A FORMATION FLT OF 2 MIL FIGHTERS AT 11500 FT COMES WITHIN 3000 FT HORIZLY OF A TWIN ENG ACFT IN CLB. FIGHTERS WERE ON A VFR FLT ADVISORY SVC IN ACCORD WITH A LOA TYPE OP; MONITORING STL APCH CTL ON A UHF FREQ.

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ON MAY/WED/97; I WAS THE LEAD OF A 2-PLANE FLT WHICH ORIGINATED AT LAMBERT FIELD; ST LOUIS; MO. CALL SIGN: ACFT X. I WAS THE PLT OF AN FA18 AND MY WINGMAN WAS AN F15. AFTER LNDG WE WERE NOTIFIED THAT A NEAR MISS WITH A CIVILIAN TWIN ENG ACFT HAD BEEN RPTED TO OUR OPERATING BASE. AFTER COMPLETING OUR WORK IN THE AREA; WHICH INCLUDED HIGH ALT WORK WITH ZKC ON 361.4 MHZ; WE RETURNED TO ZKC ON 373.5 MHZ. FOR RADAR FLT FOLLOWING PER OUR LOA; AND ADVISED THEM THAT WE WOULD PROCEED TO THE INITIAL APCH FIX AT SCOTT AFB; IL; FOR A PRACTICE APCH AND WOULD RETURN TO THEIR AREA. WE DEPARTED AIRSPACE S OF LAMBERT AT 7500 FT MSL (EASTERLY COURSE) TO TRANSIT BELOW THE ST LOUIS APCH CORRIDOR. ONCE CLR; WE CLBED UNDER VMC; ATTEMPTING CONTACT WITH ZKC ON 373.5 WITHOUT SUCCESS. I MADE A CALL IN THE BLIND TO ZKC; THEN SWITCHED TO ST LOUIS APCH ON 281.5 MHZ; AND INITIATED A CLB TO 11500 FT MSL. WE PROCEEDED DIRECTLY TO THE SCOTT AFB; HIGH TACAN IAF. LEVELING AT 11500 FT MSL; MY WINGMAN VISUALLY ACQUIRED A TWIN ENG CIVIL ACFT OFF OUR R WING WHICH APPEARED TO BE IN A CLB. POS: STL 133 DEGS/70 KTS. TIME: APPROX AC15 PM. AT THE TIME; WE WERE OPERATING UNDER VFR; WITH XPONDER SET TO THE ASSIGNED XXXX SQUAWK. NO EVASIVE ACTION WAS INITIATED. NEITHER OF US HAD SIGHT OF THE OTHER ACFT UNTIL THIS POINT; WERE IN VMC; AND LEVEL AT 11500 FT MSL (EASTERLY COURSE) AND MONITORING ATC CTLING FREQS THE ENTIRE TIME. WE WERE NEVER ADVISED OF CONFLICTING TFC; IFR OR VFR.