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Dyess 130 crash in Turkey circa 1980


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  • 10 months later...
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  • 1 month later...

Two USAFA graduates from class of 1980 were aboard. My brother, Mark Kaspar, was one of them. I am not aware of any other civilians from Colorado Springs aboard the flight.

Bob, Was Mark one of the band members on board? If so I would love to speak with you sometime. my phone number is 870-680-2555.

Thanks, Steve Lancaster

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jim,

I was on those Rotes to Mildenall ( I was assigned as a FE with the 772nd) during the time frame you mentioned about , I know that Dino had said that it was going to be his last Rote 'cause he was getting married.... We we kind of "under the influence of a liquid substance during our time off" I was on alert with my crew and we were scheduled to be on the Turkey Trot run.... but we were called up to go to Andoya Norway.... We then were sent to Turkey a few days later. Glad to here of an old team mate in the C130s.... Kind of a blast from the past.

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Anything is possible of course but it is unlikely that there ws a deadhead crew on board. The flight was scheduled as a round robin.

It was scheduled Incirlik To Diyabakir then to Erzurum then to Sinop then back to Incirlik. They skipped Sinop because of the weather and crashed on approach at Incirlik.

Pretty unlikely to have a deadheading crew on board a run like that. Also 11 of the 12 pax on board were destination Sinop, and the other was picked up at Erzurum destination Incirlik.

Bob

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Tis is true because I was aming the first responder.. Allegedly lightning strike caused wing shear and Herk spun into side of mountain and came to rest in pieces in riverbed below..this Occurred 3:05pm 14 March 1980.. Left indelible marks on my soul.. Lost some great friends aboard.. All 18 SOB perished...

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Casualty list as follows... I stand and salute:

CREW

Lt. Col. Benjamin H. Barnette

Maj. Michael L. Jones

Capt. Richard J. Wagner

Ssgt. Patrick Cypher

Sgt. George Moreau

Amn. Howard K. Watkins

PASSENGERS:

Navy PO2 Daniel Hartke, Sinop

Army Sgt. John Saunders, Sinop

Army PFC Keith H. Dowdell, Sinop

Army SP4 Carl Carr, Erzurum

Msgt. James C. Webster

Ssgt. Jimmy Ashburn. Det 16

SrA. Mark Hunstadt. Det 16

SrA. William Lancaster 11 Det 192

Mrs. Karen Lancaster, his wife

A1C. Hans Hasenberg Det 16

Paul Johnson

Joseph Johnson..sons of Msgt. And Mrs. Joseph Johnson Det 47

I will never forget...33 years later.. That day remains a turning point in my life....may they Rest In Peace!

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DC-10FE refered to the older brother of A1C Sekula as "Paul", but his name is actually John. We were stationed together in the 62nd when this happened. John had not long been transferred in from Dyess when the crash occurred. I'd heard that he's still at LRAFB working Civil Service in CE.

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I was the crew chief on the 2nd aircraft on that Turkey Trot. 741671, Sra Joey Rundell was my assistant. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the crew chief on 2064. Watkins was the assistant. The crew chief had to be sent back to Mildenhal on a train. He was supposed to fly that day and give Watkins a break, but when he got up he wasn't felling well. So, Watkins went by himself. We were on the ramp with our acft as spare when they took off. There a lot of things that they said went wrong that day. Officially in believe that they decided that it was a lighting strike. But, the closest storm was 60 mile from them. It also came out that Pat Cypher had a #? main tank c/b pop and on final he reset it for some reason causing a tank explosion. That was B/S! I knew and flew with Pat for many years and that just didn't happen. He was one of the best engineers at Dyess, by far! He would never have reset that c/b for love nor money. The other school of thought was a hand held rocket. We used to get small arms fire out there all the time. I wouldn't put it past the Curds.

I went on 11 and a half rotations to Mildenhal while I was at Dyess, Nov 74-March 82. I can also chime in on 74-1678's crash in 1982. Another long story.

Randy Brown, Smsgt, USAF, ret

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  • 1 year later...

This news story should clear up the the confusion http://texnews.com/news/dyessside081996.html.

"Lightning was also blamed for the next-costliest Dyess crash, also in Turkey. A C-130, also from the 773rd TAS, crashed near Incirlik Air Base, on March 14, 1980, killing six Dyess crewman and 12 passengers, none from Dyess". There was a plaque with the crew members names in the Dyess flight simulator building.

"The costliest Dyess crash occurred April 13, 1982, when a C-130 from the 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron crashed in Turkey, apparently after being struck by lightning. Nine Dyess crewmen were killed, along with 17 passengers, none from Dyess. April 13, 1982 : C-130H 74-1678, c/n 4645, of the 463d Tactical Airlift Wing, as of October 1977 with black camel on tail. Crashed near Sivas, 360 kilometers east of Ankara, Turkey, when number four (starboard outer) engine mount failed, destroyed number three (starboard inner) engine, wing broke".

