This a@$$hole nearly sank the Forestall with his “hot start” of his A4D. His dad was in charge of Navy Personnel and always kept him out of trouble with threats to those who complained.
The fire started as the result of a Zuni missile launching off an F-4 The missile hit the tanks of an A-4 and that caused the fire.
Poor firefighting techniques caused the real carnage. We learned a lot fr the fire and massive flight deck improvements resulted
That is a false statement. The fire began because of ammunition set off on the opposite side of the deck from his aircraft.
He had NOTHING to do with the cause. The fire was started by a Starboard aft Aircraft having a rocket go off. McCain was forward Port Side behind the aft JBD and catapults with his planes exhaust blowing over the side. Wrong angles, impossible scenario, and that fire is the most vetted fire in Naval history. The aircraft across the other side of the Flight Deck had the errant launch that set the fire off and it hit McCain and CDR White's aircraft.
WIKI the fire and look at the aircraft spotting chart and yes it is consistent with the raw FD camera footage shown ALL SAILORS in Basic Training who enlist in the Navy and is again shown ALL sailors who are in fire fighting and Damage Control School. I've seen it several times myself.
I can't stand the man but he did not cause a carrier fire. Poor communication, less than modern equipment, and No HI-CAP system contributed to it. That fire changed Navy firefighting techniques and technology.