Excellent read! I can only imagine what would occur if this happened today...
I recall an incident where on 06/04/86, a Marine mech L/CPL Howard Foote, stole an A-4M Skyhawk at MCAS El Toro
at night! He took off, flew up toward March AFB then returned and orbited while they scrambled around to get the landing lights turned on (field was closed for July 4th holiday). Foote landed without incident & taken into custody. He was later court-martialed & discharged from the Corps.
Foote was not without "stick time', he held a PPL, and was an accomplished Hi-Altitude glider pilot. The complete story appeared in a recent issuue of
A-4EVER, the quarterly Journal of the
Skyhawk Association.
I also remember another lncident [around] 1958, wheh an FJ-4B Squadron mechanic on a NAAS Fallon deployment, took off while on a maint. taxi, and flew around locally for a while, wae then coaxed down by radio. Made a rough landing, rolling off the side of the runway. Resulted in major damage to landing gear & airframe, but no injury. Disposition of case unknown.
*Thumbnail: FJ-4 Fury
BzB