Luftwaffe Tornado 44+45 crashed 24th Oct 1985

[DanTheMan]

During exercise "Mallet Blow" Panavia Tornado IDS 44+45 from Jagdbombergeschwader (fighter bomber wing) 32 crashed in trees behind Stannersburn village in Northumberland on the morning of 24/10/1985. These pictures show the crash site, the memorial and some wreckage found in the trees. Hptm Hans Joachim Schimpf and Hptm Holger Zacharias were killed in the accident.

First a bit of history surrounding the accident, our house is located between Otterburn and Spadeadam ranges, and during the Mallet Blow exercises (run 4 times per year) around 60 planes from various NATO countries would fly 170 sorties per day dropping bombs on the ranges and dogfighting overhead which was an amazing spectacle to watch. The Royal Air Force organised the Mallet Blow exercise to allow aircrew to practise attacks against ground targets, and to provide realistic training for attacking aircrew, defending fighter squadrons, communications and jamming personnel, and surface-to-air missile units.

On the morning of the 24th I heard the rumble of an approaching jet, it was nothing unusual as the RAF generally fly through our valley as low as 70m, but the noise suddenly turned into a massive booming sound and the house shook like an earthquake. I looked up the hill to see the remains of the aircraft burst from the forest edge in a fireball bouncing through fields and setting the hillside alight. I made a quick 999 call before heading up the hill with my father to assist in whatever way possible.

We were the first to arrive at the crash site, one huge lump of metal (the engines) stood out from the rest – it was burning fiercely and there were lots of small fires over the hillside, there was also smoke coming from the treeline. Wreckage was spread everywhere and part of the aircraft had damaged the road. It looked like no-one had survived so my father headed back to block the road and to divert the emergency services to the scene while I headed into the forest with some other residents from the village to search for survivors, unfortunately what was found in the trees concluded that no one had survived.

The weather that morning was misty and it looked like the pilot had misjudged the height of the hill and the trees. At the initial impact site the Tornado had cut a swathe through the treetops for hundreds of metres before climbing out slightly, re-entering the trees and disintegrating spreading wreckage over a 1.4km long area.

Over the next few months the RAF Regiment guarded the area while the crew and the wreckage were removed from the site and by the New Year it was all quiet and back to normal. As soon as the winter snow melted, my brother and I headed up to the site to have a look around and were amazed to find large amounts of wreckage spread through the forest, it turns out that the winter storms and snow had flushed out anything that was hidden away in the treetops. We spent several weekends collecting parts together, but one particular find stood out from the rest. Under a tree we found a bag containing hundreds of classified documents containing everything from mission parameters, radio frequencies and weapon manuals. A quick call to the local MOD base resulted in a house call within the hour, and some very thankful police. We explained that we had found tons more wreckage in the forest and the next day we were treated to a ride in an RAF Rescue Seaking over the site to help the RAF locate and recover it.

As the months went by the sequence was repeated, every storm would shake more wreckage down, then we would spend our weekends recovering it followed by a call to the MOD to have them take it away. Finally we were told the investigation was closed and that they were no longer interested in collecting any more parts, after this we left what we found in the forest.

Years later Jim Corbett of ACIA Home Page - Air Crash Investigation & Archaeology got in touch for information for his website and book. This along with the ZD809 THREAD rekindled my interest in the crash so I have gathered together the last remaining fragments from the site and photographed them before burying them back in the forest. Unfortunately Tornado 44+45 was very camera shy and I have not been able to locate a photo.

Tornado from the same JGB32 similair to the crashed 44+45.


Newspaper article from 1986, the last paragraph relates to crashed Tornado 44+45


Hptm Holger Zacharias


Memorial to the two crew of Tornado 44+45 at the Pheasant Inn, Stannersburn, crash site in the background.


Crater where the engines came to rest, looking back towards the main impact site.


Forest where the main wreckage was spread, trees have been felled and replanted since the crash however wreckage can still be found.


27mm Cannon mount and what it should look like.



11 Foot long part of the wiring loom.


Aviation fuel still visible where it crashed.


more to follow......

