Cornfield bomber
Coordinates: 48 ° 10 ′ 40 ″ N , 110 ° 6 ′ 53 ″ W.
| Cornfield bomber | |
|---|---|
 The plane after landing |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | crash |
| place | At Big Sandy , Montana 
|
| date | 2nd February 1970 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Convair F-106 Delta Dart |
| operator | United States Air Force |
| Mark | 58-0787 |
| Departure airport | Malmstrom Air Force Base |
| Destination airport | Malmstrom Air Force Base |
| Passengers | 0 |
| crew | 1 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
Cornfield Bomber ( German cornfield bomber ) was the nickname of an interceptor type Convair F-106A Delta Dart , of the 71st Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force was in use. The aircraft became famous when it landed almost undamaged in a field after the pilot's emergency exit using an ejector seat . The aircraft has been on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force since August 1986 .
accident
On February 2, 1970, the F-106A with the USAF serial number 58-0787 was involved in a combat exercise with two other F-106s. After a flight maneuver with high g forces , the pilot Gary Foust lost control of his aircraft. At an altitude of 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), the machine went into a flat spin . All attempts to end the spin - including deploying the parachute - were unsuccessful. His wingman and flight instructor Jim Lowe chased the aircraft up to an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). At Lowe's request, Foust finally activated his ejector seat about 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) above the ground. Before that, he switched the trim to takeoff settings - similar to those for landing. In this configuration, the sliding properties were good.
Immediately after Foust's emergency exit, the F-106A went into a dive and shortly afterwards stabilized in a straight flight position. There are several possible explanations for stabilization:
- The rocket-propelled ejection seat exerts a strong downward force on the aircraft's nose when exiting. This reduces the angle of attack , which makes it easier to recover from the spin.
- The removal of the pilot and ejection seat reduces the moment of inertia in the yaw and pitch axes and reduces the angular momentum of the aircraft.
- The sudden removal of the cockpit roof changes the aerodynamic properties and can dampen the autorotation forces of the front part of the fuselage.
Gary Foust landed safely on his parachute and was later rescued from a mountainous area by locals on snowmobiles . As his machine neared the ground after several miles of flight, it landed almost unscathed in a frozen field near the village of Big Sandy , Montana, despite the landing gear retracted . The F-106A skidded several hundred meters in the snow-covered wheat field, brushed against a pile of stones, and finally came to a stop about 400 yards from a road. The engine was still running when a local police officer called Malmstrom Air Force Base asking for help decommissioning the plane. They advised him to wait until the plane ran out of fuel an hour and 45 minutes later.
Aerial view of the landed aircraft
After the landing
Underside of the fuselage
Convair F-106A Delta Dart 58-0787 in the museum
After the accident
On landing, the underside of the aircraft was torn open over a length of several meters. However, the wings remained undamaged, and even the radar was still active. A team from the Sacramento Air Logistics Center then disassembled the plane partially and transported it with trucks to the nearest railway line. From there it was brought to California by freight train and repaired. Then the aircraft was used in the 49th Fighter Interceptor Squadron , the last unit of the Air Force to still use the F-106. After several years of active service, the Cornfield Bomber was handed over to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton , Ohio in 1986 , where it is on display to this day.
Trivia
The contract awarded after the accident nickname "Cornfield Bomber" is not really correct: The aircraft is a fighter ( English fighter aircraft ), not bombers , and not landed in a cornfield, but in a wheat field. According to Gary Foust, the name “Wheatfield fighter” is more appropriate, although “Cornfield Bomber” is more catchy.
After the emergency exit, Lowe is alleged to have radioed Foust to get back on his plane:
"Gary, you better get back in it!"
"Gary, you'd better get back in!"
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Convair F-106A Delta Dart. In: National Museum of the United States Air Force . May 29, 2015, accessed April 27, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Peter Grier: Gary, You Better Get Back In It! In: Air Force Magazine. April 2009, accessed April 27, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d National Museum of the US Air Force: Cornfield Bomber. October 16, 2013, accessed April 27, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Rein Inge Hoff: The airplane spin motion and an investigation into factors affecting the airplane spin . Ed .: Brunel University London . November 2014, p. 102 ( brunel.ac.uk [PDF; 31.9 MB ]).