Tigerseye, what do you call someone who has lost 5 military aircraft. John McCain is one of the few who has achieved that dubious honor in modern times. if one does a “Google” search of “McCain hot start” and you will come up with 1,450,000 links that start with two that I put links to below. If you want to be John McCain’s biggest defender, you have your work cut out for you. There are a large number of people who feel that McCain did not follow proper procedures and contributed to or may have been largely responsible for the Forestall Fire.
Most military pilots who have lost 5 airplanes are considered either very unlucky or they have a careless or inept pattern of behavior that makes them unqualified to continue to be a pilot. Whether or not McCain’s actions had something to do with the Forrestal fire could probably be debated for a long time. But the fact remains that he lost 5 aircraft during his career, a number during the time period in question that would have grounded any pilot whose father and grandfather were not admirals.
At this point we have another 40 years of performance to evaluate whether McCain is unlucky or dangerous. Most reasonable people would conclude that his pattern of behavior made him dangerous as a pilot and even more dangerous as a politician.
http://www.correntewire.com/john_mccain_fighter_ace_destroyed_five_us_planes
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/07/no_author/john-mccain-is-no-hero/
An enemy ace?
I know what I call someone who doesn’t bother to research the links provided to him. Blaming McCain for the Forrestal fire is just plain stupid. Too dumb to even find a proper adjective.
McCain’s old man was the head of the Bureau of Personnel for the Navy when junior was attending the Academy. He graduated nearly dead last, the Anchor. When does a midshipman who is nearly dead last in his class get to go to flight school? Never....at least in normal times. He shoulda ended up as a ground pounder.....or cannon cocker like me.