FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Forrestal Memorial
- Thread starter FLYBOYJ
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Kyushuj7w
Airman 1st Class
This is the tragic story of the fire on the USS Forrestal (CVA-59). On the morning of July 29 1967, the warship was preparing to launch its fighters when a Zuni rocket from an F-4B Phantom II jet was accidentally launched and hit a parked A-4 Skyhawk jet waiting to take off. Up went the fuel and eventually a 1000 lb bomb creating a chain reaction.
- Thread starter
- #3
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
This training film was shown to every sailor who had to go through Damage Control School. I took the training twice.
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Absolutely amazing at the number of casualties.
fubar57
General
I remember reading something also about very old bombs filled with Composition B setting off in the fire before they could be ejected because the casings were rusted and the explosive was past its service life (RDX contained in the composition B is not as stable as pure TNT).
- Thread starter
- #8
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
I scanned through part of the accident report, there is mention of "555 pound bombs using composition B" but no mention of anything else. There was a lot of scrutiny about the Zuni rockets and the way fuses were safety wired. I'd like to know your source for this because it would seem this would have been mentioned in boldface. Watch the film of this incident on post 2, I don't think there was time to "eject" anything.
I looked through my archived links but I only found this so far:
"The impact of the Zuni rocket dislodged at least one, probably two, 1,000-lb AN-M65A1 bombs, which fell into the flames. The outdated AN-M65's were being used because of an acute shortage of Mk 83 general purpose 1,000-lb bombs resulting from the intense Navy bombing campaign in North Vietnam which expended bombs faster than they could be produced. The AN-M65 bombs had been brought aboard the day before, were over a decade old, in very poor condition and considered an extreme safety hazard by the Commanding Officer of the Forrestal, Captain John Beling, and according to the ship's Ordnance Officer were an imminent danger to the ship and should be jettisoned overboard. Doing so, however, would have necessitated scrubbing that day's combat mission over North Vietnam, so Captain Beling reluctantly accepted the risk."
Maybe the problem was not the age of the ordnance itself but the fact that they happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Composition B, however, explodes more readily than other explosives under the heat of a fire.
Last edited:
They were hung on aircraft preparing to launch. On the way to being gone.
A chain of unfortunate events. A faulty rocket. Some aircraft waiting to be launched and fully prepped for a bombing run. Old bombs with more sensitive explosive. Couldn't happen at a worse time.
An old saying goes: "lady luck is blind but misfortune can see all to well"
- Thread starter
- #13
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
I think it would be impossible to say if the same results would have occurred if Mk 83s were available. BTW, the ships captain was cleared of any wrongdoing from what I understand. The worse part of this wasn't from the initial explosions but the way the emergency was dealt with as the entire DC crew was killed or wounded and those left to put out the fires weren't properly trained.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
May their souls rest in eternal peace.
ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
Can someone please tell me about Rank Abbreviations and The following 1-letter codes in Unit column (A, N, E and G).
Dash119
Senior Airman
- Thread starter
- #18
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Unit (VA, VF, V or S) or individual rate codes (AN, AD2, AE3)?
ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
Yes, I meant rate codes. Thank you.
