Manchester, New Hampshire – June 18, 1998

     At approximately 11:15 a.m. on June 18, 1998, a 1950s vintage British Hawker Hunter military jet aircraft (Civil Tail # N745WT) crashed in a sandpit off Frontage Road in Manchester, New Hampshire, about 1.5 miles from Manchester Airport.  The pilot, Col. John Childress, 50, of Columbia, South Carolina, ejected moments before the crash, but did not survive.  No other persons were aboard at the time of the accident, and there was no explosion or fire after the crash.  

      When the engine flamed out, Col. Childress stayed with the aircraft and waited to eject so as to direct it away from nearby businesses and houses.       

     The recently restored aircraft owned by an aviation business at Manchester Airport reportedly hadn’t flown since the 1950s. 

     The cause of the crash was later determined to be lack of fuel due to faulty readings of the fuel gauges.

     Col. Childers was an Air national Guard advisor at Shaw Air Force base in South Carolina.   

    Sources:

     The Telegraph, “Vintage Jet Crashes; Pilot Dead”, June 19, 1998

     The Item, (S.C.) “Shaw Pilot Out Of Fuel”, June 21, 1998

     Aviation Safety Newtork, Wikibase Occurrence ASN#40862