Cornfield Bomber

[Мастер]

I just read the Wikipedia page about a rather bizarre incident, going back to 1970.

A United States Air Force Convair F-106 Delta Dart, piloted by Gary Foust, was on a training flight, when it entered a flat spin. The pilot attempted recovery, but this proved not possible, and he ejected at about 15,000 feet. The removal of the pilot and the ejection seat changed the aerodynamics of the aeroplane sufficiently that it recovered from the spin on its own, and gently settled down, pilotless, in a snow-covered farmer's field near Big Sandy, Montana. Foust, now ejected and floating down to the ground by parachute, watched his aeroplane recover and land without him; another pilot suggested that he get back in.

The plane, having touched down with almost no damage, continued to run; the heat from the engines melted the snow, and it actually began to move a bit. The local sheriff, not being accustomed to dealing with unmanned military aircraft sitting in farm fields with the engines still running, contacted the air force base for advice; they recommended that he simply leave the aeroplane alone until it ran out of fuel, which occurred within two hours.

A recovery crew came to disassemble and move the aircraft; one member of the recovery team felt that, had there been any less damage, he would simply have flown the aeroplane out of the field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber

[Lance]

That's amazing.

As I was reading that, the pilot's named seemed familiar so I googled. Nothing came up except this story, which I'd never heard before.

[Enzo]

Well that ought to be a tough one to live down in the locker room.

[Heid the Ba]

"Serving with the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron based at Malmstrom Air Force Base adjacent to Great Falls, Montana," who were they there to intercept? Rogue Canukistanis?

[Enzo]

Tasked with keeping the Rough Riders and the Roughriders separate.