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This page was last updated on 09/27/2007

Click here to read Keith Gallagher's story of this amazing flight.

I had my suspicions about this video, but left it as titled by the fellow who contributed it to the site.   However, after being "blasted" by spotters from all over the world, I've decided that it's conclusively NOT an AC-130.  

Click here to read the definitive answer to this video, from someone who was there when it was filmed. 

B-17 Ride  Not a video, but a wonderful narrative and photos describing a recent ride in Liberty Belle.  More photos added on 3/11!

Info from Buzz Stock:

The music used in this video is from the 1982 Soundtrack of "Conan the Barbarian" composed and conducted by Basil Poledouris; I think the track is called 'Riders of Doom.' It can be heard early in the film when a young Cimmerian boy, Conan, witnesses the destruction of his village and the death of his parents at the hand of warlord Thulsa Doom (played by James Earl Jones).

(A note regarding this awful video, provided by a former B-52 pilot: "The B-52 in a steep turn at low airspeed loses roll control, resulting in a natural over-banking tendency.  The small rudder authority is unable keep the nose from dropping, nor can it pick up the lower wing.  B-52s do not have conventional ailerons, but spoilers on the upper wing surface similar to the MU-2.  The first flashes of light seen prior to impact is the lower wing contacting high power transmission lines in the area.")

Click here to view a detailed safety analysis of this horrible crash.

"Lest we forget, the two Beauforts A9-27 and A9-268, of the RAAF's 8 OTU, collided over Jervis Bay on 14 April 1943 while performing a 'Prince of Wales' break for people of the media."

"All eight crew members were killed when both aircraft hit the water:  Crew of A9-27 F/O Raymond Sydney Green (Pilot), F/O Maurice Francis Hoban, F/Sgt Eric William Sweetnam, Sgt Albert John Bailey.   Crew of A9-268 F/Lt David George Dey (Pilot), P/O Jack Norman, P/O Rex Lindsay Solomon, Sgt Hugh Sydney George Richardson."

A note from the contributor: "Please find attached 2 videos of unfortunately bad quality, they are old (1963). However, they show a “slightly” larger aircraft than the RA-5C Vigilante land and take of from an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Forrestal. Tests were made in October 1963 to use the C-130 Hercules for COD, Carrier Onboard Delivery.  49 touch-and-go landings were made and 21 full stop landings and take offs without arrestor cables at landing, or catapult at take off.  The maximum landing weight was 121.000 pounds. The carrier had a head wind of 40 knots that day so they had to slow down the speed of the carrier 10 knots due to rather heavy seas. They had to paint a new “centerline” on the landing deck, which wasn’t actually a centerline anymore to avoid the Herc´s wing tip to hit the tower. The wing tip cleared the tower with just under 15 feet.  The crew on the Herc had before the test painted on the nose of the aircraft 'LOOK MA, NO HOOK'."

Commentary From A Viewer Regarding These Videos:

"Regarding your videos of the C-130 on a carrier, that was a NAVY C-130, flown by LCDR Jimmy Flatley, and the ship was USS FORRESTAL. I have the highest esteem for our light blue brethren, but I doubt if any carrier CO would allow an Air Force type to come near his ship." 

More Commentary Regarding These Videos:

"While reading through your site, I found you had copies of the USS Forrestal video file detailing the landing and takeoff of a C-130 aircraft. While your first viewer commentary meant well, and did have the correct information regarding the pilot of this aircraft, he was not quite correct as to whom the aircraft BELONGED."

"The Forrestal landings were made with aircraft BuNo 149798, operated by the United States Marine Corps and loaned to the Navy. I suppose one could argue against this on the technicality that the Marine Corps is 'part of' the Navy, but we all know how it *really* works. Besides, it's still flying today, with VMGR-352 based out of Miramar, California. You've got a great collection of videos, thanks for sharing!"

