During the morning of Wednesday, 5th March 1975 the crew of this aircraft were undertaking a training flight, while flying at low level a bird struck the cockpit windshield and shattered the canopy glass. The crew ejected from the aircraft and the cockpit module landed safely, the aircraft flew on for a short distance before crashing on open moorland at around 11.20hrs in the Wet Sleddale area and disintergrated.
Pilot - Captain Richard Allan Wolf USAF, aged 34, of Poland, Ohio, USA.
Navogator - Major Jay K Miller USAF, aged 37, of La Mesa, California, USA.
I visited the crash site in October 2014 on a very dull day hence the poor photographs.
A few pieces of the aircraft still at the crash site in 2014.
The photograph of the F111 shown above was found on the superb "www.f-111.net" and shows F-111 68-0080 almost certainly in the same colours as 68-0081.
Richard Wolf was born in April 1940 in Poland, Ohio and after attending school and university he joined the USAF. He served two Tours in Vietnam and flew at least 200 combat missions. After retiring from the USAF in 1993 he took up various positions in civilian life including a number of roles in athletics and working for United Airlines. He died in June 2012.