[TigersEye]

It is believed by many crewmen and those who have investigated the case that McCain deliberately “wet-started” his A-4E to shake up the guy in the plane behind his A-4. “Wet-starts”, done either deliberately or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft.

It's hard to take any article that says that seriously. All of the planes waiting their turn had their engines pointed away from the ship out over the sea.

NS025929.– This diagram was taken from a drawing provided by USS Forrestal and shows the location of CVW-17 aircraft spotted for launch moments before the fire broke out. From "Naval Aviation News," October 1967 issue.

[TigersEye]

I guess they won't allow posting their pics so here is the URL.

Diagram of planes on Forrestal deck.