A drawing of the stern of Forrestal showing the
spotting of aircraft at the time. Likely source
of the Zuni was F-4 No. 110. White's and McCain's
aircraft (A-4s No. 405 and 416, respectively) are
in the right-hand circle.
Sorry some of that is not true. This has been debunked here on FR within the last 2 or 3 years in detail.
That missile did not come from McCain’s plane and he wasn’t trying to wet start his plane. That missile was an accident nothing more.
Now it is true McCain was shipped out right after the incident probably more due to the fact he was so despised by the officers and crew and his CO just used this accident as a excuse to transfer him out.
His transfer might also have had something to do with the fact that the Forrestal was no longer a functioning aircraft carrier.
Missiles can malfunction, in 1961 a B-52 was shot down over Grants New Mexico by a Air National Guard F 100.
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/7-april-1961/
The pilot was exonerated, and eventually retired as a Colonel and commander of the NM ANG “Tacos”. I shot skeet with him for a number of years before he passed.
That is an assertion bordering on opinion, totally devoid of documentation.
The truth is what it is, if discoverable.
A drawing of the stern of Forrestal showing the
spotting of aircraft at the time. Likely source
of the Zuni was F-4 No. 110. White's and McCain's
aircraft (A-4s No. 405 and 416, respectively) are
in the right-hand circle.
When McCain was in Saigon, HE requested the transfer, and then he whiled away a few months. He told a friend he was worried that his naval career was over...seems bad luck followed him. He went and talked to his dad, the Admiral. Shortly thereafter, McCain was transferred to the group from which he would crash and be taken prisoner.
I know nothing of wet starts...well, I have potty trained a few little boys, so there's that..but in no way do I suggest that McCain was doing any hotdog stuff to start the fire.
It was a violation of arming and safing procedures by the munitions crew. They connected electrical plugs to the pylons of the F-4 before it was ready to launch at the catapult in violation of standing precedures and direct orders. This sent a spurious signal that fired the Zuni.
The past really is never certain is it?
Like the rich kid in the small town that never did anything wrong. The admiral's kid didn't do anything wrong either.