Click logo for Home Page

C-141 Tail Number: 64-0647

Copyright: William W Sierra
Source:Airliners.Net

On St. Patrick's Day, 1973 this aircraft was involved in an incident at McGuire. Details below, provided by MSgt Edward "Mad Dog" J. Loftus (Retired) (MADDOGWRI@aol.com).

We were returning from Saigon on 9+ day trip, and we had some problems enroute. By the time we landed at Dover, unloaded, and refueled we had to accept a crew duty time extension. We were tired and accepted.

When we called for weather at Mcguire (KWRI) we given temp and winds that indicated no problems.

But after we had begun the approach we were told that the ground conditions had dropped to 400 feet and 1/2 mile we continued the approach.

At approximately 120 feet we could not see the runway lights, the windshield looked like a sheet of frosted glass every time the strobes lite up.

At approximately 110 feet we did not have the runway, so I called for go around we climbed not knowing that we had clipped the trees.

After we landing, from the opposite end runway, a crew chief came into the Flight deck and asked me where we got the trees.


A copy of an official US Air Force photo

The Aircraft is C141A 64-0647, the incident took place on St Patrick's day 1973

Below are photo's I took later that day after I went home I got a Polaroid and some film.


This is a shot towards the runway/path of flight it shows the lights mounted on telephone poles with a steel cross section, At the time the trees I estimated to be between 30 and 35 feet in height, the top of the strobes I estimated to be about 15 to 18 feet, in #1 just below the light bar is the Strobe. I think the distance to this light post was about 2500 feet


This is at the trees we clipped, They would be at the third section of lights visible in photo # 1


This is perpendicular to the flight path and shows the trees clipped at the top

I estimate the distance from the wing tip to the ground at less than 25 feet as we were banking trying to slip right an align with the strobes, which from the flight deck appeared right of windshield

Keep in mind this is from memory 29 years later, I thought I had a copy of my statement made at the time, but I am unable to find it now.

On 3/24/05 I got the following additional comments from Bill Verno about the 'low approach' described above.

I was the adjacent Crew Chief on 0019 on that particular night.

I spotted the right wing tip of the aircraft as it taxied into position. As she turned to enter the spot, I could clearly make out a tree imbedded in her leading edge and draped over the top of the right wing. I was, to say the least, astounded at the site .............. to the degree that I questioned what I saw myself!!!

At it was dark and the taxi and landing lights were on, it more or less blinded the marshaling Crew Chief's view of the wing. The left wing spotter had no knowledge as the tree was not in his field of vision. As we started to chock and pin her, I ran up to 647's Crew Chief and informed him he was in for a busy night!

After looking at the unbelievable site, he bounded up the crew ladder and into the cockpit to find out what had happened to "His Plane" ...... I can't be certain, but I was under the impression that the A/C was a Colonel on this night. 647 was towed into a hanger bay later on that night and was the talk of the flight line the following morning!!!

Sgt Bill Verno 438 OMS 1971-1975

April 6,2008: Keep watching this space: A little more information about this incident is to be hopefully forthcoming soon, direct from one of the two pilots who was at the controls the night the incident happened. He was in Tucson recently and I had dinner with him. He promised to send me some additional pictures and a little more detail that what is given above.

On 18 September 1979 this aircraft was involved in an incident that resulted in the destruction of the aircraft. It is recounted below.

The aircraft was on a local training mission. After several touch and go's, the crew noticed that the "Brakes Released" light did not come on after the gear was extended. The Dash-1, at the time, stated only that the crew should be careful when applying normal brakes. The crew flew a normal approach and landing. After touchdown, the spoilers opened only partly then closed. Only #4 Thrust Reverser would deploy. Normal brakes were inoperative.

The instructor pilot attempted to control the aircraft and directed the copilot to select Emergency Brakes. The copilot did so and then continued to make multiple attempts to deploy the spoilers, depleting the #3 Hydraulic System pressure.

With 4000 feet of runway remaining, the crew heard a loud bang. An electrical malfunction within the gear handle caused the nose gear to retract. The aircraft came to a stop 820 feet from the end of the runway and the crew evacuated. Fire consumed the aircraft.

The actual malfunction was a short circuit within the Landing Gear Handle Relay. This caused the touchdown relay to stay in the flight mode, and gave the nose gear an up signal.

Emergency Brakes failed when #3 Hydraulic System lost pressure due to the copilot's multiple attempts to deploy the spoilers. The thrust reversers did not deploy because they were locked out by the Touchdown Relay, which was still in the Flight Mode.

The deployment of the #4 thrust reverser was a malfunction, without which the aircraft would likely have departed the end of the runway.

The crew escaped without injury, but the aircraft was consumed by fire.

The above information was provided by Paul Hansen


Source:AF Photo

The following are additional USAF photos and a few taken by George Miller. I've included some notes that George wrote on the back of one of the photos here. "647 was dismantled and parts returned to the Lockheed factory. The fuselage was sent to the 78th Military Aerial Port Sqdn at Richards-Gebauer AFB , Missouri (Near Kansas City) to be used as a loading mockup. The fuselage was cut into sections and flown by army helicopter to the nearby Charleston water ports, where the three sections were put aboard trailer trucks. The tail section was dropped (see photo below for damage) and could not be used for the 78th purposes as the petal door is needed for a training aid. There are also a few pictures of the wing and tail on railroad cars before they left the base.


It appears this is in the hanger following the fire.
Probably being stripped of anything useful before being
dismantled. This was a scan of a negative that had a big thumb-print
on it. I couldn't get it to go away so take it for what it is!


Before it was dismantled into sections.



I can't be sure, but I suspect the field to the right of the
fence is where the photo below (of the chopper lifting a part
of the fuselage) was taken.


Tail is on a rail-car and ready to go.
Notice the radome in the lower right corner of this photo as well.


The tail of the chopper in this photo was covered
with a sticky label...it damaged the print.


Whoops. This part of the tail was dropped from the chopper.
Too bad we have no photo of THAT!



Wings on a rail car, ready to roll.
Notice that the flat-bed car appears to have been modified to
accommodate the wing shape near the front of the car.


Tail loaded.

Last Updated: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 4:29 PM

Photo Credit Small Print