HISTORY

TEXT: MIRO BARIČ

You may have not heard about it but it was the greatest

Cold War air combat over the United States territory. What

is odd that all participating aircraft carried the white star

national markings. This story could have been named

“A Day when all went completely wrong”. But despite the

great material losses no person was hurt so it could also

be a fairy tale with a happy ending. The tale about an aircraft which refused to accept its fate.

A group of F6F-3Ks at Atlantic City Naval Air Station in 1946.

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During the WWII Grumman F6F Hellcat formed

the backbone of the US Navy fighter force. However, after the end of hostilities they became

rather quickly outdated and were transferred

to the auxiliary duties. Large number of Hellcats were rebuilt to F6F-3K and F6F-5K versions which were remotely controlled drones.

For better visual identification they were painted in bright colors – yellow, orange or red.

They also collected the samples of the air after

the nuclear weaponry tests but primarily they

were used as the flying targets. They also did

some combat missions during the war in Korea. Between August 28 and September 2, 1952,

six F6F-5K loaded with bombs took off from

the deck of USS Boxer. Their targets were the

bridges to which they were guided by escorting

Skyraiders. The results were two direct hits and

one near miss. This mission is considered the

first ever deployment of guided missiles from

an air carrier.

The main player in our story carried the red

paint coat and was to be used as a target during the ground-to-air missile test. It took off

for its final flight on Thursday, August 16, 1956, at

11:34 from Point Mugu air base. It was gradually

climbing over the Pacific ocean but when the

operators tried to direct it to the target area the

drone was not responding to their commands.

Had that situation remained unchanged, nothing

serious would have happened. Having exhausted its fuel Hellcat would simply have crashed in

the vast ocean. Instead, it performed a graceful

left turn heading towards Southeast, right over

Los Angeles.

Air Force vs Navy

The Navy did not have any available fighters

nearby that would take care of the defected

drone. Point Mugu operators had to swallow the

INFO Eduard - FEBRUARY 2022