It sure was purty ..had new paint, alla squad stripe colors on the rudder ..just *gleamed* in the sunlite.. on engine start the breech exploded (cart start).. the signal to depart the plane was given by the crewcheif (ya, he signalled CUT and took off running) ..aircrew scrambled out and away, and that plane burnt to a greasy spot on the tarmac while the fire crews kept the others around it from doin the same as tow crews pulled 'em away.
I saw that too. Only I watched it from the AGE yard, I was going through my initial AGE training and had only been on the base 2 weeks. When they started cart starting the planes, we stopped our class to watch. Was pretty darn cool watching them start those jet engines with cartridges. Then a cart fired, followed by another loud bang and the plane was on fire. I saw the pilot and wso go running across the red line. Never again did I see so many tow *trucks* and towbars at one time again at that base as people frantically towed F-4's away from the one that was burning.
Lost an F-4 and crew off the coast near Christmas one year .. they were doin ACM ..made a HO attack on another F-4, never seen again. I was TODO in QA then, so got to sit in as part of avionics debreif ..
I remember when that happened too. Very sad.
Where you there when the Michigan ANG F-4D hit the private jet near the coast? I saw that jet later, it was missing it's starboard wing all the way to the inboard pylon.
This thread is bringing back some memories.
*edit* The squadron commanders and wing commanders planes were marked by stripes on the fuselage, not the rudder.
*edit again lol* I remember when they flew that wing commanders plane back into Seymour after it had been taken apart, put in crates, and flown to a depot for repairs. The thing looked brand new again. Pretty amazing they fixed all that damage.
