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Heck it's been over 30 years since I got out and my two MED deployments melt together LOL. Some events I can't quite place time frame on. McCain's plane though was pointed away from the impact. I can't remember the exact configuration off the top of my head but one look said there was no way. The aircraft spotting would have been videoed as the actual fire was itself. Oriskany, Forestall, and "E", all caught fire in the same region months apart. Odd enough the carrier McCain flew off of {Oriskany} had a bad fire off Nam in October 1966 before he was assigned to it after surviving the Forestall fire.

Forestall was the first of it's class and the end of an era. It was the last 600 PSI propulsion for carriers. Saratoga was the first 1200 PSI.

I vaguely remember hearing about the reduction gear incident maybe after basic training. I'm not sure how many planes McCain actually lost. In my 4 years on a carrier I'd put our aircraft loss numbers at about 8-12 and that was 77-80 era. A Tomcat came in low one night hit the round down and broke the landing gear, an S-3 Viking missed first three arresting wires snagged the fourth and went over the side {no survivors}, Two F-14's rolled on the hanger bay during hard list and went nose too nose, about 4 or more A-6's would go out and drop into the water like a brick due to catastrophic engine failures. That's life on the big city.

The Oriskany fire was a little different in origin. It was started by a lit flare being tossed in the flare box. The other two fires Forestall and "E" were missile related off Nam which adds to confusion.