New York Times Revises McCain's Military Record With Correction

The New York Times carried a correction today for an August 9 story that essentially revises a key component of John McCain's military career -- that he was a "fighter pilot":

An article on Sunday about Senator John McCain's campaign management style described his role as a Navy pilot in Vietnam incorrectly. He flew bombing missions as an attack aircraft pilot, but he was not a "fighter pilot." (The error has appeared in numerous other Times articles the past dozen years, most recently on April 9 and on Dec. 15, 2007.)

It would seem like an important matter, given the fact that the paper of record was going so far to cop to a decade-long litany of error. But it appears that the Times is really splitting a hair here. Providing the vital "More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Fighter Planes" research today is Gawker's Ryan Tate, who reckons the Times needs to be told, "Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full of tortured reasoning!"

When McCain was famously shot down over Vietnam, he was flying his usual plane, a small jet aircraft known as the A-4 Skyhawk, which the Times now refers to as an "attack aircraft." That's a safe and widely-agreed upon label for the plane pilots dubbed "Scooter" (heh), but the newspaper needn't have apologized for calling it a "fighter." Many in the aviation community regard it as precisely that, starting with the military's most famous training program, Top Gun.

Top Gun, the nickname for the Navy fighter pilot school made famous in the Tom Cruise movie of the same name, originally used the A-4 to simulate Russian MiGs. The key attribute for a "fighter," according to widely recognized definitions, is high speed and maneuverability and weapons designed to shoot down enemy aircraft.

...

All versions of the aircraft can carry Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for self defense, according to Bill Gunston and Mike Spick's excellent "Modern Air Combat." And they often did, for example in the service of the Israeli Air Force, where an A-4 shot down a Syrian MiG-17 during the Yom Kippur war. Boom, fighter!

Tate goes on to point out that while the A-4's purpose is often interpreted as an "attack bomber," at least one authoritative source, The World's Great Attack Aircraft, "refers to the plane as a 'versatile little fighter-bomber.'"

Naturally, I have to wonder why the Times is committing themselves to a wordy future of referring to McCain as "an attack aircraft pilot who flew bombing missions" when their audience is not primarily made up of military experts and "fighter pilot" is a simple and accurate enough way of describing McCain's military service. In keeping with the need to correct decade-long assumptions (and the Top Gun theme in general!), the Times might be better advised to reconsider whether it's accurate to call McCain a "maverick."

Comments

[MajorKong]

Too bad he didn't get to fly something manly like a B-52. : )

[indypete]

Like your namesake!

[aofh]

At least he knew how to have a good time in Vegas.

[MajorKong]

That's why I took that name. Like every good B-52 pilot I've seen Dr. Strangelove so many times I have the script memorized.

[BrettnCalgary]

Those are far too big, far too expensive, and were far too important to have some admirals son practicing crash landings with them.

[SEQUOIABISON]

A human automaton dropping bombs on predetermined targets.

No decisions to make just follow orders and do as you are told, and this they tout as a qualification for leadership?

Obama/Clark

[Ramirez]

It's not THAT easy. Sometimes they shoot at you.

[indypete]

Wel, that's only fair.

[helonias]

And when your plane tell you that the enemies radar has locked onto you you abort.

John M did not and was shoot down.

[PaulinaSmedes]

Makes you wonder who's orders he's gonna be following were he to become president, doesn't it ........

[indypete]

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

[nastyvirus]

If a plane has weapons and is used primarily for attacking innocent women and children, then it is a fighter.

[luckyt]

Don't be ridiculous

[indypete]

No, that makes it a bomber or attack aircraft. A fighter is used to prevent B's and A's from attacking innocent women and children.

[OBXartist]

Which term is used to describe McCain's military activities is quite important because the terms affect our perceptions of his personality and his initiative, independence, and individualism, all of which play into the "maverick" label. I'm not diminishing the expertise and value of any pilots who fly combat missions. It takes a special kind of person to put themselves at that level of personal risk and still competently carry out their mission duties. But there is no doubt that fighter pilots have a special aura in our culture, with our perception of them as courageous lone cowboys or knights of the sky, actively seeking out enemy aircraft, willing to go man to man with the enemy. It is different from our perception of bomber pilots who we see as being told when to fly, where to fly, what bombs to carry, what to bomb, and how often. I'm not making any value judgements, just noting that the different roles are perceived differently by our society with fighter pilots perceived more positively.

[Liberoservative]

"It takes a special kind of person to put themselves at that level of personal risk and still competently carry out their mission duties."

Yes, it does.... but we need to go back even further than that.
FACT: He got into Annapolis on a legacy having his father and grandfather four star admirals...

FACT: He graduated at the bottom of his class at Annapolis

FACT: He got into the air program BECAUSE of his legacy..... Trust me... I was AT Annapolis and only the highest scoring Midshipmen get into the flight program.... the rest go to the Surface Warfare, Marines or Supply Corps.......

