I remember that emergency fighter landing! There had been an explosion and fire on the USS Forrestal and aircraft were being flown to Vietnam to make up for those lost on the Forrestal. On that day there were (I believe) six fighters and a tanker for refueling, and all put in to JA but one fighter couldn't get his port landing gear down. The pilot tried to bounce it down by landing on the nose wheel and starboard wheel, but no go. I know it was that side 'cause I was standing behind the Holmes & Narver chow hall when he touched down, travelling from left to right down the runway, and he briefly swerved right at us in the attempt, before he was again airborne. Then he flew around a bit to burn off fuel while the runway was foamed.


The island didn't have enough foam to cover the whole runway, so maybe half of the 10,000 ft. runway was foamed, then the Navy pilot landed two wheels down on the dry runway, timing his runout perfectly so his left wing began to drop just after he breeched the foam. He maintained control on wheels and wing-tip, managing to completely clear the runway by turning on to a taxiway, receiving a nice round of applause from we onlookers.

Word was, the pilot offered to fly the plane off the island if they'd fix the stuck gear and hammer out the bent wing tip, but it was decided to ship it out on a freighter...