US Air Force - AMARC

82-0983

I was assigned to this aircraft in 1983.

It had just been delivered to Hill Air Force Base from General Dynamics Fort Worth, TX. in the spring of 83.

I had just made SSgt so I got to stencil my name on the rail of the canopy on one side as the dedicated crew chief along with the pilot assigned to the aircraft on the other.

Unfortunately when I was on leave in the early summer of 1984 during a landing on a flooded runway, my airplane's main tire blew which caused it to roll the aircraft sideways and it preceded to cart wheel down the runway.

The nose and tail section were badly damaged and it did catch on fire but thankfully the pilot was able to ground egress safely with only a minor gash in his forehead from the HUD.

When I returned to my unit after my leave, even though my coworkers had me jump in the truck and said I needed to preflight my aircraft but it was in a hangar, I already knew it had crashed because while I was in a grocery store before returning from my leave, MSGT Ballard, NCO in charge of our unit gave me the full report.

I was told that it would probably cost more than 4 milion to put my aircraft back together. I separated from the Air Force shortly thereafter and never saw this aircraft again....