LORDIE Check out this midair, NO-body hurt!!

pishta said

Check out some battle damaged B-17s that made it home. One had 1 control cable intact. Said it was the only thing holding the tail on. There was an F-15 that lost an entire wing from the nacelle on out. Pilot didn't even know until he noticed fuel leaking out that side of the plane. A few Navy jets have taken a cat shot launch with their wingtips still folded up. Now how that happens is beyond me as 8 guys are hooking you up and the launch officer has to send you!

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When I was at Miramar some jock launched "and flew" an A7 Corsair. It did not fly far. A fellow tech saw it. He saw it on the runway, first thought it was some sort of engine test, or taxi test. Said the jock got into the throttle, then must've thought something wrong, got off, THEN GOT IN AGAIN and took off!!! I believe that was the one that penetrated a RAT through a roof and into a baby's bedroom

From Wiki:

16 March
A U.S. Navy A-7 Corsair II departs NAS Miramar, California, for USS Ranger with wings folded, crashes into a row of houses in a San Diego suburb. Lt. Robert F. Schreiber (also reported as Schreiver), 29, ejects

Our ETC "TACAN" expert at Miramar, who we called "whiskey body" once told me (in the early 70's) that he was pretty sure that every aircraft the navy had managed to get off the deck with wings folded at least once