I posted the C141 mishap to Fear of Landing some time ago and was intrigued to receive the following comment:
I was told this story by Greg Trebon, who was the C-141 check pilot in the jumpseat.
The co-pilot felt flame in his mask and tore it off his face and dropped it on the floor. It ignited his kit bag under his seat filling the cockpit with dense smoke, so dense you could not see the instruments.
The pilot punched the button for a 7700 squack and put the plane into an emergency dive to get to an altitude where they could breath without pressurization or the oxygen system.
After the fire started the pilot motioned to the flight engineer to turn the oxygen off to contain the fire. But once he did no one had oxygen to breath through their masks. He then motioned for the flight engineer to turn the oxygen back on. When he did an oxygen pressure regulator behind the pilots seat exploded sending shrapnel through out the cockpit.
It wounded Greg by sending shrapnel into his back.
Once they got to a lower altitude they could continue without the oxygen system. Once they got the cockpit cleared of smoke they landed at an Air National Guard Base in the middle of Kansas.
The after math of the accident included the cigar jokester being kicked out of the Air Force and the first officer being demoted a full rank for failing to check the intercom during the preflight checklist (the reason for the motioning signals).
The payload was a number of C-141 crews on their way home. The crew master told the flight crew that he didn’t know what was going on, but he was prepared to keep sending a new crew to the cockpit until things were in order.