I've read a story saying that McCain 'wet started' his jet causing a large fire coming out of the engine that cooked off an M34 rocket on the plane behind him that went off. Then McCain accidentally dropped two bombs into the fire in his panic.

I don't know for sure if this is all true, vets posted it to internet sites.

I would like to see someone there at Slate dig into this and find out what really happened if that is possible.

I've read that people have been abducted by aliens.

It's right there on the Internet.

For what it's worth, Wikipedia has this to say about it: <link> The vets I was reading say the official explanation was a cover up because McCain's dad was an admiral.

Yeah, that's why I am asking. If its true, its a big deal, if its not then it isn't.

"The vets I was reading say the official explanation was a cover up because McCain's dad was an admiral"

Of course they do. But can they produce a shred of evidence that was suppressed, or the verified testimony of one named credible witness who was influenced?

This drivel is on par with "But George Bush's brother was in charge of WTC security."

Maybe, but a lot of these navy guys seem to believe it.

I'd like a professional investigative journalist to take a stab.

"Then McCain accidentally dropped two bombs into the fire in his panic."

That seems impossible according to all accounts he was not airborn but waiting to take off when the explosion started? It seems hard to drop bombs into a fire while sitting on the flight deck? At the very least he would have been killed instantly, no?

The rocket flew across the flight deck, striking a wing-mounted external fuel tank on an A-4 Skyhawk, either Aircraft No. 405 piloted by LCDR Fred D. White[1] or No. 416 piloted by future Arizona Senator, LCDR John McCain,[4] which was waiting to launch.[3] The warhead's safety mechanism prevented it from detonating, but the impact tore the tank off the wing and ignited the resulting spray of pressurized fuel, causing an instantaneous conflagration. The heat caused additional fuel tanks to overheat, rupture and spew volatile jet fuel onto the deck, feeding the flames. Huge gusts of fire shot into the air along the flight deck, trapping pilots in their aircraft with no recourse but to escape through the flames or be incinerated in their cockpits. LCDR Fred D. White, waiting to launch in Aircraft No. 405, leaped out of his burning Skyhawk in an attempt to escape the inferno, but was killed instantly (along with many firefighters) by the cooking-off of the first bomb. LCDR Herbert A. Hope of VA-46 (and operations officer of CVW-17) jumped out of the cockpit of his Skyhawk between explosions, rolled off the flight deck and into the starboard man-overboard net. Making his way down below to the hangar deck, he gallantly took command of a firefighting team. "The port quarter of the flight deck where I was" he recalled, "is no longer there."[3] With his aircraft surrounded by flames, McCain escaped by climbing out of the cockpit, walking down the nose and jumping off the refueling probe.

I think "payback" for the "swiftboating" of John Kerry is what this should be filed under.

Attack a guy on his area of greatest strength. That's what Rove did to John Kerry with the Swiftboat Veterens. Rove had a candidate who ducked out of Vietnam, then ducked out of his National Guard service, yet ended up looking like the hero, while Kerry was the weakling. These allegations have the same feeling. If so many people believed them, why didn't Rove bring them up in 2000. Then he wouldn't have had to make up McCain's illegitimate black baby story . . .

Typical Democratic trash & drivel. We can't think of anything GOOD to say about our own candidates, so let's dig up anything possible in the past of the OTHER guy.

Very typical.....and very expected.

Dear Offamychain,

Wow, a great observation from someone who appears to be with the political party that invented "Swift Boating".

It is my understanding that McCain was not transferred with his squadron, but that although he was not injured, he was immediately transferred to the USS Orinsky along with the first batch of wounded.

As for being able to hear good about Democratic Party candidates, it is difficult if one only thinks that Ann Coulter is a serious author and only listens to Fox Broadcast (I would not dignify their infotainment as news).

I studied that event as part of naval damage control training. Bottom line, the fire was not McCain's fault.

Just so our biases are clear, I'm not voting for him, but we can't lay the fire at his doorstep. :-)

Dear Sickofleft,

Bombs from planes normally are armed by a mechanism as they drop a set number of feet through the air. This is so that when an idiot hits the wrong button while a plane is on the ground, the bomb will not explode.

But hey, lets not let pesky facts get in the way of the way one thinks.

And if it is payback for Swiftboating, so what?

Some people seem to think that allowing one self to be shot down is an honor.

In January 1968, I was in Saigon. Where were you?

Dear The Wolf05827,

To me the proof is in the fact that McCain's full military records have not been published. Or were they destroyed in the same fire as G. W. Bush's?

Let McCain release his service records along with pay records which really detail where and when some one was while in the military or naval services.

Then I will believe whether he immediately left the ship along with the wounded because he caused the tragic destruction of life and property or he left when his squadron was transferred.

Let the record speak for itself, but the record is not public. Duh

Dear Quillsinister,

So were you a Damage Control Officer or CPO? Was this part of a one day training or was it part of an intensive 6 to 8 week program that dealt specifically with these types of incidences?

With all due respect Sir, having sat through many Navy training programs, I am not too impressed with the fact that this is what the Navy says it is.

Dear Mark B,

If one is willing or capable of believing that business executives lie, cheat, and steal after taking the ethics courses at Harvard Business School (Enron, KBR, WorldComm, Mesa Petroleum), then it is not a big leap of faith to believe that the Generals and Admirals who take the same MBA and executive programs would not be willing to 'circle the wagons' and protect one of the 'inner circle'.

But I am a cynic.