed and the preflight the next day by the mishap crew. Shortly after takeoff from Patuxent River-NAS, MD (NHK), while climbing through 7500 feet, an explosion occurred in the outboard part of the left wing. A fire erupted. The nr.1 engine was shut down and the extinguisher bottles fired. The crew was unable to control the fire. Control difficulties forced the pilot to carry out a forced landing. An emergency descent was flown at a speed of 270 kts IAS and a forced landing was made in a corn field. After tho aircraft came to rest, the fire burned for 36 minutes. The fire continued burning aft and inboard before it was extinguished by a local volunteer fire department. [Credit: Flight Safety Foundation]

USM 40498 49n 08w 1127 F220 48n 10w 1148

[Photo: at AMARG © Philip Kovaric]

USAF C-130E with 779TAS, 64-0498

It ended its days in the AMARG, AZ in December 2006, where it was allocated an inventory code of CF0243

27th December 1971

KING 81 departed Keflavik 1130 61n 13w 1248 F170 60n 10w 1310 ETA EGVG/RAF Woodbridge 1519. Recleared F175 and call Scottish Radar on 124.5 VHF.

USAF HC-130 returning from an Icelandic deployment; copied via Croughton Airways on 6731

KING 86 departed Woodbridge 1106 60n 10w 1327 F200 61n 13w 1350 ETA Keflavik 1500

USAF HC-130 replacing above KING 81 flight

17th December 1971

VV 50521 departed RAF St. Mawgan 1220 F035 VMC requesting F220, finished exercise at 53.50n 11.28w 1555 52n 15w 1620 ETA Lajes 1915, routing via 52/15, 50/17, 45/22, 40/25, ALPHA to LPLA/Lajes. Departed F035 for F220 at 1605.

U S Navy P-3A, 150521 with VP-8 Squadron.
Aircraft later converted to an EP-3A, RP-3A and then NP-3D

11th December 1971

N500J passing the UIR at 1009 AB/Akraberg 1038 F390 62n 10w 1054 GOLF 1132 destination Keflavik 1158

Johnson & Johnson Inc., Grumman G-1159 Gulfstream 2, N500J
This aircraft was later written off on 26th September 1976 whilst on approach to Hot Springs, Ingalls Field, VA, USA with the loss of all occupants (3 crew and 8 passengers). The Gulfstream descended below decision height and impacted terrain 500' below the runway elevation; the weather was very poor in fog.

16th December 1971

N2601 50.43n 48.25w 2131 F430 50n 50w 2143 outside temp' -60C, wind 280/75

[Photo: © Paul Keogh]

Mobil Oil Grumman G-1159 Gulfstream II, N2601, copied via Gander on 5610.

9th December 1971

LZ-BET 53n 20w 2016 F250 (Ocean Station 'J' asked to keep their beacon on from 1900/2130 for this flight)

[Photo: landing at London, Heathrow 15th February 1978 © Chris Chennell]

Balkan Airlines Il-18, LZ-BET
This aircraft was withdrawn from use at Sofia in the early 1990's.

VV 41325 71n 00 1900 operating between 1,000' and 1,500' 03w 2310 destination Keflavik

[Photo: at Keflavik (Note the HC-97's in the background) © Porir Magnusson]

U S Navy EC-121K, 141325/JB-325 "The Artic Fox" VXN-8 Squadron
This aircraft was operating under 'Project Birdseye' in the North Atlantic, to provide accurate polar ice and environmental data in the Artic, hence it's name. It ended its days at the AMARC, AZ in October 1973 where it was assigned an inventory code of '5C093'.