Rumors of the crash was one of the RGB mount bolts failed causing the engine and prop to come loose and break out of the nacelle. The debris impacted the No. 3 engine and caused the wing to break apart.

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  • 4 months later...

I was on duty in Texas at time of a Turkey crash. 28 pax on board. # 4 engine rear mount seperated, bolt not

fitting, Engine torqued off wing interfering with #3 prop at the time resulting in catastrophic breakup and crash.

Not sure if this was the 80 or 82 crash.

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  • 1 month later...

This was definitely the 1982 crash. Most everything about this crash was reported, including the subsequent military discipline imposed on about 1/2 dozen officers and airmen. This was all about falsified maintenance following an emergency tech-order inspection. I'm sure I remember reading about the various punishments handed out: from article 15's to letters of reprimand, and maybe some court-martials. There was no sweeping this accident under the rug. Don't forget, there was an IG Team onboard!

I knew an engineer at Kelly that worked on the specific cause of the 1980 lightning strike crash. His name was Paul Filios. When the lightning hit the aircraft, it induced a voltage surge, spark, or whatever in the fuel quantity sensing probes. I believe these were capacitance probes/tubes. The induced voltage created a spark that ignited the fuel vapors in the tank. There had been several other C-130's that exploded after being struck by lightning, in just a few years prior. One was on approach to Pope AFB and one was a Kuwaiti bird on approach in France (IIRC). As a result of the other C-130's that crashed from lightning, there were several recommendations to do something about the fuel vapor in the tanks. One suggestion was using an inert gas and another was to install the fire-suppressant foam - which they finally did. I was told that commercial aircraft could not be certified using the fuel gauging system that is used on the C-130 due to this very issue. After the foam was installed (I assume it still is), I heard reports that during certain phase inspections the foam is examined, and they have detected burns and arc traces that indicates the foam is doing its job. I flew from Mildenhall to Athens 2 days after the 1980 crash and was immersed in St Elmo's fire for well over an hour as we deviated significantly due to a huge area of thunderstorms. Thank goodness for extra fuel and a good nav (Rubin Jamarian). Brian Bauries was our A/C, and we all knew the crew that went down.

I suppose there could have been a "Top Secret" report, but I know we received a very detailed briefing (complete with slides) and sometime thereafter, the foam was installed in the tanks. I left Dyess and the C-130 and returned to ATC as a flight instructor. I remained in close contact with several pilots and nav's back at Dyess for several years (in fact I kept my house in Abilene for another 10 years or so).

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  • 1 year later...

I was stationed with the 453rd OMS Dyess AFB 81-83. 

I worked ISO, however being an airman that lost strips before I got them 

I was working the Wash Rack that week with Airman Williams. (we're still best friends)

April 13 1982 AC,74-1678 crashed over turkey. I forget what time it was when we heard, 

We all knew it was Pam's plane, hit me hard as she had kinda taken me under her wing. 

As I remember Airman Mark Deerzack was also on board, however I can find no info on that. 

I was at the funeral, I especially remember the C-130 fly over. 

Something is very odd as I found an old Turkey news paper clipping referring to that crash, Same date, 

same engine separation result everything except the names of the dead. Mark Nor Pam are listed. 

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Here's the crew list.

Bob

Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey Capt Dean A Van Dam
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey 2 LT Robert J Babineau
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey 2 LT Mark L Kaspar
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey 2 LT Daniel Lee
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey 2 LT Frank M Savala Jr
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey TSGT William J Turk
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey SRA Pamela K Myers
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey A1C Mark A Dzierzak
Apr 13 1982 74-1678 Turkey A1C  Edward A Sekula
           
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

FOR ALL THE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN WHO KNEW SOME ONE THAT DIED ON APRIL 13 1982 AND MAR 14 1980 OR ANY OF THOSE OTHER  C-130 PLANES FROM DYESS  AFB  GO TO FINDAGRAVE.COM AND JOIN TO LEAVE A MESSAGE OR A PHOTO OF THAT PERSON .SO WE CAN ALL SEE WHO IS LAID TO REST THERE. THERE IS A STORY TO BE TOLD ABOUT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. EVER FORGET THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DIED SERVING THIS GREAT COUNTRY GOD BLESS THEM ALL .                                                        CC SRA  PAMELA K MYERS WAS LAID TO REST AT MARION NATIONAL CEMETERY . YOU CAN.  GO TO FINDAGRAVE.COM AND ENTER                 MEMORIAL #2863634 LEAVE A MESSAGE AND FLOWERS.  PAM WILL ALWAYS HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART. PAUL  10/17/16

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was with the 463rd oms from Feb 1980 to May 1981  Knew SRA  Pamela K  Myers during that time.  I dont know when she became crew chef of that aircraft 74-1678.  I would like to know  the month and year, so I can figure a time line of some sort . I dont think for one second that she knew what was falsified on those maintenance reports months before that faithfull day April 13 1982.

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