The only problem with that version of the story is that there were no planes behind McCain's - it was sitting on the edge of the flight deck. The missile came from another aircraft on the opposite side of the ship. This is shown in the image of the arrangement of the aircraft on the flight deck in the Wikipedia article Richard referenced. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CVA-59_fire_aft_deck_plan.png > Notice that the F-4s are on one side of the ship and the A-4s on the other. It is also confirmed by the account I provided the link to. And by photographs from the Navy of the incident. <http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/MEDIA/images/a-m/Forrestal2sm.jpg > -- Brian
On Oct 12, 2008, at 11:35 AM, John D wrote: > My father was a fighter pilot, but that doesn't qualify me to know > anything, but here is my understanding of the Forrestal incident > tragedy: There are a couple ways to start a jet engine. There's the > safe way and there's the show off way. The show off way is called a > wet start which involves squirting excess kerosene onto the burners > to light a fire in a hurry. This is quick and effective and a big > surprise to everyone around you since it creates a huge flame that > flares out behind the jet. You'd use a "wet start" when you're in a > god damned hurry and also when you want to scare the bejeesus out of > the flight crew. The latter is what McCain had in mind. > Unfortunately he tried this on a crowded flight deck. A missile > mounted on the plane behind him let loose, tearing into the exterior > fuel tank on MCain's plane. It burst into a huge ball of flame and > rapidly spreading pool of burning jet fuel. Whether by accident or > malfunction, McCain's plane dropped two one-thousand pound bombs > intended for those little people in Viet Nam. They dropped from his > wings to the flight deck. McCain quickly realized the predicament he > was in and popped his canopy, jumped out over the nose of his plane > (there is video of this) swung out from the refueling tube and > escaped the flames that were rapidly engulfing the flight deck. > Lotta people died, lotta people wounded, aircraft all over being > frantically pushed into the sea to avoid their arsenal exploding on > deck, major damage to an important vessel in the fleet. Being the > son of the commander of the Pacific Fleet, John got wisked off ship > with a news crew to head for a little R & R and to not get lynched > right then and there by his shipmates (who spent the next 24 or so > hours fighting the flames, saving the ship and collecting the dead > and wounded. > >> Mugsy wrote: got an earful over . . . fooling around with >> afterburners and a flareout touching off the missile. also . . . >> McCain's plane was fragged . . . meaning to ask a pilot . . . >> since I don't understand how the missile could have been set off --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/StrataList-OT?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
