[CindyDawg]

His plane was hit?

[smoketree]

It was parked on deck and hit by a missile accidently released and fired from another plane on deck.

[Not now, Not ever!]

It was. while sitting on the deck.

[MarkL]

His plane was hit?

While on the flight deck of the Forestall (sp?). I believe that there was a short circuit in the fire control of another plane on the flight deck, and McCain's A4 was hit by what was I believe a Zuni rocket. His plane was fully fueled and armed, and he was waiting to take off. McCain got out of his plane and had to crawl through fire to get to safety.

McCain was absolutely blameless, and anyone who says anything different is beneath contempt. A lot of good men died that day.

Mark

[300winmag]

His plane was hit?

His plane fired the rocket. This is a common danger in naval aviation, even today. There is so much high-power radar around, it can jump the ignition gap on a rocket motor, and start the motor.

There are electrical shunt clips that "safe" the motor, but they have to be removed before flight. Best practice is to then have the aircraft pointing to the side of the carrier, aimed at empty ocean. But once they start lining up for launching, your have some twitchy electrical circuits waiting for a stray electrical pulse, rather than the pilot pushing a button.

The rocket, a 2.75 FFAR, came from McCain's A-4, but it was shown to have been a freak accident, and he had nothing to do with it. It's just a lousy smear by swine who know better, but figure they can convince enough dummies to keep the libel circulating.

Oh, and accidental rocket firings still happen today, even after 40 years of technological improvements.

[Doctor Raoul]

Yes, the Zuni hit McCains drop tank.