Tuesday, March 27, 2001

By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes

A search-and-rescue team was still looking for two U.S. Air Force F-15C fighter jets Monday evening after both aircraft disappeared during a training mission over a mountainous region in Scotland.

While Air Force officials said they lacked details surrounding what happened to the pair of fighters, they did confirm command and control lost radio contact with the jets Monday afternoon, said Staff Sgt. J.C. Woodring, a public affairs officer for RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom.

Each twin-engine F-15C Eagle, the Air Force’s premier air-to-air warplane, had one pilot. They took off from Lakenheath around 12:30 p.m. for a routine training mission, base spokeswoman Tech Sgt. Mary McHale said.

The Royal Air Force dispatched search-and-rescue teams from RAF Kinloss in northeast Scotland to look for the planes.

Air Force public affairs officers at Lakenheath did not release details on the type of mission nor the identities of the pilots.

Other news reports suggested the aircraft were conducting low-level flight training in the Cairngorm Mountains when they lost contact.

Based in Lakenheath, the F-15Cs’ belong to the 493rd Fighter Squadron. The 493rd is part of the 48th Fighter Wing, the Air Force’s only F-15 unit based in Europe.

The squadron recently saw action during the 1999 Allied bombing campaign of Yugoslavia.

During the first day of the air strikes, the squadron shot down two Serbian MiG-29 aircraft. The 493rd later shot down two more MiGs, giving them the most air-to-air kills of the NATO campaign, according to the wing’s Web site.

The 493rd, nicknamed the Grim Reapers, twice received the Hughes Trophy for best air superiority squadron in the U.S. Air Force in 1997 and 1999.

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