Updated: April 18, 2010
LCDR John M. McCall was killed in Feb. 1964 when he was putting on a show for a group of VIPs abroad the Saratoga off Mayport Fl. He was flying the shape of a heart with an arrow going through it using those photo flash canisters behind the cockpit, when the plane suddenly went straight into a dive. He punched out about 200 feet above the water, which is too low. His body was not recovered. Also see "faces of VFP-62" and below, a photo of his 200th arrested landing aboard the Saratoga.
Click photos to enlarge (courtesy Chief Scarborough)
Update April 18, 2010: Chief Scarborough has it about right. I was aboard Sara as a "Spad Driver" with VA-35...observed the accident from the fantail area of the "flight deck...standing next to my Maintenance Officer, a friend and fellow churchgoer with Mac...
Air Wing was doing a "firepower demo" that day. Mac was performing a "photo loop"...tossing flares the whole way. Sky was overcast at about 2500'...Mac began his loop, up into the clouds...short time later, his RF8 descended through the cloud base in a flat inverted spin...damn near directly over our position! I was instantly aware he was not in control of the aircraft...started hauling butt forward toward the island...might give me a little cover. Heard the two "booms"...first the ejection seat fire, then the aircraft impact the sea.
As stated, Mac ejected at about two hundred feet...unfortunately, inverted...fired directly into the water...no chance.
Ron "Banty" Marron
Former LT USN
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In his memory:
