Hill volunteers recover long-missing Phantom

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clay Murray
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GOSHUTE INDIAN RESERVATION, Nev. (AFPN) --  An Air Force recovery team scaled a mountain peak just shy of 9,000 feet on the Utah-Nevada border Oct. 17  to recover pieces of an F-4 Phantom. The aricraft crashed into the Deep Creek Mountains on the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Indian Reservation nearly 30 years ago. The crash claimed the lives of 1st Lt. Lawrence Larson, pilot, and Capt. James Winburn, navigator.

A total of 72 team members from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, volunteered for the recovery effort after negotiations occurred between the installation commander and the Goshute leaders, and a plan was developed to initiate the cleanup endeavor.

"This project is important because the Air Force is committed to building positive relationships with all the communities surrounding our base and the lands we manage, including the Utah Test and Training Range" said Col. Scott Chambers, 75th Air Base Wing commander.

"We take every opportunity to show we are good neighbors who are committed to building and maintaining positive community partnerships," the colonel said. "In this case, our partners are Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Indians, and we are thrilled at the cleanup progress this working relationship has afforded everyone involved."

Hill AFB leaders consult with 19 American Indian tribes that have ancestral territory on federal lands managed by the base. During annual consultation meetings with the American Indian tribes, the Goshutes requested Hill AFB remove the debris from their reservation property, said Col. Jim Weissmann, 75th Aerospace Medicine Squadron commander and on-scene commander for the recovery.

In order to properly restore the hillside to its natural environmental state, Colonel Weissmann assembled a diverse Hill AFB team. Civil engineers, explosive ordnance disposal experts, medical personnel, logisticians, an asbestos team and numerous volunteers worked together to revamp the legacy of the accident by transforming the story's final chapter into one that showcases the Air Force's commitment to responsible community stewardship.

"I was just amazed by all the volunteers," Colonel Weissmann said. "Everyone was motivated to be out there. I would put it on the list of the top five things I've done during my 23 years in the Air Force."

Members from 75th Civil Engineer Squadron and the 388th Fighter Wings' 729th Air Control Squadron were on scene one day early to provide accommodations for the team. The advance logistics team's efforts included tent construction, diesel heater installation, and hot meal service, all of which helped to ensure the recovery team could focus wholeheartedly on the mission at hand.

"Help in the field was critical from a morale standpoint," Colonel Weissmann said. "It was just great to go out there and see a first rate operation when early on we were expecting to be in just regular tempered tents eating MREs. The 729th ACS helped us out beyond measure with hot meals. The whole set up was just first rate."

The four-hour bus ride to the Goshute reservation was the first leg of the trek to the crash site. Next volunteers spent an hour in the bed of an all-wheel-drive, turbo diesel truck, an eight-mile journey over rocky terrain, through brush and trees in the cold and snow.

"It was adventurous," said Master Sgt. Jeremy Emerson, the 75th Aerospace Medicine Squadron Flight Medicine Clinic NCO in charge. "I felt the terrain was a bit extreme especially for that big of a vehicle. It's not too often we all jump in the back of a truck like that. It gave that convoy sort of feeling." 

The hike from the end of the road to the initial crash site wound uphill and downhill for one mile in the snow, dirt and rock. 

"The hiking was strenuous," said Airman 1st Class Phillip Northam, Aerospace Medical Service journeyman, "but the views were beautiful. It was uphill obviously until we got to the initial crash point. There were parts of it where it would level out so it wasn't as bad but I got a pretty good work out for my legs." 

It took the team roughly 45 minutes to scale the entire length of the slope from top to bottom during the recovery. 

Although many of the larger pieces of debris were removed from the crash site at the time of the initial recovery effort in 1977, hundreds of pieces of the plane were recovered. Some of the more interesting items included a buried tail hook that took a small team to move, a turbocharger, a large segment of a wing, a section of the weapons pylon and a seat rocket motor. 

At an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet, treacherous weather conditions kept the initial recovery team from completing comprehesive cleanup efforts. The impact occurred near the peak of the mountain and cascaded down approximately 56 acres.

In total, the pieces removed from the crash site amassed to more than 17 metal crates of debris. Several of the pieces found were too large to fit into the boxes but were taken off site by a pick-up truck. The debris weighed more than 2tons in total, and was collected and delivered to the Utah Test and Training Range North Gate recycle yard.

"I'm proud of the emphatic way Team Hill jumped in to tackle this exhaustive restoration project," Colonel Chambers said. "It's further proof that in the Air Force, there's no expiration date for turning a sensitive situation into an opportunity to promote positive relationships and problem-solve alongside the communities we affect."

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