Friendly Fire: Three Planes That Shot Themselves Down

Fighter aircraft are among the most complex machines in the world, and those who fly them face many risks, including their own weapons. The History Guy recalls three jet fighter aircraft whose own weapons caused their demise.

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California, hosts one of the world’s largest collections of American aircraft, most of them airworthy. Painstakingly rebuilding these titans of American aviation history is hard work, with mechanics and craftsmen working by hand (sometimes for decades) to return craft to their original state. Visitors are encouraged to view the aircraft and learn about their history, their stories, and their journey from graveyard to restoration.

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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.

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Script by THG

#ushistory #thehistoryguy #aviation

[Brian_Homer]

This is a great video. My father was involved in the testing of the F14. Bill "Tank" Sherman had been to our house on at least one occasion. I remember listening to he and my Dad, who had been a RIO in F4s, tell crazy stories of they're flying years. Unfortunately, this is not one, that I can recall, either one of them ever told. Now, it makes me wonder if my Dad was in the tower, during this incident.

[lelandrogers]

I remember seeing Tom Attridge on "I've Got A Secret." The panel was unable to guess that he had shot himself down.

[dougjb]

“That’s weird.”

Two words that, when spoken during a aircraft test flight, usually indicate that an unplanned, rapid descent is imminent.

[BrisketChef]

Thank you for including photos of the F-14. I was the Petty Officer who designed the Show bird paint scheme for your Tomcat image at 7:21. VF-14 Tophatter's forever the oldest and boldest Navy Squad.

[Mishn]

We had an F-4C try to shoot itself down. The F-4C doesn't have an internal gun but can carry external gun pods. The jet had one mounted on the centerline fuselage station; a SUU-23 which houses an M-61 Vulcan canon. While firing, the front barrel clamp that holds the muzzle end of the six barrels broke and the barrels went out of alignment causing rounds to spray all over. One went up through the radome and another up through the nose wheel well. The jet landed safely with an aircrew that had a good story to tell from then on.

[goofyiest]

a friend of mine was a test pilot and his stories of weapon separation tests are the most entertaining.

[russelldodd]

This channel is required watching for my children.

[thisolesignguy]

My Grandpa was in the Air Force for over 40 years, beginning with the Korean War. He told me that it was quite common to have jets come back with holes in them, with buried rounds backwards embedded in them where the pilot either caught a tumbling round or ran into their own ammo. The f-4 was notorious for this during Vietnam because they would dive & strafe, catching some in the process. He said they would just pull a round out for the pilots to keep as a souvenir and patch the holes so they could go back out. A few pilots turned them into lucky necklaces.

[mattcole]

Great story, thanks. I love My grandfather shot himself down twice, he was a test pilot during world war II. One of the times he was flying a p-40 test firing rockets mounted on the wings, at the time this had never been tried before and they thought that they needed to fire them from tubes. He said the rockets would rattle down the tubes and the stabilizer fins were bent exiting the tubes, so they had no idea where they were going to go. One of the rockets bounced off the ground after he fired at a practice target on the ground and took out his windshield and some control surfaces. He had a million different stories, I listened to every one of them as often as I could get him to tell them.

[Igor-xlwz]

Thanks, History Guy, for keeping the stories coming when we need them most.

[grondhero]

*A-10 Warthog:* You won't shoot yourself down if you slow to a stop while shooting.

[timcarter]

Completely out of left field, yet incredibly entertaining, and a part of American flight history that people wouldn't really think of. Thank you for bringing stuff like this to light.

[billmandaue]

Here is another one for your collection. I knew Mart after he had retired from the Air Force (though he was still working for the Air Force as a contractor).

A Bullet in the Tail
Col. Mart Bushnell (ret)
An interesting event happened to me one day when I was flight testing the (then developmental) F-15. We were experimenting with a modified Gatling type 20 mm cannon that operated at a higher hydraulic pressure to increase the rate of fire from 6000 rounds per minute to something like 8000. The gun barrels were also splayed a little to widen the bullet impact pattern. The theory was that the new pattern would have the bullet pattern density of the standard gun but a bigger impact area, increasing the probability of kill.
The test point was at level flight, high altitude, and something like mach 1.2. I fired a two-second burst with no apparent problem, then moved on to other test points. When I returned to the base, parked the plane, and shut down, the crew chief did his customary post flight inspection. He came up the ladder wide-eyed and showed me a 20mm round. He had dug it out of my right vertical stabilizer. I had shot myself in the tail.
Engineering analysis considered the fact that the F-15 gun line is elevated two degrees above the aircraft longitudinal axis, as opposed to the conventional mount in the fighters of the day of two degrees below the axis. The splayed barrels would effectively increase bullet path elevation even more. The thought was that perhaps I overtook the bullet as its trajectory arced back into my flight path. In the end, the most probable cause was concluded to be the likelihood that the bullet tumbled due to the high mach and it backed into me. I’m glad it didn’t back into the canopy or an engine. The damage was cosmetic.
I still am not sure whether the gun was meant to be fired at that speed.

[simonharper]

Now we are on Covid-19 lockdown here in the UK this channel, being unfailingly entertaining, is going to help me maintain my sanity no end! Thank you.

[torpedo]

Sees History Guy and an F-14, instant like. History guy calls Tomcat beautiful, double like if possible. You sir are a man of taste and culture!

[herbertkeithmiller]

The Viper nickname for the F-16 came from the fact that it has a electronic fly-by-wire control system and was computer-controlled. This gave it a Sci-Fi futuristic demeanor. At the time of the f-16s introduction the television show Battlestar Galactica was popular. They had space planes called Vipers so natural thing was to call this futuristic jet after the science-fiction Viper.

[Turkkish]

In 2003 over Iraq a USAF F-16CJ shot itself, didn't go down. He wasn't firing the gun, just 1 round went off. The gun is not a strike-fire system, it's electronic. The cause was determined to be a bit of sand causing static buildup in the gun, then a discharge was enough to send a round through. It fired as the jet was in a left banked dive and the pilot had a quick reaction to the round going off and righted the jet. The result was the round left the barrel, had an entry hole on one panel and an exit hole on another panel. Inside the panel it only left a scratch on the transmitter for the radar system. The path of the round looked like it made an S shape, but really the plane flew into the round then back out. It was pretty amazing because stuff packed tight with only inches to spare and that round missed everything, only had to replace the two panels.

[Hiznogood]

We have a saying here in Sweden that translate to: “ A crowbar has many parts” which means there’s a lot that can go wrong even with simple things!

[scottyb]

I love when you find gold nuggets of obscure history like this. What a fascinating subject. I'd never considered planes shooting themselves down. This is why history is so interesting and there's always more to learn. Good work!

[gadsdenflyer]

Out of all my youtube subscriptions, this one is my favorite. The History Guy always has something interesting to talk about rather than today's toxic politics. I never miss a video!