Tuesday, December 15, 2020
35 Years Ago: Unsolved Gander Aircrash Kills 248 101st Airborne Soldiers, 8 Crew
Thirty-five years years later, questions remain how Arrow Air 1285 crashed into a wooded hillside in Gander, Newfoundland, with 248 soldiers from 101st Airborne Division for the final leg of their journey Cairo to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing all the soldiers and the eight crewmembers.
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I remember it very well. The Screaming Eagles. Gander holds better memories for some who were diverted there during 9/11.
ReplyDeleteI was at this crash site. This article fails to mention it wasn't that far from the runway nor was it that high in the air when this occurred. Not right off the end of the runway but not very far either.
ReplyDeleteI ain't buying the ice on the wings "theory" one bit. Any pilots flying in and out of Gander regularly know the weather conditions there. This was covered up for some reason.
On a side note, I once watched a Russian Antonov come in late a night. Really bad rain storm. Was descending but looked high. Even though the runways at Gander are HUGE, Antonov didn't touch down until halfway. Should have aborted but didn't. Ran right off end of runway.
No one hurt, no real damage to plane. But I tell ya, it was kinda funny watching various engineers standing there for 3 days just staring at this plane (their Alco office trailers dwarfed by this plane) trying to figure out how to get it out (had just slightly driven itself into the ground).
They got it out, inspected it and I swear it was classic Russian ....brush themselves off, take a couple shots of vodka and back in the air. Tough people.
Both of my parents were stationed at Ft. Campbell when this happened. My dad was on his way back from Egypt. He was on a different flight. It was a long three days waiting to hear from him, or so mom tells me. I was about 6 months old at the time.
ReplyDeleteMatt in KY
Lead theory is overweight, which was typical for contract military flights with each passenger carrying 3-4 duffle bags. That overweight condition was made worse by ice on the wings which added to the weight and reduced the lift.
ReplyDeleteAlternative theory, released among a small circle of Army officers who could keep a secret so it would never leak out onto the internet and onto blog comments is that one of the returning soldiers had a smoke grenade in his luggage that ignited and burned through the baggage compartment.
--Generic
Within a week of the crash, I flew some senior officers from MDW to Gander to look at how the crash site was being excavated meter by square meter to insure all remains were found and returned. On the return flight, our C-12 also carried some of, if not the first, remains back to Dover AFB in individual sealed cardboard boxes, approximately 12" X 12" each. I have often worried if I showed the correct respectfulness and solemnness as I handled that precious cargo. regards, Alemaster
ReplyDeletehttps://www.saulmontes-bradley.com/product/gander/
ReplyDeleteor
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gander-saul-m-montes-bradley-ii/1125335657
or
https://www.amazon.com/Gander-Terrorism-Incompetence-National-Socialism/dp/0985963255
Here is the real explanation. http://www.c-and-e-museum.org/Pinetreeline/other/other18/other18an.html
ReplyDeletecheck out tom beardon at cheniere.org/weapons/images/index.html. Title of article is kill of DC-8 Gander AFB he discusses how witnesses on the ground said the plane was glowing like a light bulb as it took off. and that it was shot down with russian scaler weaponry
ReplyDeleteHere's the link I was looking for. A fairly long discussian of soviet scaler em weapons and that the 1985 time schedule had been met to field the weapons and the americans were none the wiser with the shoot-down of the plane. http://cheniere.org/books/gravitobiology/dc8.htm
ReplyDelete