During a mission in the Persian Gulf, a VF-142 F-14 Tomcat lost its radome when the latching mechanism failed as the F-14 was travelling at over 450 kts at an altitude of 27,000 feet.
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During in-flight separation the radome slammed into the canopy and shattered the forward glass of the canopy windscreen. Forward visibility was restricted to looking through a 3 inch hole in the left windscreen since the rest of the forward glass was so badly cracked.
LCDR Joe Edwards (pilot) managed to get his crippled plane back towards the USS Eisenhower and using only 3 inches of visibility, a smashed right collarbone and glass shards lodged in both eyes, he made a perfect two wire landing.
Not only did Edwards make a full recovery, but on January 22nd, 1998, Edwards launched off of Pad 39A as pilot of NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour Mission STS-89..can only assume that this planet wasn't good enough to hold his balls. #dangerzone #f14 #hardfuck #stayzero #zerofoxtrot