I heard that the Bennington lost a plane when the elevator did not stop at the hanger deck, but went in the drink with the plane and everything else on the elevator.
How about the time an A4 and a Nuke went over the side off the coast of Japan.
Our squadron lost a plane when he ran out of fuel and crashed at Camp Elliot across the highway from Miramar.
The squadron also lost a F9F trainer on a familization flight from Miramar. Some thought he might have gone down over the Grand Canyon, which was a popular place for the new pilots to go.
USS Carl Vinson lost an F14d Super Tomcat in the summer of 1994. It was doing a sonic boom in preparation for the tiger cruise air show. when both engines flamed out and into the deep blue it went.
My nephew claims he (Lt), that he was trying to date an F-14 pilot, who was the Admirals daughter. Her F-14 had an engine failure on approach and she slamed into the aft end of the flight deck.
My question was about aircraft that where not flying. Just moving around the flight deck or hanger deck.
Yes, a Marine F-4N aboard the USS Coral Sea CV-43 in 1980. Respot had just began and a F-4N was the first plane to be spotted. The tractor driver was backing the plane in and hung a main mount on the round down. Slowly but surely the plane started sliding. The tractor driver jumped clear but the Plane Captain couldn't quite make it out as it and the tractor went overboard. The Plane Captain was thrown clear and the helo was quickly launched to get him. I watched this kid get off the helo, he was a funny shade of grey and shaking like a leaf. The Phantom rests at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
Originally posted by ChuckJ: USS Carl Vinson lost an F14d Super Tomcat in the summer of 1994. It was doing a sonic boom in preparation for the tiger cruise air show. when both engines flamed out and into the deep blue it went.
I was there when that happened. I was an ABE on Cat 2 when it went down. The F-14 was from VF-11. Both the RIO and the pilot ejected but sadly, neither survived. I watched as the helo brought in one of the aircrew (pilot or RIO I don't know) and I saw the corpmen performing CPR on him as they took him from the helo to get him to medical.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: HawkeyeFM521,
When I was in VC-13 we lost a TA-4J off the coast. The engine compressor stalled and flamed out. It would not relight. Both crew members got out OK. I think a tanker picked them up. The backseater just went through ejection seat check out the day before. Wags said that he was more prepared to punch out of an aircraft than anyone else in the squadron!
I was with VF-124 and VF-51 at Marimar in the late 70s. I watched as a Blue Angle team member flew inverted into the runway as the team was executing a flur de li.
I was TAD to VF-1 when they were short and between deployments in 1978 and watched as one of their F14 went into the freeway that was at that time just past the end of the runway. The aircraft was their hanger queen and it took us and Grumman a long time to get it back up and running...and it went in on its initial post maintenance profile flight. Lost the crew but miraculously no one on the ground was hurt.
When I was a final checker with VF-51 on the Kitty Hawk 1979 WestPac, there were a lot of special moments like the time I watched as an A-6 jumped the shuttlecock on launch and went over the bow and under the ship. The crew ejected but did not survive.
I watched a F-14 from VF-111 bolter and go into the drink when only one afterburner lit off and the other engine stalled. We were looking from the foul line and I saw the one engine light off and the rudders, spoilers, and asymmetrical stabilizers go hard over and then the crew ejected. They were picked up.
I have seen many times where I was certain that an aircraft that was being towed by tugs was going to go over the side. One time an A-7 was so close to going over because the ship was rocking so bad that even with two tugs in tandem towing it, they were still just spinning wheels and it was still going over. The plane captain was coming out and the tug drivers were standing up with one foot out when the ship started rolling back and the tugs could move it to safety...
I have seen ordnance fall to the deck many times...once when one of VF-51's F-14s landed, both Sidewinder AIMs came off their rails and slid down the deck and over the angle.
There were many character building adrenalin pumping moments during those years with HS-10 at Imperial Beach and with the F-14s at Marimar and on the Kitty Hawk flight deck, and most of them are still vivid in my memory after 27 years.
Skin, I was at Miramar on Crash Crew when that Angel drove into the runway right in front of me. And when that jG crashed his 14 into 163.
I probably gave you your pre-deployment shots??? Just joking...I think you guys took our place in the IO that year when we ran into that tanker off the coast of Singapore in '79.
I can't remember if it was '77 on the Indy or '79 on the Ranger that a 14 took a cold shot off the forward port cat and nose-dived toward the water. I was watching it on the monitor in the flight-deck BDS and watched it dip. The next thing I know, the crash alarm sounds, 5MC blares "Plane in the water" and I see a double ejection sequence...both pilot and RIO punch out and I see them above the flight deck, going left and right.
All of a sudden, I guess the nose of the 14 picks up because it was lighter, and the bird recovers on auto and starts to climb again !!! It actually rose up and banked left, and kept banking, and banking...and finally started coming toward the port side of the carrier !!! We had executed an emergency break to starboard when the plane "ditched", so the plane actually crashed just off the aft port side, near where the LSO stood. I watched him running for his life as it came toward the ship !!!
