On September 3, 1951, a 21-year-old Navy ensign walked onto the flight deck of the USS Essex.
The aircraft carrier was stationed off the coast of Korea, and as the young pilot prepared for his seventh combat mission, it was a beautiful, albeit cold, morning. Catapulted into the air, the pilot’s F9F Panther jet flew by Mount Fuji and over the Sea of Japan before crossing into Korea.
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Along with the rest of the group of fighters, the naval aviator dropped 500-pound bombs on their targets during a reconnaissance mission. Their final task was to take out a strategically important bridge.
After that was accomplished, the ensign and others were returning back to the USS Essex when an anti-aircraft, steel cable stretching between mountains sliced off six to eight feet of his Panther’s wingtip.
Neil Armstrong was in serious trouble.
Called to Flight School Early
Armstrong wasn’t always known as the first person to walk on the moon.
At one point, he was just another nondescript student studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University in the late 1940s. Armstrong attended college on a U.S. Navy-sponsored Holloway Plan scholarship, which required committing to two years of classroom instruction before flight school and active-duty service.
That was the usual process, at least. The Navy, though, didn’t have enough aviators at the time, so Armstrong was sent to flight school in Pensacola, Florida, after only 1½ years at Purdue.
Armstrong graduated two months after the Korean War started. He had been flying for barely more than a year when he lost part of his Panther’s right wing over enemy territory.
Significant Damage to Fighter Jet
Author Jay Barbree recounted the harrowing incident in his 2014 book, “Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight.” In an excerpt published by historynet.com three years later, Barbree recounted how Armstrong’s jet was roughly 500 feet off the ground at the time of the incident. It was traveling at a speed of 350 knots, or roughly 400 mph.
The damage to the F9F Panther extended beyond one wing. Some of its aileron, which helps control a plane’s movement, also was severely compromised, and its elevators weren’t operating properly. Nonetheless, Armstrong managed to increase the plane’s altitude before it hit the ground.
The future astronaut radioed his group leader, John Carpenter, to alert him of his ordeal. They determined Armstrong would have to eject, something he had never done previously. He knew so little about the procedure, in fact, that, like a student cramming for a final exam, he furiously began reading through the instructions in the cockpit.
Nothing could prepare Armstrong for the shock to come.
22 G-Forces Hit Armstrong After Ejecting
US Air Force training pilot for high G-force when flying a fighter jet
Armstrong placed a curtain around his face, neck, and upper shoulders to protect against the ensuing impact once he pulled the handle on his ejection seat. Carpenter also reminded him to tighten his shoulder straps and seat belts.
“They’re already choking me,” Armstrong said, according to Barbree’s book.
After Armstrong ejected, an estimated force equal to 22 times his weight affected every part of his body. The G-forces eventually dissipated, allowing Armstrong to remove his face curtain and harness.
It was time to pull the rip cord on his parachute.
After Armstrong did, he floated toward the earth, unsure of where he was going to land. Would he come down in North Korean territory? Would he hit land or water? Armstrong wasn’t totally sure during his descent, but he landed in the best possible place imaginable.
Armstrong touched down in a rice paddy, Barbree recalled, and it wasn’t long before an American jeep approached him.
A Happy Reunion
Goodell Warren, who roomed with Armstrong at flight school, popped out of the jeep.
“Armstrong, what the hell are you doing in my rice paddy?” Warren called out.
“Goodie, you never looked so good,” a relieved Armstrong said, smiling.
Armstrong landed near the U.S. Marine Corps’ base at Pohang Airfield. If Armstrong had fallen into the waters nearby, mines laid by the North Koreans likely would have killed him. As Warren and Armstrong reconnected, they heard some of those mines exploding.
Armstrong went on to fly 78 combat missions in Korea. After the war, he served eight years in the Navy Reserve. Armstrong’s military service ended in 1960, almost a decade before he stepped on the moon on July 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission.
Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at the age of 82.