FACT: He proved to be unsuited for air warfare because he was such a "maverick"... no, he was just stupid.....

and the last FACT:
He has built his reputation on his Navy career and he refuses to release his Navy Performance Standards, his FITREPS... his record....

What is he hiding? This man is not fit to be POTUS... this man is not ready for a CIC position because this man knows nothing of world politics or economy... the only thing he knows is War and more War....

Noun Verb SURGE

[spyda]

I just watched the video on tube where J.McWars kept talking up wars!This is exactly why we need to keep hounding and demanding the truth about his own military records from the msm.Why aren't they covering him like the do Obama?Keep demanding the truth!! This nut is scary!! And yes he was a POW but that does not qualify him for POTUS!

[EyeballKid]

The media will be doing its job with McCain when they run the training film of the USS Forrestal fire, which killed over 130 of McCain's fellow sailors. Who caused the fire and subsequent explosions? Why, it was none other than John McCain. Look it up.

[Ramirez]

No it wasn't. Look it up.

[applespider]

I just looked it up and found this...

http://judicial-inc.biz/82jjohn_mccain_and_the_uss_forresta.htm

I don't know if it's as reliable as, say, plagiarizing it from Wikipedia, but it's something to think about. I'd love to see any film available on the incident.

[mlaiuppa]

Fighter plane pilot or Fighter plane crasher? Didn't he lose, like, FIVE of them? How much do those suckers cost each?

[msmaggie]

Let's not sink to swift-boater level, please. The man served his country honorably. And yes, if you fly in a war zone, your odds of getting shot down are quite high. McCain has enough seriously flawed policy positions that we should concentrate. This sort of thing is just smarmy, really quite Limbaughesque IMO.

[indypete]

I don't think anyone is blaming him for the one that got shot down. The other four, however.....

[captnEarl]

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_hacker_2.htm


To see what a REAL AMERICAN HERO thought of McCain check this link!

[Ramirez]

More than a Senior Lecturer makes in a year.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"Didn't he lose, like, FIVE of them?"

It's a very good question about the cost, but the word "lose" may be too kind. "Crash" may be more appropriate because all of them were found exactly where he crashed them.

The fact that he started his flight career, or his crash career, in flight school is well known. It is somewhat odd that this didn't bother the Navy but, when a person has the backing of an Admiral or two in the family, it seems to not always be a disqualifying event.

Hopefully, someone can post a link to where more information can be found where his additional crash experiences can be found.

Some questions do linger. (1) After a Naval aviator downs five planes, even if they are ours, can he be considered an Ace? (2) Is he the Navy's all-time record holder for crashing the number of planes? (3) If he had not been taken prisoner, would he have crashed more planes and pushed the record even higher? And (4) How much confidence does his wife have when she flys with him in her plane? Does she allow him to take the controls? Or do they rely upon a real pilot who has less crash experience?

Going back to the question about the cost, it, of course, appears that none of the crashes cost McCain a cent.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Good question.

First plane: "While a pilot trainee, McCain [call sign "Playboy"] continued to party hard. He drove a Corvette and dated an exotic dancer named "Marie the Flame of Florida." ... McCain, the 'below par' pilot, eventually lost 5 military aircraft, the first during a training flight in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while trying to land. The Navy ignored the crash and graduated McCain in 1960." per Ted Sampley, http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message495961/pg2

Second plane: "While deployed in the Mediterranean, the hard partying McCain lost a second aircraft. Timberg described the crash: "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines ..."

Third plane: "Unscathed, McCain returned to Pensacola Station where he was promoted to flight instructor for Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi. ... Flight instructor McCain lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game."

Fourth plane: "McCain lost his fourth plane on board the Forrestal on July 29, 1967 when a rocket inadvertently slammed into his bomb laden jet."

[nobillary1]

"Naturally, I have to wonder why the Times is committing themselves to a wordy future of referring to McCain as "an attack aircraft pilot who flew bombing missions" when their audience is not primarily made up of military experts and "fighter pilot" is a simple and accurate enough way of describing McCain's military service."

I'm sure they provided the correction because the McCain camp insisted on it. After all, we can't have any LIES about John McCain on the record because that distinction is only reserved for Sen Obama!

Let me add, that I totally agree with your last comment. Let's explore the true meaning of the word "maverick" and let's get that record corrected too!

[geobushono]

basically, attack aircraft, with the prefix A, attack land targets.
fighter aircraft with the prefix F, fight with other aircraft....to protect the lesser armed A4's for example, as they go on to napalm some children playing in their yard.

[Ramirez]

0bama should pledge to ban attack aircraft in order to protect children playing in the yard from napalm.

[applespider]

Oh, should he? I'm glad you're here.

[abouttime]

" ..to ban attack aircraft in order to protect children playing in the yard from napalm."?
You mean Cluster bombs, designed by Military contractors to not (all) explode upon detonation, but rather to be piked up by children later and then explode!
Boom!
FACT.
And indict those sicko sadists who are responsible for crimes against humanity!

