The 30th anniversary of the fatal F-111 crash into a paddock alongside Mt Lindesay Rd will be commemorated with a wreath-laying ceremony on Sunday, April 2 at the site of the crash memorial.
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Flight Lieutenant Mark ‘Speed’ Fallon (pilot), aged 24, and Flight Officer William Pike (navigator), aged 22, lost their lives when their F-111C crashed in a paddock alongside the Brown residence and disintegrated across Mt Lindesay Rd on Thursday, April 2 1987.
The program for the memorial ceremony begins with an assembly at the memorial site at 11am.
RAAF host officer Wing Commander Richard Peapell will deliver the welcome, followed by John Brown offering a community perspective on the tragedy.
Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd will provide a F-111C aircrew tribute, before wreaths are laid by family members of the lost airmen, and others.
After a recital of The Ode and a playing of the Last Post, the ceremony will end at noon followed by lunch at the Tenterfield Golf Club.
Tenterfield RSL sub-branch president David Stewart advised that Mt Lindesay Rd will be closed from Old Ballandean Rd to Leeches Gully Rd from 11am to noon to accommodate the ceremony. (Council staff will have detours in place).
Community members are invited to attend. Mr Brown said many locals that he speaks to about the crash say they can remember exactly where they were when it happened.
John’s wife Barbara gave an eyewitness account of the tragedy at the time, describing the crash as ‘terrifying’ as her house rocked and five young children inside cried in fear.
“The house shook like we’d been hit by a huge earthquake,” she said.
The aircraft first hit the ground west of Mt Lindesay Rd into a paddock near the house and disintegrated across the road, leaving a trail of flames.
Residents up to five kilometres from the crash site felt the impact.
The crewmen were hailed as heroes for staying with the aircraft rather than letting it come down in the main street.