RF-4B Phantom Midair Explosion and Fire; Ejections (1987)

Episode #37 of Destroyed in Seconds aired on April 2, 2009. The show featured poor-quality footage of an RF-4B Phantom mishap, largely drowned out by music that was blaring and overall a mess of blurriness and static. Hardly anything was visible, but the incident was nonetheless spectacular. This video presents the October 1987 mishap from a different camera, never before published and in far greater detail than the clip published by the Discovery Channel. Both crewmembers survived with minor injury. RF-4B-27-MC, Bureau Number 153109 / RM 614 was part of Detachment 101 assigned to CVW-5. Transferred to VMFP-3 in March 1976 and upgraded as part of the SURE Block 4 rework, the aircraft was lost on October 27, 1987, during a Cope Thunder exercise in Zambales, Philippines when a photo-flare cartridge failed to eject and exploded in the rear-fuselage flare dispenser, causing a major fire and rendering the aircraft uncontrollable. Captain Huey Moser and First Lieutenant Andrew Auer successfully ejected over the Crow Valley weapons range. According to the Destroyed in Seconds episode, the flare exploded with the force of two hand grenades, severing the Phantom's tail and sending it plummeting toward the ground. The episode does not seem to be the most reliable source, however, since it also alleges that ejection subjected Moser and Auer to "300 Gs." Which is highly implausible, considering that ejection seats are designed to subject their occupants to ~14G. I have filed a request for the mishap report and will update this description when it arrives.