An Unlucky First... The Shootdown of Tiger #620Near Long Island, NY
21 September 1956
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On Friday, September 21st, 1956, Grumman test pilot Thomas W. Attridge, Jr., 33, took an F11F 'Tiger', Navy Bureau number 138620, on a test flight over the Atlantic Ocean. A former Navy aviator and a father of three, Tom Attridge was used to flights over the water, and this sortie's weapons test, strafing the ocean's surface, was a relatively simple task., and a great way to end the week.
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Flying over the designated gunnery range some 20 miles from shore, out over the Altantic Ocean, Attridge entered a shallow dive from an altitude of 20,000 feet, as he readied to test-fire the Tiger's cannons. He fired a short four-second burst at 13,000 feet, expending about 70 rounds in total. Advancing the engine to afterburners, he paused his fire, and entered into a steeper dive. and fired the cannons again at 7,000 feet to clear the gun belts. Having just finished firing this second four-second burst, the plane rattled. The Tiger had been struck, and Attridge's windshield buckled inward.
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A post-accident investigation discovered that Attridge had hit no bird. Instead, he had overtaken and run down the fire from his own guns. A inert 20-millimeter bullet, typically used in practice, had gone through his windshield. Another round had hit the right engine intake, and a third had punctured the nose. The engine's inlet guide vanes were also struck, and lodged in the first compressor stage of the engine, was found a battered 20mm projectile...
If the projectiles had been explosive, like those used in combat, Attridge would not have likely survived.
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The 20 mm bullet recovered from the Tiger #620's enginehttp://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Tiger138260
