[BadAim]

Originally Posted by 159th_Jester

Which US carrier was it that had an incident with a missile release on the flight deck during the Vietnam war?

Can't remember the name of the ship but the documentary about the incident was chilling. An electrical short circuit released an A-A missile which set fire to another aircraft also preparing to take off on the other side of the flight deck and resulted in a good bit of ordinance cooking off.

Absolutely horrifying, but as Skoshi just said above, the crew's reaction was testimony to the quality of the men and their training.

That was the Forestall. John McCain was sitting in the plane that was hit. In an odd twist of fate (after miraculously surviving) he later transferred to the Oriskany which had been the site of a fire that killed 44 men the year before. He was promptly shot down and spent the rest of the war as a POW.

Seems like aircraft carrier duty is not for the feint of heart.