[MajorKong]

Napalm hasn't been in the inventory for quite a few years. "Nape" was very hard to drop accurately because the tanks tumbled when they came off the aircraft. Cluster is now the preferred weapon for that sort of thing.

[yhgtup]

What a coincidence, the Times decided to go full strength on McCain's war record, right now with the Russis/Georgia situation going on. Um-m-m

[angel12]

Labeling McCain a "fighter" pilot has always sort of bugged me. It appears that the NYTimes finally got somebody on staff who knows something about Naval aviation. When I trained as an NFO in 1965, and I am sure it is true now, only the best student pilots got into the fighter program. The level below that was into the Attack program. All were great pilots or they would have been given something else.
And the A-4 was a great aircraft, particularly the E version used in both North and South Vietnam. In the 1980's Falkland War, gutsy Argentinian Naval Air Force pilots, flying a few feet above the waves, destroyed British warships using French Exocet missiles. Today, thanks to false economy, the Navy uses dual-type aircraft, FA's, or Fighter/Attack types.
Perhaps the NYT will correct another error: McCain did not "voluntarily" refuse early release. Had he taken early release without the permission of the Senior Officer in his POW camp, he would have been subject to Court-Martial on his return. All Navy officers were drilled on this many times. While I don't think McCain ever asked for early release, he has never corrected anyone on this important matter, thereby making himself look more "heroic."

[RatgurlSD]

Thanks for the clarification, Angel. I'm now much more informed :)

[OverIt]

Not only has he not corrected the record about his refusal to be released, but his campaign has actively promoted that "refusal" as part of his "Country First" talking point.

[Egalitare]

As someone who worked on both arresting gear and catapults for most of the CVNs currently in service, and had relatives who helped to build the Ranger, it is LONG overdue that this seemingly modest correction has been made.

John McCain served his country honorably and to the best of his ability, but his best was not good enough to be rated an elite aviator. I suspect that a great many people assume that McCain was a fighter pilot, and while that doesn't make his service any more or less honorable, I think it may matter to those who believed all this time that McCain was some hot shot MiG-dueling ace.

To those people, McCain has lied by omission.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"All were great pilots or they would have been given something else."

Even the son and grandson of Admirals?

[schicklett3]

A vote for McCain is a vote for an upcoming DRAFT.
Just you wait and see.

[FaceYourFears]

Exactly!

[ritenow]

But THEIR kids don't go to war. They might go into the military but they DON'T go to war.

[SeaBoatbuilder]

If we'd had a draft, we wouldn't be in Iraq. The repubs love war until their own kids have to go.

[NYC07]

No the Repubs would put in place all kinds of deferments to make sure THEIR kids (who have better things to do, just ask Cheney) would never have to serve . Remember to Repubs it's only the "Little People" who are unimportant and can be used as fodder for cannons.

[Ramirez]

So who do you think is in Iraq now? Democrats?

[Ramirez]

A vote for Bus h in '04 was a vote for the draft, too.

Some memes never di e.

[applespider]

Clever! Perhaps you'd be genuinely funny if people didn't die, either.

[indypete]

They need to hurry it up while my lazy sons-in-law are young enough.

[ArmyCentrist]

Did any of you even understand the lingo, or care to? Didn't think so...thanks for wasting paper NYT, that's why your medium is dying out....

[mnash]

I wonder how MC will stop the troops from coming home?

[dadw5boys]

Like Bush did allow the oppistion to get weapons ! Stop paying them not to attack us.
Cut off AL Sadr's money !

[Sarahjan]

The idea that this elderly 73 years old post retiree man can run on his past professional life as fighter pilot is both silly and very American for he cannot be a fighter plight today! So, let us face reality, McCain is old, he cannot even use a teleprompter properly and he cannot use email. He- is -73- years –old, very old man!

[SoCalNick]

Careful Sarah You might make some heads explode with the truth here. Take it slow so they can adjust : )

Oh and he is running on the LIES of his past professional life. He refuses to release his Military records like Kerry did. Coward is hiding something BIG!!

[midwesthousewife]

Enough already on the ageism. There are plenty of capable, sharp elders in our society. There is plenty to hang McCain with without resorting to that.

Come back when you are 70 and let us know what you're thinking then.

[applespider]

I'm thinking that at age 70, the last thing I'd want to do is strut around, stumbling over talking points, and forgetting elementary school level geography in front of my neighbors.

[Diogenis]

The "operative word" you used is CAPABLE! End of debate.

[ejay579]

It isn't ageism to question someones ability to do a job because of their age. Why do we not allow 80 year olds to become firemen or cops? The answer is obvious. Sure you may get a person here or there who would be able to it but he or she would have to prove it. It is a fact of life that a 73 year old does not have the mental acuity of someone twenty years younger. McStain has not done anything to show that he does. In fact, he has shown the opposite with his age related gaffes. Besides, it is even worse when you do not have much to subtract from in the first instance.

[Ramirez]

Great idea and a winning meme.

0bama should run ads attacking McC over his age.

[Diogenis]

ya, the White House wasn't designed to be a nursing home.