Expansion of Dudley's story, hope you don't mind Dudley, a Salute to your Good Friend.
On the afternoon of the 19th of March 1955, at exactly 1505, a lone Delaware ANG F86 took off from New Castle AFB Delaware to rendezvous just North of Salem N.J. with an incoming ANG T33 towing a target that had been used on an aerial gunnery training mission that day. The purpose of the 86 accompanying the T33 on in to the field was to insure that nothing interfered traffic wise while the target was being dropped. The 86 was in effect flying shotgun for the T33 as a safety procedure.The two aircraft approached New Castle and the T-Bird dropped the target on the right side of runway 32 then started a climbing turn into the pattern. The 86 was wide and outside in trail formation.
Suddenly the 86 suffered a compressor failure. The J47 engine started spewing compressor buckets like machine gun bullets and the 86 started down fast as it was coming apart. Captain Walt Hannum flying the T33 later said that he screamed for the pilot to eject as the pilot of the 86 tried to aim the airplane for an open field as it was headed directly toward the town of New Castle which was right next to the Air Base.
The 86 pilot never had a chance. He rode the stricken fighter down as pieces came flying away from the airplane. Finally, at very low altitude, the pilot managed to eject. He was too low and way out the seat envelope for sink rate. The 86 went into a farmer’s field just outside the town and exploded. The pilot, still strapped in the seat, impacted the ground without the chute having time to open. He was killed instantly.
You’ve all heard the classic story of the pilot who tried to miss the populated area. Well here was one pilot who did try to do just that.
The ANG that day lost a fine officer, and I lost the best friend I had ever known. The pilot of that F86 was Captain James R. Shotwell Jr. I had known Jim since I was a boy. He was like a big brother to me.
Jim Shotwell’s F86, Delaware Air National Guard tail number 49-1169; the one he was flying the day he was killed; is one of the liveries included in this F86 package. I know all of you will enjoy flying the various liveries included in the package, and I’ll be personally pleased and honored if those of you who choose to fly Jim’s airplane take just a moment to reflect on him and remember him as I still do 53 years after his death.
Climb High; Fly Fast
Dudley Henriques