Operation CHIKARA
Wolfeston, Norfolk, England 28 Sep - 8 Oct 1983 |
On 27 September the first operational Tornado crashed; the navigator ejected safely but tragically the pilot was killed. 60 Field Squadron were tasked with engineer support to the recovery of the aircraft.
The Tornado GR1 (ZA586/A) was on a Night Flight and crashed into field near Wolferton, six miles North of Kings Lynn. Squadron Leader Michael Stephens ordered the navigator Flight Lieutenant N Nickles to eject but failed to do so himself and was killed in the crash. On crashing, the aircraft had embedded itself into the to a depth of between 2 and 11 metres.
Television and newspapers brought news of the crash to Waterbeach on the following day and members of Plant Troop, who were on stand-by for aircraft recovery tasks, began to make preparation in anticipation of an RAF request for assistance. Instructions to assist were received from HQ UKLF late evening on 28 September. Plant Troop was tasked to assist the RAF in recovering the embedded Tornado aircraft and deployed to the site near the Queen’s Sandringham estate late 29th September.
The Tornado had entered the ground about 20 degrees to the horizontal with a speed in excess of 650 mph. On entry, the mass of the engines had been sufficient to shear the rear of the fuselage from the front. The cockpit bore its way into the ground to a depth of 7m and the engines, now independent of the remainder of the aircraft, flipped over and entered the ground parallel and on one side of the cockpit. However this was only realised after several days of delicate excavation. On arrival at the site, the tailplane, centrebox section and a crater 4m wide and 2½ m deep were the only visible remains of the Tornado. The task of recovery was painfully slow as the need was to carefully excavate every piece of evidence. The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough had been placed in charge of the investigation and it was at their insistence the no work was undertaken during the hours of darkness for fear of “trampling underfoot” any vital clue.
On the morning of 30th September, 60m of the trackway and 20m of hardcore were laid from the concrete carriageway to one side of the crater to allow a crane access to the site. A further 20m of hardcore was stockpiled for emergency use. The area surrounding the crater was cleared of debris by the RAF before the Muirhill moved in to cut the surrounding area to a depth of 2 inches. This was completed very slowly to allow the crash investigators time to sift through the material. In fact this was a taste of things to come, Sapper work was to continue only as fast as the crash investigators allowed. Once the surrounding area had been cleared, attention was focussed on the RAF personnel who were hand-picking their way inch by inch to the cockpit. Sapper ‘Jack’ Penfold soon become the hero of the site. His skilful and delicate operation of the Muirhill backactor was recognised to be the greatest asset to the recovery task at the time. By the morning of Saturday 1st October, the cockpit had been located and so the crane was called in to lift out the large debris before any further work continued. The centre box section and tailplane were recovered exposing the spine of the fuselage which housed the black box flight recorder.
Work continued in and around the cockpit areas but the depth of the excavator was now at the limit of the backactor’s reach. The Atlas excavator arrived on Sunday afternoon. Some 1000 litres of AVCAT (Aviation Carrier Turbine) fuel now swamped the base of the enlarged crater but the Atlas bucket managed to ‘spoon’ out most of this until a civilian ‘sludge gulper’ was hired to complete the job. At a depth of 5m the top half of the cockpit area became visible. Again the peat and clay had to be hand picked in certain areas. Although broken into many pieces, the seat, instrument panels and general alignment of the cockpit was discernible. By Tuesday 4 October at a depth of 7m most of the cockpit had been recovered. However the debris was still in evidence and the order was given to keep going down. The sides of the excavation were continually collapsing. Unfortunately timber shuttering would have proved too costly to erect in terms of time and so recovery work stopped while the Atlas excavator (anchored by a Cat D6C) decreased the angle of repose of the banks. However this regard to safety also put the Atlas out of reach of most of the area to be excavated. A civilian dragline was hired as the only suitable plant readily available and capable of digging to a depth of 11m at a distance of over 20m.
By Saturday 8th October the crater had grown to over 40m in diameter and 11m deep in places. An estimated 9000 cubic metres of material had been excavated by hand, excavator and dragline. The final piece of evidence was found at a depth of 11m and the crash investigators call and end to the operation. It now remained for Plant Troop to backfill and level-off the crater before leaving for Waterbeach. Although he operations had been a success, most people left the site with a sense of loss of an experienced pilot and an expensive aircraft.
