". . . just browsing your site and I can add a bit more to the 12 May 1978 Phantom crash at Leuchars. It was a while ago now so it's possible the memory has gained or lost a little over the years but as I remember that crash 892NAS were disbanding at the time and their aircraft had come onto our inventory next door at 111Sqn.

The Navy a/c had a few 'extra's' fitted to reflect their operations; an Approach Power Compensation System (APCS) and fast reheat selection mode being two that I recall and it was the latter that may have played a part in this crash.

When selected, by a toggle switch, the fast reheat function reduced the time in seconds to light up the burners when compared to the RAF's Spey engine, necessary if you miss the wires on a carrier and want to get airborne again in a hurry! Unfortunately our crews on 111 had a habit of playing with the Navy 'extra's' so the reheat switch was hard wire-locked in the cockpit to prevent operation.

I seem to recall that the Senior Naval Officer was doing a farewell beat up of the base prior to leaving and because his squadron had effectively disbanded, he 'borrowed' one of the 892 a/c from us at 111. I didn't actually see the low level he alledgedly made but I was told it was straight down the runway and at not much more than undercarriage height and that the subsequent pull up was equally as impressive although tight turn to get round onto base leg was very, very tight and at a high rate of knots. The common opinion going round the squadron's after the crash was that this manouvre was outside the Phantom's flight envelope and the engine on the inside of the turn flamed out due to stavation of air caused by being in the wake of the fuselage. The high sink rate that was witnessed in the turn was also typical of the Phantom yet arguably, it was potentially recoverable, even from low level, provided there was sufficient time for reheat to engage and produce thrust!!!

Unfortunately for the pilot and his Nav selection of that function was not an option because it was locked off so the crash was inevitable. I do recall, as your other witness stated, that the a/c hit the undershoot area of the runway on it's starboard side, however, I'm certain that nobody knew there had been an ejection at the time, everybody assumed the crew were still on board when it crashed. The reason I say this is because the 202, or 22 Sqn (I can't recall which) ASR helicopter went up over the crash site afterwards to take forensic photo's and their attention was drawn to a herd of cows standing around an ejection seat in a nearby field. in the seat was the SNO, still alive but critically injured (the seat apparently went along the ground and through a barbed wire and a wooden fence during the ejection. I also believe he survived for some years afterwards, and may still be living but that sadly he was severely brain damaged.

It's interesting how stumbling across your site and this crash brought it all flooding back. I'm reaching that age now where I can appreciate what it feels like to be a veteran, this incident had absolutely no impact on my son when he read it yet it was a major event that impacted so many people at the time. There's a few other Leuchars ejections that you've missed around that time (1976-79) but unfortunately I don't recall dates. I remember 2 x 43 Sqn a/c leaving the runway during take off due to nosewheel steering failures, a/c recoverable but I'm sure the crews ejected at the time. Also, the crew of the last of 3 Phantom's which crashed over a 3 month period in the infamous 'Arbroath Triangle' managed to eject safely into the sea (the previous 2 did not get out) and finally. The Phantom which caught fire on take off and was destroyed was due to a fuel leak from one of the forward fuselage tanks which ran out of the drain, down the central fuselage and was ignited by the reheat which caused the flame to back track and set fire to the tank itself I remember talking to the Nav afterwards and he said he knew something was wrong when he looked in the mirrors and all he could see was flames behind his head."

 All the best.