[DanTheMan]

Misc parts tags and inflight refueling motor.


Undercarriage plate and Panavia plates


U/C door switch mount


Page cockpit floodlight - remaining bulb still lights up.


Don’t step.


Electronics.


Instruments.


Various pipes.


Hinged part.


Electrical cover.

[Scout]

Thank you for sharing this interesting and sad tale.
I feel privileged, that we can have an eyewitness account (literally) of both the crash and subsequesnt findings.
A solemn story and the memory of the pilot and navigator, which I find you treated respectfully.

[oradour]

Dan, indeed an interesting and informative thread about a sad event, nice to see you and your dad helped in the aftermath...do you own the above pieces ?...here is more information on the unit.... Jagdbombergeschwader 32 on this page on Wikipedia it mentions various accidents, but not the one in this thread, perhaps you may wish to update the page ?
Prost ! Steve.

[DanTheMan]

Thanks for the feedback and the link to info on JGB32, the wreckage was never mine, I just recovered it from the forest, took the photos and returned it, here are some more photos.

Handle with care.


Perspex and other parts.


Nose cone release


NATO markings.


Circuit boards.


The aircraft cut a swathe through trees before disintergrating and spreading wreckage for over 1.4km. This aerial photo is from 2003 after re-planting.


We were flown around the crash site in this to assist in locating wreckage that the RAF had missed in their initial search.


The memorial.

[Salzburg]

Good report and a nice collection of items. Pleased that you returned them to the site. I would do the same. It is deemed acceptable to collect items from the wars but keeping things from recent, more peaceful times, where people lost their lives just gives me an uneasy feeling.

[m3bobby]

I recognise quite a few items shown in the photos. I worked on the ADV rather than IDS/GR but there very similar. Its nice to see a little memorial located near by.

[321Tiger]

Thanks to Dan for the interesting article and the large amount of pictures which come with it! Me I my comrades from (former) 321 Squadron in Lechfeld appreciate it a lot. I joined the squadron 4 years after the accident when the thoughts about it were still pretty strong present. The squadron was disbanded in 2012 and the wing followed in 2013. I got retired in 2002 but still am the webmaster of the now virtual 321 Morningstars/Tigers from Lechfeld. You reach the homepage via Willkommen / Welcome at 321 Lechfeld Tiger World, 1./JaboG 32 ECR, FBW 32(GE) - Lechfeld 321 Tigers

On the homepage I have linked to the above thread since I stumbled over it a couple of years ago. I have used these posts to enhance the respective page ("sqadron - dead comrades") on the homepage. My intention now is to add some more information and pictures about the crash and the memorial site. First of all there is of course also a picture of the second crew member Hauptmann (Captain) Hans-Joachim Schimpf (on the homepage you find pictures of all crashed crews since 1958):


In 1985 there were also a couple of newspaper articles about the crash and the ceremonies afterwards in the wing (all in german language for obvious reasons):


In 2017 on a motorbike tour to friends in Scotland I visited the memorial cross at the Pheasant Inn in Stannersburn. Prior to that I got into contact with Robin, the owner of the Pheasant Inn and son of one of the first men on the crash site. He told me, that he and his family and actually the whole village took and take care of the site. When I arrived I was very happy to see in what an excellent shape the iron cross is and how lovely the whole place is. We found fresh flowers from the Pheasant Inn gardens placed around it. I added a ribbon band from our FBW 32 traditions community and left the place with very thankful feelings for Robin and the guys taking care of the place. Of course did we also have a longer talk and a coffee together before we took off again towars Carlisle.
This is what this place looks like now:


At last a picture of the Pheasant Inn (a very nice place by the way and always worth a drop-in bikers!!) and its landlord:


That's it for the moment! Thanks for letting me post it!

Cheers
Claus Mayerhofer

[MAP]

Thanks Claus for adding details and honoring these soldiers who perished in this tragic accident.

I do not know if Dan is still active on the forum but hopefully he will see this thread.

We hope you enjoy War Relics Forum and stick around. It is a great place!

Regards,

Michael