In 1969, VF-213, Gulf of Tonkin, USS Kitty Hawk. Two Phantoms returning from a mission, doing a fly-by. The plan was as they came abeam to pull hard into the vertical and roll in opposit directions. What occured was as they pulled hard up, one rolled as planed, the other did a sort of porpose movment and out comes the crew (crew picked up by the plane guard helo and both OK) the crewless aircraft flew on, now stable and slowly decending, to splash within one quarter of a mile of USS Midway.
In 1970 at Miramar a F-8 crashed into the north eastern most hanger. destroying many F-4's and killing many sailors. To this day you can see the roof patches where the ejection seats cooked off and went thru. Shockey
I was in VF-126 going through the Instrument RAG at NAS Miramar in 1978 when the Blue Angel crashed on takeoff in his A-4F. He was one of the solos...it was Blue Angel #5 that does a dirty roll on takeoff. He scooped it out and dove into the runway. One of my classmates in the Instrument Rag was LCDR Jerry Tucker who was on his way to go through the F-14 Fleet Replacement Squadron (VF-124), instead, they brought him BACK to the Blues for a second tour as Blue Angel #5 shortly after the crash...
In 1970 at Miramar a F-8 crashed into the north eastern most hanger. destroying many F-4's and killing many sailors. To this day you can see the roof patches where the ejection seats cooked off and went thru. Shockey[/QUOTE]
I have a friend who was in that hangar at that time. He is still in a wheelchair.
I served with VFP-63 from '66-'69 and made cruises on the Tico and Hancock. I recall seeing one of our aircraft--not my squadron, but a different one--being catapulted, lost power and went straight off the flightdeck into the Pacific right in front of us. Was never recovered. That was the only one I actually saw, but during my two cruises, my squadron lost a couple of pilots. We lost LCDR. Mike Wallace over Vietnam. We also lost our CAG, shot down over Vietnam. Another officer I knew was Lt. Ronald Dodge. My squadron shared the Ready Room with I think it was VF-51. They flew escort for our unarmed F-8's. I knew Mr. Dodge only because I played softball for my squadron and varsity for the Miramar Jets, and I played with and against Mr. Dodge. He was a world class athlete, played some minor league baseball. There was a famous picture of him on the cover of Life in the 1970's being paraded through a village the day he was shot down. Except for his head being bandaged, he looked to be in good health. His bones were returned to his family about 15-20 years later.
I had been in VCP-63 just a short time (03/60 - 03/62) when we where told by our skipper Capt Schwab that we has lost a plane when it came into land on one of the carriers and the land gear failed. The plane slide across the flight deck and then rolled to the right so the canopy was facing the side of the ship. The pilot was lost when he ejected and hit the ship.
I remember losing an F/A-18 in the South China Sea off of the Kitty Hawk ('93?). As I recall it was an engine problem, crew was recovered in the water and back on the deck in 15 min. great work by the rotor boys!
CVW3 lost 2 F14D's, 3 A6 intruders during our Med cruise. Tomcats were one pilot error,and one flame out/or compressor stall. One A6 was mechanical failure, another was a "Cold Cat", and 3rd was shot down by Syrian AA missile in Bakaa Valley... Independence lost an A7 on that one as well. We had a **** load of deaths on that cruise.
Originally posted by shockey: In 1969, VF-213, Gulf of Tonkin, USS Kitty Hawk. Two Phantoms returning from a mission, doing a fly-by. The plan was as they came abeam to pull hard into the vertical and roll in opposit directions. What occured was as they pulled hard up, one rolled as planed, the other did a sort of porpose movment and out comes the crew (crew picked up by the plane guard helo and both OK) the crewless aircraft flew on, now stable and slowly decending, to splash within one quarter of a mile of USS Midway.
In 1970 at Miramar a F-8 crashed into the north eastern most hanger. destroying many F-4's and killing many sailors. To this day you can see the roof patches where the ejection seats cooked off and went thru. Shockey
Shockey!! Did not know you were abd the Hawk in 69. This cruise saw the A7 fly by that ended with the XO flying into the drink. Also, at the ORI during a terrific storm off Hawaii, an F4 caugh an in flight wire, broke its back on impact, noone was even hurt. Good old MDC aircraft. VF 213 was the Arrdvarks Correct?? VA 65 Tigers, abd, a A7U outfit, and the various birds belonging to the Hawk. The cruise went from Late Dec 68 to Sept 69. Made the Sasebo Japan port in mid June?? Good to see a shipmate. end
I was just finishing working on one of my squadron's Prowlers at NAS Cubi when I looked to the left and saw a P-3 doing some kind of wierd manevuer over the runway. All of a sudden there was a loud crack and one of propellers flew off an engine and took off down the runway. The P-3 did a large bank and went out over the bay and into the drink. I believe it was VP-22 and they lost either five or six from the crew. Don't quote me on that as its been quite some time ago and memory is not what it once was. I remember there were about eight of us on our flight line and we were somewhat concerned about where that loose prop was headed.
