A Bullpup Morning
In late 1975 I was on my second live fire AGM-12B Bullpup Missile flight of the morning.. My job was to sit behind the co-pilot or the pilot when the missile was being fired. (I switched sides to be looking out the correct window depending on which side the missile being fired was hung on the airplane) First shooting out the side in an attempt to capture an image of the missile coming off of the rail, and then to switch to a body with a tele and document the flight of the missile towards the target.
Most shots did not come out very well. Those damn things were very fast, very small, and we bounced around a lot…
Anyway, our aircraft were armed with four of these remote-controlled guided missiles: Each with a 1000 Lb. High Explosive Warhead. The game was to try to blow up a little target being towed about a half of a mile behind a tug boat.
This was our first missile of the morning, and after the Adrenalin worked its way out of my system and we successfully landed in one piece it turns out I actually did a pretty good job getting an image..
The rest of the story:
About five seconds into its flight the missile pre-maturely detonated. It could have been a faulty arming mechanism; most likely it was a bird strike. but the pilot had to in a split-second jam the throttles forward, yank the nose up and we had to fly through the shrapnel of our own missile.
Three seconds later we all realized we were still alive and still flying and after a huge OH SHIT moment we tested and inspected all operating systems, declared an emergency and headed home.
But wait, there is more: We still had three armed and ready to be fired missiles on our wings. Not knowing the potential damage to the aircraft and not having the ability to “Ditch” the weapons we had to bring them in with us….The runway was lined with fire trucks, we were sent to the furthest part of the base to park and get off of the airplane. No post flight or anything. Shut it down, grab your gear and go. The plane was turned over to the Ordnance removal team first and then towed to a special hanger for a complete damage inspection.
Each Squadron only got 12 missile a year. Firing one was a requirement to advance from co-pilot to pilot. Three of our young pilots had to wait an extra year to qualify. A small price to pay for being able to see the sun come up the next day.