CRASH INTO SEA OF JAPAN BREAKS YORKTOWN PILOTS BACK
BUT HE LIVES BECAUSE HE TOOK A CHANCE

Picture: Four Yorktown Cougar jets from VF 24 fly over Ford Island and Pearl Harbor Hawaii as the Yorktown sits in port getting "degaussed"

As the big Douglas Skyraider became airborne from the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, it looked like a successful launch.  Two seconds later, the motor stopped.  The foward end of the flight deck obscured the plane as it dropped into the blue Sea of Japan.  Three men were aboard the aircraft, they all survived, one barely.  Pilot Lt. R.L. Arnicar USNR and his plane and crew were only 90 feet above the water.  Not enough altitude to parachute out.  Arnicar steered the powerless AD into the sea.

In this type of aircraft, two SONAR trained Combat Aircrewmen are seated aft and below the pilot in the SONAR compartment.  Access for the two men was through a door located in the side of the plane.

The massive Yorktown as immediately alongside the aircraft passing it closely at about 20 knots (about 23 miles per hour).  The plane's crew knew they had a limited amount of time to get out of the aircraft before it sunk.  The two SONAR operators opened the side door and jumped out.  However, Lt. Arnicar was having problems.  he couldn't get his legs to push him up and out of the cockpit.  He couldn't move from the waist down.  Arnicar pushed himself up by the strength of his arms, attempting to roll free.  As he began to get high enough, a large wave knocked him back into his narrow seat.  Arnicar unlatched his parachute and equipment belts which contained heavy items like his pistol, ammo, flares, radio and first aid kit, but he still couldn't pull or push himself out.  The plane was sinking fast, he had do so something because if he stayed in the cockpit he was doomed...

Knowing that an inflated life vest could snag onto the plane and pull him down he still took the chance and inflated his life vest while still inside the sinking airplane.

As the salty water flowed into the small cockpit, it flooded the rest of the plane causing the sinking to accelerate.  As the aircraft slowly dropped below the surface of the water, Lt. Arnicar on his back and in his bright life vest, floated out of the plane and into the grey water.

His fellow air crewman assumed that Lt. Arnicar was already free of the plane.

The rescue helicopter arrived and the Air Sea Rescueman jumped into the water.  Lt. Arnicar was taken to the Yorktown where doctors realized that he was seriously injured with a broken back.  He had to be transferred to a destroyer which would take him to a Naval Hospital.  The Yorktown metalsmiths devised a special stretcher to permit the pilot to be transferred on a cable to the destroyer as the two ships churned through the waves.

We never heard about Lt. Arnicar again.

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