Warbird Information Exchange

For several years, I was fortunate enough to consider Neil Anderson a friend and mentor. He recently passed away, and will be missed by all. However, his lessons can still be learned. I'll do my best to pass this one along that he taught me.

When Neil was giving me ground school on the Sea Fury, we were taking a break and just sitting around shooting the bull and telling old stories (you'd never "out story" Neil ). I was telling some silly story about formation flying or something, and made the comment, "never leave your wingman." Well, Neil was quick to tell me that you shouldn't always make that a hardfast rule. He then told me a story about his younger days when flying Skyraiders and that he too used to live by the "never leave your wingman" theory.......at least until his little mishap, that is.

His story was very detailed and to the point. There is no way I can pass along the point Neil was making to me with the same intensity that he did, but perhaps the following pictures will help explain it. He said that the U.S. Naval Aviation Safety Center used his story as an example to other Marine and Naval aviators out there (although he wasn't exactly thrilled about it at the time). He said the poster below was not completely accurate, but told the basic story. It's not always good to stay with your wingman........




Here's actual pictures of his airplane when he made it back to the base.....




Notice the folded wings on the FJ Furies (I think) in the background, not to mention the pieces of trees sticking out of the wing ......











He mentioned that if it wasn't for him being in a Skyraider, his mistake to hang in there with his lead would've been his last. He said once he started going through the trees, he just put the throttle in the corner and raw horsepower, along with that big, fat wing, and overall brute strength of the airplane is what got him out of his perdicament. His point to me was that he lived through that mistake and he wanted to make sure that I never made one just like it.

"Always use good judgement when flying, don't just live by what sounds good in the debrief. Do what's best for each particular situation that arises so that you can live to tell about it later." Wise words indeed.



Gary

Holy crap!!! I knew Skyraiders were tough, but wow!

This story reminds me of the tragic crash of the Thunderbirds many years ago in their T-38 Talons. All of the pilots had their eyes fixed on the leader. He brought them out of a loop too low, and they all flew into the ground. Maintaining situational awareness at all times is top priority!

Cheers!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

That is crazy. It is amazing that the thing kept flying.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I was sitting in a room with a bunch of people and Mr Anderson one day and he alluded to that flight...no details just a matter of fact mention of hitting some trees in a Skyraider one time...

I had another Navy Skyraider pilot tell me about a prop strike...of a wave top!...of how the thing shuddered and shook and coughed....and kept on going.

What a machine

Thanks for the story.
Z

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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In Smiths'(?) book on the Vengence, there are a number of shots of of a Venge that hit a fairly large tree or group of trees on final approach. You would be amazed at the damage behind the prop arc as well as the large amount of h-stab missing. The flight crew only reported a mild bump when the incident happened.

Neil would also relate the story about how the Egyptian MIG-15(?) tied to kill him on a go-around back when he first got to fly one. Was trying toi go around and the engine didn't want to spool up, turns out that there is one of the earliest engines install in this MIG and idle to max power spool up time is something like 20 seconds. The Egyptians didn't bother to tell Neil about this and for some reason he didn't ask either. During the go-around he went screaming off the end of the runway at about 20 feet, kicking up tons of dust and dirt. He disappeared off the edge of the base and out over the bay. About the time the Egyptians began to get concerned about wether he had crashed in the bay or not, he came screaming back over the field at a couple hundered feet. After landing, he related to his hosts what had happened, it was at this point that someone told Neil that they never took the throttle out of the cruise power postion or higher due to the spoolup time once the aircraft was off the ground.

Neil told me that he was probably 30 miles offshore before he felt that he had enough airspeed to make a climb off the deck. He said the hardest part was trying to dodge the fishing boats while trying to find gauges in the cockpit, convert from metric to SAE numbers and sort out the airplane all at the same time.

Got to say that I really miss him being around.

That's beyond amazing. Not only a tough airplane but obviously a very talented (and cool and calm) hand on the stick. Thanks for sharing that.

Dan

Neil told me a story which I feel is fair to relate now that he is gone.
I think he said he was flying F-100's or something similar in England. He said their favorite trick was to scare up the cattle and get them to running all over the country side.
Anyway he said that one of his most vivid memories of this practice was a flight were several of the jets were herding the cattle and they started running at full speed.
Well there was a cliff in their path. He said that he still remembers them flying throught the air and still moving their legs in the air.
I do think that time made him feel real bad about this adventure but time also helped him to realize the accident that it was and it seemed like a found memory even though he felt bad about the obvious results of his actions. He also told me about the famous F-16 belly in, A very dangerous situation and he pulled it off perfectly. I was priveledge to have known him and to have his name in my logbook.

Here, here, Mike! I couldn't have said it better myself.

Gary

My-good friend / neighbor / instrument instructor before the big airline paycuts-loves the Skyraider, as do I. So I sent him a link to this thread. Come to find out that his primary flight instructor flew Skyraiders (hence the love) and he sent this link to him. This is the Email that was Forwarded back to me.

Ken
Thanks for the story and photos. As you may remember, I actually made two trips through the trees in one day. On the second try my plane had even more damage than shown in the photos you sent. There were lots of guys with cameras gathered around when I taxied in, but I have only located one guy, Bernie Fisher, who said he had some pictures of the plane. But, for some reason, he has never been able to get them to me. I sure wish I could locate some of those pictures. I know there are lots of photos of that plane in various collections, just don't know where they are. Anyhow, that was the last time that plane ever flew. Busted main wing spar and other major skin damage. Engine damage too from overheating caused by oil cooler scoop jammed with leaves. I sure was lucky the plane held together well enough to get me back on the ground. I remember there were lots of leaves and branches jammed all around the cylinders, but not a scratch on the prop.
Never have figured that out. The cowling was all dinged up but the prop looked like new. Big branches still embedded in the wings and big dents everywhere. Yes, it sure was one tough bird.

Anyhow, thanks again for sending the pics.

Cheers, Win

Is it possible any WIX'rs out there may have the pictures or more info on the mission ?
Captain Win DePoorter, USAF 602 ACS, BienHoa, Jun 1965-

Steve

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"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

Did anyone happen to archive the photos Gary posted at the beginning of this thread?

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Hope so, it would be nice to see them...

I believe (IIRC) Brad Pilgrim had looked after Gary's images, though there were issues with reinstating his photobucket account. But as Brad (sadly) no longer posts here directly, that doesn't currently help WIX. Any serious enquirys to Brad I'm sure will get a courteous response though.

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Brad, are you lurking by chance ...

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."