By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army
National Guard
September
21, 1958, began uneventfully for Georgia Air National Guard Capt. Eugene Parrott
and 2nd Lt. Oliver E. Trotter Jr., both of Chattanooga, Tenn. The pilots
were on a routine tow-target mission 50-miles off the coast of Savannah.
Parrott, a veteran of more than 100 combat missions in the skies over Korea, was
at the controls of the T-33 jet trainer. Oliver, in the seat behind him, had
graduated flight school in March.[1]
In the era
before computer scored target hits, aerial target practice was facilitated by
aircraft towing targets, often a large sheet of canvas. Pilots of the Georgia Air National Guard, flying B-26 bombers and T-33 jets, had towed targets for nearly 10 years
supporting aerial gunnery training as well as towing targets for ground-based
antiaircraft artillery units.[2]
Whereas AAA training was conducted at Fort Stewart, aerial gunnery took place
over the Atlantic Ocean where jet pilots fired individually colored bullets to
mark their hits on the target.[3]
T-33 pilots of the 128th Fighter Interceptor Squadron prepare to take off on an aerial gunnery training mission in 1958. Georgia National Guard Archives. |
Towing targets provided excellent combat training but was not without its risks. Pilots on gun runs might pepper the tow aircraft as well as the target. It was also possible for a pilot to lose sight of the lead aircraft or overcorrect resulting in a mid-air collision.
On September 21, 1958, Parrott and Trotter were flying at 400 knots at an altitude of 12,000 feet when they experienced a slight jarring sensation. Parrott, a combat veteran and experienced pilot, instinctively began a visual inspection and noticed fuel pouring from the right aileron. Trotter observed the damage as Parrott reported his situation as smoke began to emerge from the wing. Realizing the craft was on fire, Parrott immediately advanced the throttle in an effort to put the fire out; however, the heat from the fire had already melted half of the aileron which subsequently fell off. The loss of the aileron caused a vibration which threatened to shake the wing to pieces. Assessing the situation, Parrott calmly advised Trotter, “Let’s get out of here.” The pilots ejected from the aircraft and were momentarily unconscious from the force of the ejection rockets. Nevertheless, the parachutes deployed automatically and when the pilots recovered from the initial blackout, they discovered that they were quietly floating within shouting distance of one another towards the ocean below.
Parrott
called to Trotter and instructed him to inflate his rescue raft then attempted to inflate his. While Trotter successfully
inflated his raft, Parrott's emergency inflation cylinder only partially inflated his. Fortunately, as he drifted ever closer to the waves below Parrott was able to
completely inflate the raft and upon landing claimed that he didn’t even get
his head under water.
Observing
the drama, Capt. George Lindsey circled his F-84 above the pilots maintaining
a vigil over the descending parachutes and calling their location to
Savannah Ground Control Intercept Station Glena, which scrambled a Marine Corps rescue
helicopter from Beaufort, S.C. A Ga. ANG C-47 was also dispatched and dropped
additional rafts; however, the waters were too choppy for the pilots to reach
them.[4]
With a
rescue helicopter inbound, Lindsey maintained his vigil over the downed pilots
despite his rapidly depleting fuel supply. He departed the scene only when relieved
by Capt. Roland Rieck of the Savannah-based 158th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron. Rieck helped vector the rescue helicopter to the scene
until the Marine rescue crew could observe the sea marker dye the pilots had
released from their life vests. Arriving less than one hour after incident, the
helicopter plucked Trotter from the ocean using a sling hoist then
retrieved Parrott. The rescue was completed 62 minutes after the pilots
bailed out.
The pilots
were transported to Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah where they were treated for minor injuries and released.
Epilogue
Trotter left
the Georgia Air National Guard to concentrate on his studies at the Georgia
Institute of Technology. Lindsey remained in the Ga. ANG until 1965 rising to
the rank of major. Rieck, who relieved Lindsey of his vigil over the downed
pilots remained in the Ga. ANG until 1968 and left the service as a lieutenant
colonel.
Parrott
remained in the Ga. ANG and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1965. He left
the service in 1966 to become a test pilot for Boeing. He died in 2020 at the
age of 91 and rests in Chattanooga National Cemetery.
Eugene Parrott. Images courtesy of Gary Parrott. |
[1] “Two Ga. Pilots Rescued at Sea.” The
Georgia Guardsman Magazine. Sept-Oct 1958, 10.
[2] “116th Ftr.Bmr.Wg., Attached ANG Units Set
Aerial Records at Travis.” The Georgia Guardsman Magazine. Sept, Oct
1954, 2.
[4] “2 Guard Pilots Parachute from burning Plane.” Brunswick
News. Sept. 22. 1958, 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment