We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Two weeks ago was the 55th anniversary of the "Big Sandy Cornfield Bomber" incident. Locals were shocked to witness an F-106A Delta Dart performing a belly landing in a field north of Big Sandy, not far from Box Elder. As surprised as they were by the landing. little could prepare them for the revelation that the airplane had landed without a pilot at the controls. The aircraft was quickly retrieved by officials from Malmstrom Air Force Base, repaired, and returned to active duty. The story of the Cornfield Bomber has spread and become the stuff of local legend in the Big Sandy Area and is one of the only instances of an aircraft landing itself after the pilot ejected.
Despite the name, the Cornfield Bomber wasn't a bomber at all. It was a fighter jet, part of the 71st Fighter Intercepter Squadron stationed at Malmstrom. According to Rob Turnbow, who runs the Malmstrom Air Force Base Museum and Air Park. the 71st's mission was to patrol the skies of the region and intercept unauthorized aircraft that found their way into American airspace. Specifically, the 71st was meant to shoot down Russian Nuclear Bombers, in the event they were sent to attack the American mainland.
According to Air Classics Magazine's write up of the incident, on February 2nd, 1970, Lieutenant Gary Faust and three other pilots set out for dogfighting training in the skies over Northern Montana, but things went awry immediately when one of the Delta Dart's drag parachute malfunctioned while taxiing, essentially grounding it for day. The remaining three F-106s agreed to fight a two-on-one scenario, with Lt. Faust flying in the team of two as the only lieutenant in the group.
During the simulated dogfight, Lt. Faust's aircraft fell into a flat lefthand spin, which is a potentially life threatening uncontrolled, horizontal spin that takes place following a stall in which the center of gravity shifts too far towards the tail. Due to the nature of the spin, the wings don't produce enough lift and the airplane essentially falls from the sky while spinning.
According to an interview Faust did with the National Museum of the Air Force in 2013, which is now posted on the museum's YouTube page, "It remained in that spin as I was going through the maneuvers, the emergency procedures to recover. It did not recover. I finally, after being prompted by my wingman, ejected approximately at 8,000 feet or so above the ground. Immediately after I ejected, the airplane immediately went completely nose down and recovered from the spin and flew off. It flew a number of miles away and landed by itself in a little town by the name of Big Sandy. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. It was in a wheat field. Probably skidded some couple hundred yards or more and came to rest. It ran at idle until it ran out of gas. This wasn't the first time that the minute the pilot ejected a plane recovered from the spin, but I was surprised it landed by itself. It was obviously a shock to everyone."
The cause of the airplane's self correction isn't clear, though sources I interviewed suggested that it was likely due to several factors. Perhaps the most important was the ejector seat, which launched Lt. Faust clear of the aircraft. The advent of supersonic aircraft had created a problem for aircraft designers when it came to ejector seat technology. The F-106's ejector seats were no exception. Several took to using explosives to propel the pilot safely clear of the aircraft before they finally settled on a ballistic system. The Weber Zero-Zero Rocket Catapult Seat used expanding gas to fire Lt. Faust clear, sort of like a bullet being fired from a gun. The recall of the shot pushed the nose of the airplane down far enough to expose the wings to the wind and create enough lift for the F-106 to recover from its spin.
A representative from the National Museum of the Air Force remarked that the F-106 was a remarkably automated airplane for the time, which explains why it was able to continue on its way after recovering. Major Jim Lowe watched the airplane fly away and exclaimed: "Gary, You better get back in that thing!" The remaining two aircraft split up, with one following Lt. Faust and the other tracking rogue F-106, which was following a path of slow, level descent.
Lt. Faust's parachute settled him near Camel's Back Butte just south of Rocky Boy. Shortly afterward, he was collected up by a rescue team from Rocky Boy on snowmobiles and transported back to Malmstrom by helicopter.
The F-106 executed what Air Classics Magazine called "a near perfect gear-up touch down near Big Sandy, Montana." Specifically, it landed in a field just south of Box Elder, near the point where the Big Sandy River crosses Highway 87. It touched down, slid a couple of hundred yards, making a slight right turn along the way and eventually came to rest 400 yards away from the highway. Bystanders contacted Malmstrom to report the aircraft sitting in the field, with its jet engine still roaring as it sat in the snow. Officials advised them to keep their distance and wait for it to run out of gas. After about 90 minutes, the Cornfield bomber exhausted its fuel and went silent.
The Big Sandy Sheriff cordoned off a perimeter about 300 yards from the airplane and watched over the site until Air Force mechanics showed up to disassemble the Cornfield Bomber. The recovery effort began with raising the airplane off of the field, removing the engine, and shipping back the body of the aircraft separately from the engines. Photographs taken by the mechanics reveal that the belly of the airplane was damaged, with some gashes. Apart from that, the Delta Dart was mostly intact.
The Cornfield Bomber was repaired and returned to active service. According to one story, Faust flew the jet once more later in his career. In 1979, he piloted the same F-106 while in Florida. Afterwards he remarked that it handled well. Eventually, the Cornfield Bomber was retired and put on display at the National Museum of the Air Force.
It is unclear who coined the name "Big Sandy Cornfield Bomber," especially since the airplane was closer to Box Elder, landed in a hay field, and was a fighter jet. However, the name stuck. A stage play has been written about the Cornfield Bomber, and will be performed this summer at the Big Sandy Homecoming celebration in honor of the 55th anniversary.