Info from Andrew Burfield:

"Just writing regarding your military video 'C-130 Radical Approach'. I thought I’d provide some info. The aircraft is a C-130H of No.40 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, taken at Whenuapai Air Force Base, Auckland, New Zealand. I’m not sure when the video was taken, however the video reveals the tail of one of the RNZAFs two Boeing 757-200’s. These became operational in May 2003, so the video must date from after this time. The paint scheme on the C-130 was gradually changed from the camouflage pattern seen in this video to an all-grey scheme during 2004 - 2005. The video was most likely taken during the base’s annual Open Day. The C-130H performing the display at the 2005 open day carried the new all-grey scheme, however the display aircraft in your video carries the old camouflage scheme, thus the most likely candidate is the 2004 Open Day (the open day is always held in March or April)."

Info from Gary Schreffler:

"The pilot in the video was Lt. Curt Karvala, flying with VF-74 Bedevilers (Air Wing 17 embarked in USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42).   This is his story:"

"Karvala launched off the FDR when the starboard main mount departed the aircraft.  Since they were in 'blue water' ops (too far from land to divert) he had to make the 'peg leg' landing.  He was actually given the choice of dirtying up (wheels down, flaps down, etc.), flying low and slow down the port side of the ship and doing a controlled ejection, or trap aboard the ship.  And the rub: the barricade was not available.  As you see, he does a pretty fine job."

"One other detail: The landing was filmed by his own camera.  His bunkroom mate grabbed the camera and filmed his landing.  Curt was told that had he crashed and burned, his friend woud have toseed the camera over the side..."

EA-6B Colliding with S3B    This terrible video shows an EA-6B Prowler slamming into an S3B Viking that has just landed aboard the USS Enterprise.   The crew of the S3B survived, while the Prowler crew did not.  

Click here for more information about this sad accident.

From Jack: "We were flying around one beautiful Sunday afternoon.  The San Diego harbor was filled with sailboats -- people playing and enjoying the weather.  We knew most of them were Navy people who want their flyers to play with them -- so we did.  This clip resulted."  

(Note: This video is in .mp4 format.  You need the "latest & greatest" versions of Realplayer or Windows Media Player to view these videos.)

F-4 Phantom Speed Run  This video clip (formerly 6 separate clips) was filmed and donated by Jack McClard, a former F-4 Phantom RIO.  Filmed in 1970-71, it shows the Phantom as it transitions from subsonic to supersonic to transonic flight, in a way that most civilians never see.

Jack's commentary:  "For the benefit of those who may not know the dynamics of flying supersonic, the speed of sound is the fastest speed at which air molecules can move away from each other. At the speed of sound, they collide with each other. That is what forms a shock wave when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound. The shock wave is a wake of air molecules that peel off the air frame. At Mach 1, the shock wave peels off the leading edges. As the aircraft continues to speed up—i.e., to push through the sound barrier—the leading edges of the aircraft push through the “sound barrier” and the wake peel off further and further back along the airframe."

"In the F-4 the shock wave was approaching the engine intake and about even with the RIO at Mach 2.  When you are looking along the edge of the shock wave, you can very easily see it. It is more difficult to record it on video, but that is what this clip does."

"In the beginning of the clip, the first thing you see is the only indication to the crew members when you cross the speed of sound—a temporary blip in the altimeter. This indicates that the aircraft is transonic. The next scene, at about 0:15, shows the air intake ramp fully extended. The ramp was programmed to extend as the shock wave approaches the intake. It physically pushed the shock wave out of the intake since the compressor blades cannot accept supersonic air. If the shock wave is ingested, you experience a violent compressor stall. You can also, barely, see a ripple in the clouds in the background. That is the shock wave. It will be a bit more apparent after seeing the entire clip. A later segment shows the shock wave more clearly and once you know what to look for you can find in this part."

