F-11F Tiger: The plane that shot itself down!
On the 21st of September 1956, test pilot Tom Attridge took his plane for a spin off the coast of Long Island. At 20,000ft, he initiated a shallow dive, his plane picked up speed.
At 13,000ft, he fired a couple of bursts with his plane's four 20mm cannons, entered a steeper dive and switched the Tiger's afterburner on, reaching Mach 1.
At 7,000 feet, as Tom began to ease up on the throttle and level his plane up, projectiles started hitting his F-11F, including one hitting his canopy!
Tom had outran his own 20mm shells during his dive and now that he slowed down, they caught up with him!
His engine first lost power then flamed out and Tom crash landed. He survived the crash with injuries, eventually recovered and returned to flight status within 6 months.
He never shot himself down again.
Defensionem - The WarBible
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