[rolling_stone]

Yes it is a hazardous and demanding job, like many others that are not on the front lines, doing their part nonetheless.

John McCain is one of the luckiest pilots around, in 1967 (I think) he was on deck in a jet when a rocket from another plane struck his jet and shortly thereafter his large bomb went off starting a huge fire which killed many and almost sunk the USS Forrestal it is a nice bit of history to check out..if my memory is right, after that accident they modified the bombs so they would not ignite so quickly in case of an onboard fire...

[Howlin]

John McCain is one of the luckiest pilots around

Do you happen to know exactly how many airplanes John McCain personally lost?

He's not very lucky, IMO. If he is lucky, it's lucky he didn't kill more people than he did.

[Mo1]

John McCain is one of the luckiest pilots around,

Huh???

[Robert A Cook PE]

That grey (or green) muddy "paste-looking" stuff on Navy bombs is the covering you're talking about.

TLC or the History channel, sometimes "Wings" has the whole show on the Forestal fire.

It was dangerous, but was short of "almost sinking" the carrier. Definnitely fortunate for McCain..... he avoided death from the first rocket that hit his plane, the split fuel from his tanks, the first, second and third bombs around his plane, and the subsequent deck fires they caused.

Lot of other guys died needlessly, and tragically, and heroically.