More detail on this person: F-4 crash during a
multi-aircraft Air-Air mission in support of an
evaluation for the photo-recon F-4's.I could talk
Volumes about John Clinton McAnnally. He was
killed on a Wednesday, 'Tax Day'. It was a
multi-aircraft Air-Air mission in support of an
evaluation for the photo-recce F-4's, known then
as a MCCRES. The long & short is that John was
engaged with an A-4 aggressor aircraft, broke
hard, & his aircraft departed. (it will never be
known if material failure (wing spars, etc.), was
a contributing factor to the departure, but many
of us suspected it was. Those F-4's were OLD!
Most, 2-3 times the expected 'service life.' They
were too low to recover, John was cool..., as
ever, deployed the drag chute, stepped through
some of the 'OCF' procedures, and at 70° nose low,
he initiated command ejection, well within the
envelope. With about 8,000 lbs. of gas, the
subsequent explosion created an enormous fireball,
& the heat melted his parachute as at was
streaming out of the seat. Everything worked.
Except John's luck. It was already common
knowledge at the time that John would be one of
the first 3 F/A-18 USMC C.O.'s. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
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The RIO survived. 'Denny' Viera would later be my
RIO when we went through TOPGUN. The fall killed
John, actually, there was a 'faint' pulse when the
SAR helo arrived 45 minutes later, & he died
shortly thereafter. This was out by the Leach
Lake complex. He was taken to Fort Irwin, I
believe. 323' was an extremely tight unit then,
as the 'Snakes' always are. I cannot believe that
it has been 25 years since that day. There was
not one pilot or RIO in that unit who had anything
but an enormous respect 'Pal' as a leader. As for
what he could do with that F-4 in the Air-Air /
Air-Ground arena.........? All of us were just
pitifully envious.
I remember that my brother David was in the
HMLA-369, 'Gunfighters' in the 1980's, & came
across a Vietnam cruise book that had pictures of
John. I am sure he was in 369', Cobra's, I
believe. One side story about John. He always
hated it when the new/young guys would complain
about how 'tough' things were. John had no use
for those who did not appreciate their luck in
seeking to live & breathe aviation 24/7........,
nor those who used it as a 'stepping stone' to the
airlines. So he told the story that he was, I
believe, the second Marine to go through Navy
Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN. He was
second..., because he deserved to be second. One
of his TOPGUN classmates was Manfred Rietsch.
That gives you an idea of the caliber' of aviators
at the time, attending TOPGUN. As John would
say, "his reward....? I went to Vietnam, & flew
helo's." He never bitched......., And he was so
very proud of his helo service there, he also flew
F-4's in Vietnam, I believe with VMFA-122.
I would be more than HAPPY, to share more if you
like. 25 years, and I have never seen another
like John. I am positive I never will, not in
this lifetime.
John's exact date of death was 15 April 1981. He
was XO of our squadron at El Toro, CA.
VMFA-323.
I was John's body escort to his burial in
Placerville, CA.
That was a tough one. He was and remains one of
the truly 'Great' military Aviators & Leaders.
From: Michael Sobyra, Major (Ret), 'JUICE' at