"Ron" wrote in message
...




Although when a RAAF Mirage III belly landed at Melbourne in 1973 (??) it
was written off, even though the damage was comparitively minor.
Apparently, the stresses on the airframe woud prove too squirrelly to
track
down, so scrapping was a safer option.



Just correcting my initial guess , Tullamarine (Melbourne Airport) Oct
'74.





Surprisingly, it dodged the scrapper's torch and is on display in
Adelaide.

There is T-38 on display out front of the 80th FTW, Sheppard AFB.
Sometime in
the early 80s, the IP and student punched out of it, a couple miles or so
from
the runway..It hit in a flat attitude, coming to a stop not too terribly
damaged, at least visibly. I believe the spar was damaged in the initial
impact, to where it was thougth the aircraft should not fly again.


Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter


Must be a popular thing to do.

Another Mirage III, A3-36 lost the engine on final to RAAF Darwin in
1986. Pilot noticed the lack of noise and unfamiliar pattern of lights
on the panel, promptly stepped out and changed the aircraft's w&b.
The Mirage floated down to a comparitively soft landing in the mud flats
before the runway.


I saw the airframe 2 years later and the most damage was done by souvenir
hunters, who used axes, angle grinders and some sort of thermonuclear
device to remove bits - including the fin.





Cheers


Dave Kearton