Antanas was born on 2 Jan 1938 in Taraugė. He arrived with his parents Domas and Kaze and
brothers Tomas and Victoras. They arrived at Sydney on the Protea 25 March
1949.
Antanas enlisted in the RAAF, and
was attached to the 76th Squadron, as a Flying Officer.
Flying Officer Antanas Karpys, was
killed instantly when his Mirage crashed during aerobatic manoeuvres near the
base on 29 September 1967, aged just 29 years.
The Mirage jet crashed
60 feet from the married quarters at Williamtown Air Base, disintegrating into what
searchers described as "a million pieces".
Karpys was doing a series
of solo stunts at 500 feet when the jet broke up on its 500 up on third roll,
brushing trees and TV aerials on houses in the quarters where he had lived.
The RAAF inquiry team searched
the crash area for pieces of the $2.4 million aircraft, which cut a swathe 80
yards by 700 yards north east of the base. Since their introduction to the RAAF in
1964, five Mirage aircraft have crashed and two pilots, including Flying
Officer Karpys, killed. Another Mirage crashed at the end of the
month, but fortunately the pilot was ejected from the plane and survived.
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3 comments:
The crash was on the 1st of September at 10.30am in 1967.
I was an eye witness not fifty yards from the crash site and was involved with the removal of the pilots remains and burial. The aircraft struck the base side of the road leaving a lump pushed up in the tar on the road flattened the fence on the other side and spread in to the schrub on fire,
I also witnessed the crash. Flying Officer Karpys was practicing for the coming air force display when his aircraft bottomed out of a dive over the base. He had little to no forward airspeed when his Mirage squashed in intowards the ground. He gunned the engine to try to get forward airspeed and thus control of his aircraft causing it to cartwheel across the roadway into the scrub just missing the RAAF Williamtown married quarters. His wife was watching the whole thing. A groundsman working planting trees and schrubs beside the road who was lucky to escape a violent death in the fireball of whirling and disintegrating aircraft was in a state of shock and just kept working as though nothing had happened. We RAAF personel were all rounded up and quickly given plastic bags. We had the unpleasant job of gathering all the remains of the Flying officer that we could find. Very little remained of the aircraft in one piece. The engine has disintegrated doing maximum revs! Compressor blades etc were spread everywhere. It was that night watching the news that the shock hit me and I started to shake like hell watching the aftermath on the news. It was a very sad day for everyone. I shall never forget that day as long as I live. He was a great guy as I remember it.
I was the 12 year old son of an RAAF Officer, living in MQ296 on the Williamtown base at this time. The aircraft was practicing aerobatic manoeuvres over the base that day, and in the final moments before the crash, it passed over our house. It was very close I can tell you. and as a young child obsessed with military aircraft,,it was very exciting. I ran from the backyard of the house to the front and there was a fireball and massive explosion as the Mirage hit the Medowie road just on the other side of the children’s playground that was behind the houses on the opposite side of the street from our house. Debris was catapulted from the point of impact and fanned out into the scrub on the other side of the road. Turbine blades cutting a swathe through the trees, severing their trunks with ease. My friend and I Jim, walked into the bush to the side of the crash site the next day and explored the devastation. We were caught by a service police officer (we called them spits) and his guard dog and marched out to the command post that had been setup on the site. I am sure that we got in trouble, mainly from our parents , but to two mischievous young boys it was worth it. To be honest, the sense of excitement overrode the sadness of the event, being young adventurous boys. It is ingrained in my memory that’s for sure. RIP Flying Officer Karpys, I am sure that you saved numerous lives that day at the expense of your own by ensuring that your aircraft did not hit the houses.
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