Marine Steals Fighter Jet - How Much Can a Marine Corps Fighter Cost? Perhaps that was one of the questions that 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Howard Foote's mind wandered one July midnight as a designated flight mechanic in an unarmed A4M Skyhawk.
In case you were wondering, the price is around $18 million. Rather, the prize was in 1984, when Foote stole one of them from Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. Today, that would be $41 million, adjusted for inflation.
Marine Steals Fighter Jet
Sentries tried to stop Foote as he raced the plane for takeoff, but they were unable to get his attention.
More Countries Are Seeking Second Hand Fighter Jets
"Joined the Marines to go into the Foot Corps designated commissioning program, hoping to go to flight school," El Toro public affairs officer Lt. Tim Hoyle, told the Los Angeles Times. "However, while flying in a glider at 42,500 feet, he suffered an air embolism similar to that suffered by divers."
Bends is the diver's term for decompression sickness, where body gases (such as nitrogen in compressed oxygen tanks used by divers) escape from the blood in bubbles because the body does not have time to adjust to the pressure around it. .
There would be no flight school. Foote became a mechanic instead. Still, he wanted to realize his dream of rising up as a warrior.
"I've worked my whole life for this flight," Footold told the LA Times four years later. "There was nothing else."
Marine Air Squadron At Cherry Point To Receive New Designation
The young Marines reached the plane in a vehicle used to transport pilots to their planes. He also wore a flight suit to dress the part.
He flew 50 miles, about half an hour, in loops and rolls over the Pacific Ocean. He then landed it after making five passes of the runway.
No one has located the plane. They didn't send any other soldiers to stop it. Foote brought them back alone.
Foote was sent to the stoop at Camp Pendleton. He served four and a half months in prison and received an honorable discharge.
Chengdu J 20
After being discharged, he tried to fly to Israel and Honduras. Footlater qualified as a test pilot for more than 20 different military and civilian aircraft and became a contractor for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He holds patents in aeronautical design and engineering technology.
To provide the best experience, we use technology such as cookies to store and/or access device information. Consent to these technologies will enable us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this website. Not giving consent, or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service expressly requested by the customer or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out communications over an electronic communications network.
Technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences requested by the customer or user.
China Stealing Us Former Fighter Pilots, Bribing Them To Spy For China
Technical storage or access used for statistical purposes only. Technical storage or access is used only for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance from your Internet service provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose generally cannot be used to identify you.
Technical storage or access is required to create a user profile for sending advertisements, or to track a user across multiple sites on a website or for similar marketing purposes. On July 4, 1986, Lance Corporal Howard A. Foote Jr., U.S.M.C. , unofficially becoming one of the last known fighter pilots to fly in the US military. Now, when I say "unauthorized," I mean he wasn't actually authorized to fly a fighter jet...but he did anyway.
Midway through enlisting in the Marines as a flight mechanic and aircraft captain, Foote was an accomplished glider pilot and harbored dreams and ambitions of becoming a military pilot. Unfortunately, that dream ended when he suffered an air embolism during one of his record-breaking glider flights, and he was denied admission to the Marine Corps' designated commissioning program, preventing him from attending flight school. Foote was cyberbullied, but undeterred and took matters into his own hands.
In the early morning hours of Friday, July 4, 1986, Foote donned a flight suit and walked up to an A-4M Skyhawk parked at MCAS El Toro. This aircraft belonged to VMA-214, The Black Sheep of WWII fame. After nearly 100 hours of training in the simulator, Foote was ready to fly. Already familiar with the take-off procedure, he quickly flew the unarmed fighter, closed the canopy and raced to the nearest unlit runway, pushed the throttle forward and performed a textbook take-off. At 2 a.m., Foote lived his dream, albeit illegally.
Here Is Why China Is Looking For Us' F 35c Which Crashed In South China Sea
More than 50 miles from the base, Foote was flying loops and rolls over the Pacific Ocean. After nearly 30 minutes of flight time, he pointed his nose at El Toro. By now the crew on the ground was fully awake and fully aware of Foote's "appropriation" of the Skyhawk. With the runway lights now on, he made a few passes before landing, after which he was summarily arrested and imprisoned in a brig on charges of unlawfully taking a government aircraft. Normally such a charge carries a sentence of 2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge from the military, but by November the charges were dropped and Foote received an honorable discharge (OTH) from the Marine Corps. Unbeknownst to our unofficial pilot/dreamer, the Skyhawk he took was in dire need of repair. The plane had previously been grounded due to problems with the ailerons and landing gear. It was revealed during a court hearing called to determine Foote's future with the military.
After serving in the Corps, Foote became an aerospace engineer after attending Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and immediately began working on various aerospace projects, including microwave-powered aircraft. Also qualified as a test pilot in 20+ different military and civilian aircraft, he now contracts privately with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and holds several patents in aeronautical design and engineering technology.
Ian is the managing editor. You can find his work on Military Times, Business Insider, We Are The Mighty, Real Clear Defense, and more. View all posts by Ian D'Costa
Second degree assault washington state, 2nd degree assault sentence, 2nd degree aggravated assault, 2nd degree assault mn, 2nd degree assault, 2nd degree assault definition, 3rd degree assault washington state, 4th degree assault washington state, 2nd degree felony assault, 4th degree assault washington, what is assault 2nd degree, 2nd degree assault charges
