There are people who argue McCain was not specifically responsible for the Forestall fire - and the flight evidence supports some of their claims. However, he DID credibly “wet start” (blow live flames across the deck) other times before that specific fire as an attention-getter to shock his fellow fliers on the deck. Because of his history and his reputation for these fires, John McCain WAS immediately transferred off the Forestall within hours of the fire by his dad’s orders to avoid the crew, even before many of the injured crew.
His flight “crashes” are only partially correct:
- The first three of his crashes were prop-driven planes destroyed in training accidents, incidents, and ejections.
- Despite these crashes and incidents (flying at low level into wires for example), he was transferred into Vietnam-era-jets (thrown out of the slower, less visible, less stressful propeller planes) again from his father’s friend’s influence back at the Pentagon).
- John McCain’s fourth and fifth “victories” for his ace pilot award were both jets: One burned up on the Forestall fire, and the final one shot down when McCain was flying too low after returning to a strike in North Vietnam. It is not clear why he returned to the bombed area after releasing his bombs.
Battle damage assessment?
Interesting... sounds like he had the 'look at me - look at me' thing going most of his life...