Setting the stage:
This incident
occurred on the FDR, 21 October 1961, south of the Dominican Republic. The
aircraft was an F8U-1 assigned to VF-11, the Red Rippers, piloted by Ltjg. Terry Kryway.
Ripper Jim Roberts:
I recall it clearly, having flown that same day. The sea state was really crappy
and when Terry made his landing I was in the ready room watching his landing on
the PLAT. It could have happened to ANY of us flying the Crusader aboard
the Roosevelt that day. The deck was moving all over the place, and with only a
12 foot hook-to-ramp clearance, there was NO room for error coming aboard. Thus,
but for the grace of God, any of us could have taken the same ride. ........ I
think it should also be pointed out - - emphasized - - that Terry was a super
outstanding pilot. He was a member of the Red Rippers flight demo team, and that
single event should not, in any way, detract from our view of his piloting
ability.
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USN photos & blow-by-blow commentary courtesy of Ripper Swede Hedberg.
Swede observed the incident from PriFly.) Click HERE
for additional description, and comments by the photomate who shot the pictures,
on the NavSource aircraft carrier website.
..... the aircraft hit hard on the stbd main mount and broke off the wheel. The wheel bounced up into the wheel well and ruptured the main fuel line; that's the cloud of fuel you see in the first picture.
The scraping of the bare main strut pulled the nose to the right, imposing an asymnmetrical load on the tailhook, ripping it out (movies from the starboard quarter showed this). The fuel caught fire, and the rest is as you see it.
The movies showed a 5-foot diameter vapor donut for an instant just in front of the intake at the moment the engine flamed out. Terry cobbed the throttle and felt nothing so he "read the instructions"* as the nose passed over the end of the angle.
*"Reading the instructions" is an euphemism for pulling the face curtain to fire the ejection seat. There are no instructions printed there, but if there were, one could read them.... if you read really fast.
You can see him reaching for the curtain -- see inset.
He got a small abrasion on his neck from his harness, but that was all.