Three planes crash
Rescuers look at the wreckage of one of three Mirage F-l jet fighters which crashed over south-eastern France on Wednesday. The planes crashed while on a low-altitude training exercise, the Defence Ministry said.
An NZPA-Reuter report from Paris says two pilots were killed instantly and a third was missing after the crash outside the village of St diamond, near the city of Lyon.
Air Force Command had launched an investigation to try to determine the cause of the accident, the most costly in terms of French military aircraft, in recent memory, it said. The three planes, from the 30th Fighter Squadron based at Reims, were flying along a predetermined course as part of
an exercise to test navigation skills at low altitude.
The Mirage F-l, which went into service in 1973 and is equipped with special radar for lowaltitude flight, is used by the French air force and in 10 other countries.
It was an Iraqi Mirage F-l that fired a Frenchmade Exocet missile at the United States frigate Stark in the Gulf on Sunday, killing 37 American sailors.
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Press, 22 May 1987, Page 8
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182Three planes crash Press, 22 May 1987, Page 8
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