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I had only recently arrived for my new assignment with ATU-206 stationed at
Forrest Sherman Field, NAS Pensacola. My Unit was an Advanced Training Unit for Pilots who had
already received their wings and were qualifying in Jets. In this case, Grumman F9F Panthers.
We also had a few Cougars as well.
I arrived on Station the 1st of December, 1957 after 30 days shore leave. With Christmas approaching, everyone was making plans to go home. That is except me. I had used up my leave so was resigned to spending the Holidays on Base. From about the middle of December on, Flight Ops were minimal. As a result, those of us who stayed were rotated to the “Crash Crew”. I had never been part of a “Crash Crew” so I had no idea what could happen. But I was about to find out! On December 22, an Advanced Flight Student checked out a Panther to get extra hours of flight time and to log as many FCLPs as he could manage. At this particular time, he had made about 10 “touch and gos” when disaster struck. PThe Panther had a fuel tank on each wing tip that held 250 gallons of JP4. The onboard fuel control system was designed to maintain weight balance in the tip tanks by automatically transferring fuel back and forth between them and the main fuel cell. On this day, the system was not working properly! Had the Pilot had more experience in the Panther, he would have landed at the first sign of an imbalance. Instead, he continued to make FCLPs. To further exacerbate the problem, the wind picked up significantly out of the east. Since he was using the North/South runway it resulted in a heavy cross wind from right to left. He managed to compensate on a couple of passes but on the third he took a wave off and started a banking left turn. This placed the “heavy” wing tank down and when a heavy gust caught him, it forced his plane to roll over and in a down attitude, augured into the ground upside down. The crash crew was called in even before he actually hit the ground. We arrived at the crash site only seconds after the initial impact. The impact had ruptured the main fuel cell and JP4 was spilling every where. The aircraft was already engulfed in flames. As soon as we arrived, it was evident that the Pilot would not survive. The plane was upside down in a raging inferno and we had no equipment to right it in time. We hosed the plane down with foam but all we heard was the Pilot screaming for mercy. Suddenly, we heard a “pop” and the screaming stopped. After what seemed like an eternity. We finally got the flames extinguished. The “Cherry Picker” had arrived and when we righted the plane and opened what was left of the canopy, the site we saw has haunted me to this day. What little was left of the charred remains was, for the most part, bonded to the “Martin-Baker” seat. To minimize any further damage to the remains, we took the seat out with his remains still in it. The smell of charred human flesh is not a smell I ever want to experience again. While it would be the last time for me to smell charred human flesh, it would not be the last time to lose a friend or shipmate in an aircraft accident. But that is for another time Joe Dunegan AE2, VS-37 '56 - '57 |
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