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C-141 Tail Number: 67-0006

On the ramp at Incirlik AB, Turkey 20 March 1971 Copyright: Greg Lasley
Source: contributed to C141 Heaven by Greg Lasley

On the ramp at Incirlik AB, Turkey 20 March 1971 Copyright: Greg Lasley
Source: contributed to C141 Heaven by Greg Lasley

On 28 August, 1976 this aircraft was destroyed in a weather related accident. After crossing the Atlantic ocean 67-0008 entered an area of thunderstorms and very heavy rains. It encountered severe turbulence and was destroyed in-flight. There were 14 crew members and 4 passengers on the aircraft..none survived.

The aircraft weather radar had been written up nine times during previous flights as being less than 100%, including a write up by the crew on the flight immediately preceding this crash that the radar was 'extremely week and unusable'. Maintenance performed a ground check of the radar before its last flight and signed off 'Ops Checks OK'. After takeoff, the crew determined the radar was still inoperative but decided to continue on to their destination, as the destination weather forecast at takeoff indicated no severe weather in the area.

The crew had trouble obtaining updated weather forecasts while crossing the Atlantic, and not only was their radar inoperative, but the primary radar on the ground was also acting up, so ATC was unable to provide weather avoidance information to help the crew. The ground controller reported to the crew "I can't see any way through it all".

Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft fall out of the clouds, already in pieces.

The burning crash site of 0006.
Source:USAF from an an unknown English source

This next series of photos was sent to C141Heaven in September 2005 by some folks who found a few slide trays full of slides that were used in crew training classes at Altus. They were cleaning out a desk and stumbled across these materials and sent them in for inclusion on the site.

In a terrible coincidence, another C-141, 67-0008, crashed the same day at Sonderstrom AB, Greenland.

On May 25^th, 2006, I received the following email from Noël Staples.

I recently took this photograph of the memorial stone commemorating the loss of Aircraft 67-0006 with all crew and passengers on 28 Aug 1976 in isolated fenland near the Cambridgeshire village of Thorney Toll in the UK.



Noël Staples

PS: I live in Peterborough not far from the crash site and often follow the remote road where the crash site is because it is so peaceful and free of traffic, although exceedingly bumpy.

Last Updated: Saturday, May 10, 2008 08:22 am

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