Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

In the late 60's or early 70's, a fighter plane manged to shoot itself. The pilot fired his guns, and then he did a shallow dive. His speed increased to the point that he got ahead of his bullets. When he pulled up, he was hit. I'm reasonably sure that it was an American plane and pilot.

I'm pretty sure that he wasn't injured (but his face was red!)

Does anyone have any more details on the incident. It is not a myth. I read about it in several reputable magazines when it happened. I've searched the net, but this story doesn't seem to be there.

Thanks,

F-16.net Sponsor

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

ford2go wrote:

I've searched the net, but this story doesn't seem to be there.

I Googled "jet shot itself down" and immediately found links to the F-11 Tiger.

http://www.aerofiles.com/tiger-tail.html

http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Tiger138260.htm

Amazing, and that is the story that I remember ( the diagram in the 2nd link is familiar).

I tried many search phrases, possibly including the one that you used, and got garbage!

Thanks,

It really caught up to and flew into it's own bullets after they stopped. Not actually shooting itself. Cool story though AND cool jet. Didn't the Blue Angels fly them for a while?

Yup, we had one on a stick in my hometown painted in BA livery.

PS: It's F11F, not F-11.

Officially today the designation is F-11. It was officially F11F in it's day.

I believe they have dug rounds out of a few different jet aircraft over the years, if not shooting themselves down, just catching a few stray ricochets.

Doh

TEG

I like the small note at the end that talks about the Tomcat that sparrowed itself.

Yes, an F-14 launched an AIM-7 and the recessed top fins dislodged when the Sparrow launched. Result? The missile, upon ignition, travelled back vertically toward the jet, and impacted. Pilot and RIO successfully ejected.

madrat wrote:

Officially today the designation is F-11. It was officially F11F in it's day.

F11F: Navy designation. 11th fighter design submitted to the Navy from grumman. -1/2/3 etc. denote version.

F-11A: Tri-service designation system (based on the old Army air corps systemed that the air force inherited). 11th fighter first version.

ford2go wrote:

In the late 60's or early 70's, a fighter plane manged to shoot itself. The pilot fired his guns, and then he did a shallow dive. His speed increased to the point that he got ahead of his bullets. When he pulled up, he was hit. I'm reasonably sure that it was an American plane and pilot.

I'm pretty sure that he wasn't injured (but his face was red!)

Does anyone have any more details on the incident. It is not a myth. I read about it in several reputable magazines when it happened. I've searched the net, but this story doesn't seem to be there.

Thanks,

I would find this strory highly unlikely.

Grumman F-11 Tiger has top speed of 1,170 km/h
Colt Mk 12 cannon muzzle velocity 1,010 m/s

That means at its top speed f-11 can fly 325 meters per second.
Althought the speed of projectiles do tend slow quite fast from the friction it is not possible in my opinion to reach your own cannon stream.

Also it is unlikely such thing would happen in fist place . Why was the pilot shooting at mach speeds ?

Well, believe it or not Hoss, it actually did happen. Wink

The Tiger was shooting in a shallow dive above Mach 1. It was a weapons test. The plane only sustained a couple of hits, when the bird flew below and through the flight path of the rounds he had just fired. It was enough to FOD the engine out and prevent a safe recovery at the field.

Pilot raised the gear and put it into the woods. He egressed the jet, and the mishap investigators found a couple of bullet holes.

True story...much more than the required 10% there.

LOL, aint that the truth.

TC wrote:

Well, believe it or not Hoss, it actually did happen. Wink

The Tiger was shooting in a shallow dive above Mach 1. It was a weapons test. The plane only sustained a couple of hits, when the bird flew below and through the flight path of the rounds he had just fired. It was enough to FOD the engine out and prevent a safe recovery at the field.

Pilot raised the gear and put it into the woods. He egressed the jet, and the mishap investigators found a couple of bullet holes.

True [Link pending approval] more than the required 10% there.

Suppose there is reason a why you do not use your cannon usually at mach speeds Very Happy

Well, I'm still suspicious about the story. Therefore I checked the location of F-11's guns...
Found a link with a photo; http://www.uss-hornet.org/exhibits/airc ... fifi.shtml

Now, if the guns are the ones below the intakes (???) then it is more likely that some of the rounds prematurely launched by the cannon and immediately ingested by the engine, rather than a catch-up-its-own-rounds flight path of the a/c.

Of course this is my guess.

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Plane that shot itself