"At about 1:00, the scene changes to a background with blue sky above and white clouds below. This is the clearest view of the shock wave. Look at the border between the white clouds and blue sky on the right side of the screen. See what appears as a hair of white stretching into the blue. That is the difference in refraction caused by the shock wave. Once you find that, you can follow the line through the rest of the white background. When the background scene changes again to mixed cloud and blue, concentrate on the right quadrant, and you can see what appears to be a hair rippling through the background. From the cockpit, this appears as a distinct hair curling back off the aircraft."

Click here to view a webpage dedicated to this terrible crash.

Click here to view a site dedicated to researching this crash.

Well, folks -- I think this is the proverbial "Final Word" on this incident.  Click here to read an exhaustive and authoritative explanation of this accident -- FROM THE PILOT of the F-14 that exploded, Neil Jennings!

Unless further evidence to the contrary is received, I will delete all other explanations, still listed below.

Click here to read an explanation for this bizarre accident.

Click here to read an alternate (and conflicting) explanation of this bizarre accident.

From LCDR G., F-14A/B/D RIO, US Navy

"The explanation (see the first link, above) that states that LCDR Bates was in the airplane in this video is completely false.  The mishap shown should be attributed to LCDR Neil "Waylon" Jennings with VF-213."

"Bates did, however, crash two jets.  The first was over water during a guns defense drill where he lost control and ejected.  The second was on departure from an airport in Tennessee where I know for sure that he and his RIO were killed." 

"I was a squadron mate of LCDR Bates in VF-114, and flew with him as an FRS instructor when he became a pilot."

Amazingly, this video is a partial fake.   Here are the comments of the pilot of the aircraft involved in this collision:

"(Technical Advisor) Tony Clay suggested I send this to you to correct a gross mistake in the video that is on your website concerning the 'F-15 Mid-air'. It is nothing of the sort."

"This copy is an altered version of the original, I know because it came from MY aircraft and I was the one who bailed out.  It was a mid-air, true, but my aircraft was an F-16A and the other aircraft which impacted me was a Marine F-4."

"The collision took place over the Yellow Sea off the West coast of South Korea on December 15, 1982. The apparent impact aircraft in the video currently on your website has been digitally superimposed into the original footage. The original footage is attached as a wmv file (See it, below) of less than good quality, but if you would desire a better copy, I may be able to burn a DVD of it. Please let me know, and for goodness sakes, correct the description on your website if possible."

- Daryl Hower/aka Smilin'Jack

LtCol (ret), USAF

More Info:

"Your site has great videos.  I worked to repair the aircraft that made it back from this collision when I was stationed at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. The aircraft that came back was ship 77-083, which was the base commander's aircraft. Both engines were running when it landed. There was a lot of fiberglass in both engines from the radome that was mostly missing. Some of the avionics boxes were missing as well as a few avionics doors. The left wing was missing the wing tip and the wing was split open a couple of feet.  We did get the aircraft to fly again."

Click here to read why a US Marine thinks this is NOT "precision bombing" after all!

Click here to ready why an F-16 pilot believes this IS indeed "precision bombing" after all!

"Your synopsis state(d) that the pilot (in this video) was killed.  However, on one of the clips it is fairly easy to see the ejection of the pilot as the aircraft slides off the front of the ship."

"The video is time/date stamped 12/4/06.  When you go to the "The History of Ejection" website it shows the following accident occurred  on that date:"

• USMC F/A-18C  VMFA-314
• Into Pacific off USS Abraham Lincoln, skidded off deck.
• Pilot ejected safely and landed on carrier

"It appears that the pilot was one lucky dude!"

From the contributor:  "On take-off a MLG wheel came free as soon as the aircraft was airborne and managed to bounce its way over to the BUP demountables, where it smacked in the front right corner of a white Falcon wagon.  The wheel was immaculately clean, so some framie is going to be in a world of trouble.   The Nav bailed in record time -- his hatch was open before the aircraft stopped sliding -- but the pilot (who'd apparently just come from conversion training) took a bit longer to evac." 