The Tornado GR1 (ZA586/A) was on a Night Flight and crashed into field near Wolferton, six miles North of Kings Lynn. Squadron Leader Michael Stephens ordered the navigator Flight Lieutenant N Nickles to eject but failed to do so himself and was killed in the crash. On crashing, the aircraft had embedded itself into the to a depth of between 2 and 11 metres.
Television and newspapers brought news of the crash to Waterbeach on the following day and members of Plant Troop, who were on stand-by for aircraft recovery tasks, began to make preparation in anticipation of an RAF request for assistance. Instructions to assist were received from HQ UKLF late evening on 28 September. Plant Troop was tasked to assist the RAF in recovering the embedded Tornado aircraft and deployed to the site near the Queen’s Sandringham estate late 29th September.
The Tornado had entered the ground about 20 degrees to the horizontal with a speed in excess of 650 mph. On entry, the mass of the engines had been sufficient to shear the rear of the fuselage from the front. The cockpit bore its way into the ground to a depth of 7m and the engines, now independent of the remainder of the aircraft, flipped over and entered the ground parallel and on one side of the cockpit. However this was only realised after several days of delicate excavation. On arrival at the site, the tailplane, centrebox section and a crater 4m wide and 2½ m deep were the only visible remains of the Tornado. The task of recovery was painfully slow as the need was to carefully excavate every piece of evidence. The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough had been placed in charge of the investigation and it was at their insistence the no work was undertaken during the hours of darkness for fear of “trampling underfoot” any vital clue.
On the morning of 30th September, 60m of the trackway and 20m of hardcore were laid from the concrete carriageway to one side of the crater to allow a crane access to the site. A further 20m of hardcore was stockpiled for emergency use. The area surrounding the crater was cleared of debris by the RAF before the Muirhill moved in to cut the surrounding area to a depth of 2 inches. This was completed very slowly to allow the crash investigators time to sift through the material. In fact this was a taste of things to come, Sapper work was to continue only as fast as the crash investigators allowed. Once the surrounding area had been cleared, attention was focussed on the RAF personnel who were hand-picking their way inch by inch to the cockpit. Sapper ‘Jack’ Penfold soon become the hero of the site. His skilful and delicate operation of the Muirhill backactor was recognised to be the greatest asset to the recovery task at the time. By the morning of Saturday 1st October, the cockpit had been located and so the crane was called in to lift out the large debris before any further work continued. The centre box section and tailplane were recovered exposing the spine of the fuselage which housed the black box flight recorder.
Work continued in and around the cockpit areas but the depth of the excavator was now at the limit of the backactor’s reach. The Atlas excavator arrived on Sunday afternoon. Some 1000 litres of AVCAT (Aviation Carrier Turbine) fuel now swamped the base of the enlarged crater but the Atlas bucket managed to ‘spoon’ out most of this until a civilian ‘sludge gulper’ was hired to complete the job. At a depth of 5m the top half of the cockpit area became visible. Again the peat and clay had to be hand picked in certain areas. Although broken into many pieces, the seat, instrument panels and general alignment of the cockpit was discernible. By Tuesday 4 October at a depth of 7m most of the cockpit had been recovered. However the debris was still in evidence and the order was given to keep going down. The sides of the excavation were continually collapsing. Unfortunately timber shuttering would have proved too costly to erect in terms of time and so recovery work stopped while the Atlas excavator (anchored by a Cat D6C) decreased the angle of repose of the banks. However this regard to safety also put the Atlas out of reach of most of the area to be excavated. A civilian dragline was hired as the only suitable plant readily available and capable of digging to a depth of 11m at a distance of over 20m.
By Saturday 8th October the crater had grown to over 40m in diameter and 11m deep in places. An estimated 9000 cubic metres of material had been excavated by hand, excavator and dragline. The final piece of evidence was found at a depth of 11m and the crash investigators call and end to the operation. It now remained for Plant Troop to backfill and level-off the crater before leaving for Waterbeach. Although he operations had been a success, most people left the site with a sense of loss of an experienced pilot and an expensive aircraft.