Self landing F-106

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Already in 1910..

"The dove flew extremely intrinsically stable by the based on the winged seeds of Zanonia Rankpflanze airfoil shape. A statement of the instructor in Wiener Neustadt to their students was that this, they should come in difficult flight conditions, the control should just let it go until the dove flew by itself is stable again. In one anecdote is reported that a mechanic at launch preparations the throttle a pigeon accidentally pushed on full throttle and fell off the plane. The aircraft lifted without pilot itself off and landed after the fuel was exhausted after 200 km on a smooth lawn."

In reality it was the pilot, Mr. Hirth, who had climbed out to start the engine but had left the throttle at the "full" position. When the engine sputtered to life, he did not manage to get into the seat in time, and saw his bird fly away.
Famous story here..

Man, can you imagine having to live that down?

[Commander Wallace]

I thought I would add this : This is an Israeli F-15 Eagle that suffered extensive wing damage in a " in flight collision ". The F-15 lost an entire wing. It not only managed to fly on but also land safely. The pilot was quoted as saying had he known the starboard wing was missing, he would have ejected.

[mako88sb]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I thought I would add this : This is an Israeli F-15 Eagle that suffered extensive wing damage in a " in flight collision ". The F-15 lost an entire wing. It not only managed to fly on but also land safely. The pilot was quoted as saying had he known the starboard wing was missing, he would have ejected.

I remember watching that awhile back. Quite the testament to how well it was designed along with it's 104:0 kill loss ratio. Looking through the accident reports there was a 1990 incident in Alaska were a F-15 accidentally launched a sidewinder at another F-15. It was damaged but made it back for a safe landing. In 1995 a Japanese Air Force F-15 was accidentally shot down by his wingman with a sidewinder. Wonder if the wingman did the hari-kari afterwards.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by mako88sb

I remember watching that awhile back. Quite the testament to how well it was designed along with it's 104:0 kill loss ratio. Looking through the accident reports there was a 1990 incident in Alaska were a F-15 accidentally launched a sidewinder at another F-15. It was damaged but made it back for a safe landing. In 1995 a Japanese Air Force F-15 was accidentally shot down by his wingman with a sidewinder. Wonder if the wingman did the hari-kari afterwards.

You have that right. The F-15 Eagle is ahead of it's time and the engineers who designed it are beyond exceptional. The firing of the missiles may not have been the pilots fault. There were cases where static electric buildup overcame the resistance in the firing circuit and the missiles fired by themselves.

[mako88sb]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

You have that right. The F-15 Eagle is ahead of it's time and the engineers who designed it are beyond exceptional. The firing of the missiles may not have been the pilots fault. There were cases where static electric buildup overcame the resistance in the firing circuit and the missiles fired by themselves.

Good point about the side-winder problem. I did a bit of searching to see if this was the cause of the 2 incidents in my post. I'm not having much luck though. Seems any search involving an accidental shoot-down with F-15 in it brings up the Blackhawks incident. Do you know of a site that goes into more detail about the sidewinder problem.

I was also curious if you have ever read "Yeager". I stumbled on it when it first came out and bought the hardcover which I usually avoided back then when I was in school. Great book and it really heightened my appreciation for him. Especially when he went to all the effort to get back in the fight during WW2 after being shot-down over France. However, I found some parts of it to be a bit hard to believe. For instance when he described the time Neil Armstrong and him got bogged down in a salt-flat while doing a touch and go that according to Yeager, he strongly advised Neil from doing. From all I had read about Armstrong up to that point, it sounded pretty out of character for him to do something like that. Just a few years ago, I read "First Man" and Neil mentions that it was more the other way around with the salt-flat incident. Seems old Yeager wasn't above tall tales when it came to embellishing his book.

[XabbaRus]

I read Yeager when I was 15 and thought it was really good. I then reread it about 10 years later when I was a bit more worldly wise and I'm afraid my opinion of him changed. His book seemed very much a "am I not greatest" and "I was the best pilot in the world bar none" and it got quite irritating.

Sure he broke the sound barrier with a broken rib, but I found he came across as very dismissive of others around him. He also neglected to mention that the Bell X-1 research derived a lot from the Miles M.52.

I thought a better book that I read is The Right Stuff by Thomas Wolfe.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by mako88sb

Good point about the side-winder problem. I did a bit of searching to see if this was the cause of the 2 incidents in my post. I'm not having much luck though. Seems any search involving an accidental shoot-down with F-15 in it brings up the Blackhawks incident. Do you know of a site that goes into more detail about the sidewinder problem.

I was also curious if you have ever read "Yeager". I stumbled on it when it first came out and bought the hardcover which I usually avoided back then when I was in school. Great book and it really heightened my appreciation for him. Especially when he went to all the effort to get back in the fight during WW2 after being shot-down over France. However, I found some parts of it to be a bit hard to believe. For instance when he described the time Neil Armstrong and him got bogged down in a salt-flat while doing a touch and go that according to Yeager, he strongly advised Neil from doing. From all I had read about Armstrong up to that point, it sounded pretty out of character for him to do something like that. Just a few years ago, I read "First Man" and Neil mentions that it was more the other way around with the salt-flat incident. Seems old Yeager wasn't above tall tales when it came to embellishing his book.

Actually I haven't read the book . From what you, XabbaRus and others have said, I doubt I will either. He is / was a great pilot but so are the many that have done so without the accolades and fanfare that Chuck Yeager received. I remember a time I had spoken to an older gentleman in a VA Hospital who was a flight instructor for a number of aircraft including the P-51 Mustang. He was still very upset that he was " relegated " to teaching others how to fly and fight with combat aircraft instead of being with friends and joining in the fight in WW2.


Before I posted the " spontaneous firing " comment, I had looked for it so I could post the link. I didn't find it but I know it had been an Issue. The pilot had been " hung out to dry " over the incident before they realized upon investigation that what he reported was consistent with other reported " Spontaneous firing " incidents. I'm sure they didn't want to acknowledge publicly that it happened. If I find it, I will let you know.

[XabbaRus]

Like I said read The Right Stuff, it covers the early test pilots and astronauts. Very good book. The film isn't bad either.