{"id":3221,"date":"2018-03-16T22:59:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T03:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2021-05-31T13:42:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T18:42:15","slug":"the-thunderhawk-crash-of-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/the-thunderhawk-crash-of-1987\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thunderhawk Crash of 1987"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Thunderhawk crash of 1987.\u00a0 This Friday marks 31 years ago since I lost seven fellow crewmembers to a KC-135 accident.\u00a0 The exact date was Friday, March 13, 1987.\u00a0 Yes it was Friday the 13th<\/sup>, but that had little to do with the accident.<\/p>\n

The Context<\/h3>\n

I had been stationed at Fairchild AFB in Spokane Washington for almost a year.\u00a0 Fairchild was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base.\u00a0 Therefore the main mission was nuclear deterrence.\u00a0 Four to five, maybe six B-52s sat day after day loaded with fuel and nuclear weapons.\u00a0 Close by 6-10 KC-135s sat ready to takeoff and refuel those B-52s.\u00a0 Crews lived in nearby barracks, poised to drive to the airplanes, start, taxi and takeoff within about ten minutes in case the Russians attacked.<\/p>\n

The Leader & The Idea<\/h3>\n
<\/figure>\n

SAC had a commander named General John (Jack) Chain.\u00a0 Chain had come out of the fighter world and desired to spice up the (perceived to be) dull Strategic Air Command.\u00a0 Chain\u2019s brainchild was the Thunderhawks. They would be an aerial demonstration team of a KC-135 and a B-52.\u00a0 It was conceived in the spirit of the Thunderbirds the Tactical Air Command\u2019s (TAC) fighter demonstration team.<\/p>\n

The team had been formed at Fairchild several months before.\u00a0 As a reader recalled, Fairchild was selected due to its phenomenal Bomb Comp performance the previous year, when it swept every event.\u00a0 Most at the base considered it a compliment, but some considered it a risk.\u00a0 The latter were correct.<\/p>\n

Chain and others at SAC wanted the KC-135 and B-52 to be seen \u201ctop to bottom\u201d.\u00a0 Previously a KC-135 might fly by an airshow at 500 feet above the ground with the boom down.\u00a0 A B-52 would fly by at 500 feet with the bomb bay doors open.\u00a0 That was it.\u00a0 Chain wanting \u201cyanking and banking\u201d and for the crowd to see the top as well as the bottom of the airplane.<\/p>\n

Those Not There<\/h3>\n

I was a young copilot. There was little chance I would be selected for the missions.\u00a0 They mostly had seasoned instructor pilots\u00a0 who had 10+ years in the aircraft, minimum.\u00a0 I watched a few of the demonstration practices and they were impressive.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

On Wednesday, March 11, I got off of nuclear alert duty.\u00a0 I had until Sunday off for what was termed C2 (Combat Crew Rest and Relaxation).\u00a0 In other words, I did not have to come back to the base until Monday.<\/p>\n

Ron Collins got a call that the team was to practice on Friday.\u00a0 He planned to go in, despite the fact that he was also on C2.\u00a0 His wife “through a fit” about it (he had been gone for a week on alert duty) so he stayed home.<\/p>\n

The Accident<\/h3>\n

At the base six crewmembers got on board.\u00a0 One boom operator, two navigators and three pilots.\u00a0 The pilots would take turns flying.\u00a0 After takeoff from Runway 23 behind a B-52 the KC-135 pulled up and banked at nearly a ninety degree angle (30 was usually the maximum) the plane then nosed over and began heading towards the ground in a dive.\u00a0 A radio call was heard to the effect of we can\u2019t go there, we\u2019ll hit the BX.<\/p>\n

Mark Gregg was standing at the back of a Squadron Safety meeting.\u00a0 He turned his head and glanced out the glass window of a door just in time to see the KC-135 crash in a field between the Base Operations \/ Control Tower complex, The BX and the squadron he was standing in.<\/p>\n

As the plane was about to hit the field it crossed a road with a car sitting there.\u00a0 Standing next to the car was Paul, a boom operator who was scheduled to fly on that KC-135 that day, but cancelled because he was sick.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Aerial views of Fairchild.\u00a0 The plane crashed in the field below the dark rectangle terrain in the black and white photo<\/em><\/p>\n

All crewmembers aboard perished, as did Paul Hamilton on the ground.<\/p>\n

The accident report<\/a> was released later.\u00a0 The cause of the crash was identified as a stall caused by an overly steep bank caused by hitting the wake turbulence of the B-52.<\/p>\n

The Fallen<\/h3>\n

It was the first time I had lost a fellow crewmember in my unit to a plane accident.\u00a0 I knew all of the crewmembers and had flown with a few of them.\u00a0 I knew Jim Litzinger the best.\u00a0 He was an instructor navigator who decided to hop onto the flight at the last minute.\u00a0 A monument now stands the Air Park at Fairchild, listing the crewmembers:<\/p>\n

Michael Cornett\u00a0 Pilot<\/p>\n

Frank Johnson Pilot<\/p>\n

Chris Chapman Pilot<\/p>\n

Jim Litzinger Nav<\/p>\n

Mark Myers Nav<\/p>\n

Rodney Erks Boom<\/p>\n

Paul Hamilton Boom (on the ground)<\/p>\n

Click Here<\/strong>: To View the Memorial Marker at Fairchild and Get Further Information<\/a><\/p>\n

For other reading visit these links:<\/em><\/p>\n

History Link<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Times article<\/a><\/p>\n

UPI article<\/a><\/p>\n

Second UPI article<\/a><\/p>\n

GenDisasters<\/a><\/p>\n

Aviation Safety Network<\/a><\/p>\n

Air Refueling Archives<\/a><\/p>\n

Voices from an Old Warrior<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Thunderhawk crash of 1987.\u00a0 This Friday marks 31 years ago since I lost seven fellow crewmembers to a KC-135 accident.\u00a0 The exact date was Friday, March 13, 1987.\u00a0 Yes it was Friday the 13th, but that had little to do with the accident. The Context I had been stationed at Fairchild AFB in Spokane […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":3219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[39],"tags":[504,158,732,734,733,731],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Thunderhawk Crash of 1987 - Doctor Aviation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Thunderhawk crash of 1987.\u00a0 This Friday marks 31 years ago since I lost seven fellow crewmembers to a KC-135 accident.\u00a0 The exact date was Friday, March 13, 1987.\u00a0 Yes it was Friday the 13th, but that had little to do with the accident.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/the-thunderhawk-crash-of-1987\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Thunderhawk Crash of 1987 - 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