McCain Didn't Crash Five Planes?

The Corner has an item up that appears to be false.

Will McCain, who finished 894th out of 899 at the Naval Academy and who lost five jets, return competence to the White House?

I'd wager it comes from this story which mentions his Father getting his wings at age 50.

Slew McCain was so driven that when the navy passed a rule saying only aviators could command a carrier, the old man went to flight school while in his fifties. He crashed five planes before finally getting his wings, and then his carrier. In one Pacific battle, planes under Slew McCain's command sank 49 Japanese ships in a single day.

Some of the Viet Nam details, as with the suicide attempt during captivity can be understood. Some still fault him for his post-Viet Nam escapades. But certainly it was a very difficult time.

When he was finally released in 1973, it was as a changed man into a changed world. His first wife, Carol, had not seen him for six years, and had herself had a terrible car accident. McCain embarked on a series of affairs, the last one with Cindy Hensley, the daughter of an Arizona beer baron, who he met at a military function in Hawaii in 1979. They were married a year later, one month after he divorced Carol. McCain's second life began.

Cindy's wealthy and well-connected father offered a gateway into Arizona's business and political elite. At first, McCain toyed with a career working for his father-in-law, perhaps in PR. But soon the political world opened up in the form of a vacant congressional seat.

Comments

[tally]

i don't know. does it count when a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom fires across your carrier's deck and plows into your A-4E Skyhawk?

[WAHOO WILLIE SEZ:]

It does not count when someone else shoots you, sets the carrier afire and kills 130+ sailors.

[seekeronos]

John S. McCain III, current presidential hopeful did crash a few aeroplanes - at least three, according to this WAPO article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19085-2004May11.html

[seekeronos]

One account of the five-plane tally comes from this FReeper post:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960805/posts

Downthread there is a discussion that contests this count by disincluding the aircraft he was shot down over Hanoi in, and another aircraft that caught fire on the USS Forestal due to an ordnance incident (possibly a mishung bomb or countermeasures rack) - thus bringing the count of aircraft which John S. McCain III crashed due to personal negligence back to a total of three.

[Dennis D]

I understand McCain has some left leaning habits. Amnesty especially scares me. But this man comes from an Admiral Father and an Admiral Grandfather. He himself a POW for many years. A great family of American Patriots. On many occasions I bashed Clintons hiding at Oxford during Vietnam. Mitt Romney also hid in Europe like Clinton during Vietnam. Romney has 5 sons NONE of who ever served. I cannot support Romney without feeling like a total hypocrite.

[Fred Beloit]

Well, Dennis, I feel your pain. But the dauntless duo who represent the Dems at this point and who describe America as a disaster-land, have never, as you pointed out, worn a uniform either. And more importantly, neither of them have any experience remotely qualifying them to manage the Administration. And I don't think McCain would beat either of them in the general election. Hope and change. Change and hope. Change toward socialism and hope for the best?

[William Lawrence]

McCain is a war hero, and I can't stand anyone who try and attack his record. Here is the real account of the Forrestal incident.

By now a Lieutenant Commander, McCain was again almost killed in action on July 29, 1967 while serving on the Forrestal, operating at Yankee Station. The crew was preparing to launch attacks when a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom was accidentally fired across the carrier's deck. The rocket struck McCain's A-4E Skyhawk as the jet was preparing for launch.

The impact ruptured the Skyhawk's fuel tank, which ignited the fuel and knocked two bombs loose. McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, working himself to the nose of the jet, and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck of the aircraft carrier. Ninety seconds after the impact, one of the bombs exploded underneath his airplane. McCain was struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 132 sailors, injured 62 others, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and took 24 hours to control. A day or two after the Forrestal incident, McCain volunteered to join the VA-163 Saints on board the short-staffed USS Oriskany, which had earlier endured its own deck fire disaster[19] and whose squadrons had suffered heavy losses during Rolling Thunder, with one-third of their pilots killed or captured during 1967

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

A video to watch describing the event...

http://www.johnmccain.com/bvid/