Info from David Tixier:

The French Ballet vidéo is from a French film called "Les chevaliers du ciel" (Sky knights) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_chevaliers_du_ciel  This film is about two Mirage 2000 pilots of the French airforce. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage_2000

Click here to view a pdf file about this crash from the Canadian Armed Forces Department of National Defense website. (You must have Adobe Reader installed to view this file.)

For more info on the Grumman S-2F Tracker, see: http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/equip/historical/trackerlst_e.asp

For the history of the USS Ticonderoga, see: http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/carriers/cv14.htm

Incredibly, this beautiful video is computer generated!   See http://www.angel.ne.jp/~tochy/   for more!

Info from Jim Briggman:

"Best guess is that this video shows a Grumman F9F-8 Cougar from VF-113 / VA-113 aboard USS Essex, CVA 9, during WestPac cruise 16 JUL 1956 to 26 JAN 1957."

See: http://www.skyhawk.org/3e/va113/va113.htm  and http://dioramas.free.fr/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=39

Info from Robert H. Jones:

"May I offer a corrrection on the 'Slippery Flight Deck' piece?  The absolutely clear flight deck of the Essex Class (straight deck) carrier would indicate that there were probably no other (or few) aircraft aboard, since a complement of an Air Group would require most aircraft to be parked on the flight deck, the remainder would be on the hangar deck below. I believe the clear deck was rigged so as to allow new pilots to make multiple 'touch and go' landings and takeoffs (followed by an arrested full-stop landing) as the final part of their Carrier Qualification training Syllabus prior to deployment. I did this myself as a USAF Exchange Pilot with VF191 flying the F9F6 Cougar."

Fred says,  "Fifty years ago, three of us decided to do a little formation flying.....so I gave my camera to the rear-seater in the lead T-28A. That's me on the outside bouncing around trying to stay in close.  Usually a multi-engine pilot, I hadn't flown any formation (or single engine) since pilot training four years before. This was over eastern Massachusetts.  Great sport....and in the hour and a half we were up, I didn't run into anyone. The other pilots and aircraft belonged to a Reserve Wing. I was on active duty. One of these days I'm going to get to visit your Inn....I'd better hurry, though.....76+ already."

Tornadoes Over Goose Bay   This beautiful video shows German Tornadoes in low-level, high-speed training flight over Canada's Goose Bay, with appropriate -- if creepy -- music to match.

"A tiny bit of trivia: the music to the film of Luftwaffe Tornados is by Rammstein - who were named after the Rammstein airbase..."    - Rob, London, U.K.

From a USAF Targeteer:

"There are 3 pieces of weapon system video included in the Tornado video that are actually F-16C weapon system video from Operation Allied Force in 1999.  I know because I processed the battle damage assessments at the ops center at Vicenza, Italy that year.  One is a cluster munition impacting a MiG-29 with superb secondary effects, one is an LGB hit against a revetted tank, and the other is an LGB hit on a Hip helicopter.  Precision guided munition droppers all have very distinct video, and what was included in this otherwise excellent collection of footage was not from a Tornado."

(This video has generated a great deal of controversy.  Click here to read all sorts of interesting debate over what, exactly, this video depicts.)

Information from Martin Hyde:

"The Forger does/did not use a catapult launch system.  Instead it uses a vectored thrust system similar to the Harrier. Like the Harrier, the Forger vectors the exhaust gasses out of the hot end.  But unlike the Harrier which vectors some of the "cold" air from the leading stages of the engine to generate lift for the forward section of the aircraft, the Forger uses two (I think) auxiliary "lift engines" mounted vertically in the forward fuselage.

I believe the Forger (in the video) was in VSTOL mode as the intake door over the forward fuselage is open and you can clearly see the effects of the engines on the water's surface as the aircraft nears impact. I rather suspect insufficient engine thrust, reduced wind over the deck, excess weight and pilot error are more at fault here...not a "soft" catapult shot!