Originally Posted by
John Nichol
28 April 1968 - F-4 Vietnam. Shot down & Rescued.......Martin-Baker ejectee #2108
14 Sep 1970 F-4J San Diego. Flame out. ‘Lack of fuel’. #2867
22 Sep 1971 F-4 pilot’s canopy loss. #3127
15 Oct 1973 - RN FAA Phantom – double engine flame out. #3717
No real details on final F-14 ejection, though a friend is quoted as saying:
"The real RIO in question was Lt. David J. “Goose” Lortscher. His callsign Goose later became part of the [Top Gun] movie. I knew him in the F-14 RAG, VF-124 although I don’t think I ever flew with him. He already had a couple of ejections and we used to laugh that we did not want to fly with him because he was, “bad luck”. Nevertheless, he was a highly respected officer and RIO, and no one actually avoided flying with him. He was a big guy, and easy-going. He ended up with five total ejections, the last one proved to be fatal. But that last one was different than the movie."
John, reg. the photo, yes, "Goose" is the big guy with the beard. You can just about see a USN lieutenant's epaullette on his shoulder. Regarding, the RN ejection, apparently this was at RAF Leuchars at 400ft with a Lt. Hooton as pilot. There is an F-4K website off which the above wasgleaned:
Homepage - PhantomF4k