thedrifter
02-13-09, 08:15 AM
Marines Corps jet a landmark at Alameda's Encinal High
By Lucinda Ryan
Correspondent
Contra Costa Times
Posted:02/12/2009 04:36:45 PM PST
That jet plane on the pedestal at Encinal High School may not look imposing with its diminutive profile. Nor does it bear the charred metal from the fire that started while it was aloft near the Bay Bridge.
The jet, which has been Encinal High School's mascot since 1984, took wing for the last time on Oct. 19, 1974, when Jon Burns, now a retired Alaska Airlines pilot living in Kauai, was serving in the Marine Corps Reserves maintaining his flying skills at Naval Air Station, Alameda.
He climbed into the Skyhawk eager to fly in what he describes as "a maneuverable, reliable airplane."
"When I took off from Alameda, the fire warning light came on," he said. "All of the other engine indications were normal. I was over the Bay Bridge when smoke got into the cockpit.
"It was a Friday night and lots of people were sailing in the Bay so I was reluctant to use the ejection system," he recalled. "The plane could have hit the bridge or the people in the Bay. I turned around and landed at NAS. By then the plane was on fire. I got out, the fire trucks came and I was fine.
"It turned out that a welded seam in the tailpipe where the jet blast comes out failed and let exhaust into the fuselage," he said.
The Skyhawk wasn't fine. It was damaged beyond repair and in 1977 was hauled to Treasure Island to the Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard Museum where it was displayed until it was towed by helicopter back across the Bay, (underneath the Bay Bridge, which must have been an unusual site to any boaters below), to its home of the past 25 years on the Encinal campus.
A sophomore, Michelle Sechrist — whose father was in the Marines — learned the military was looking for a new home for the plane and suggested the Encinal Jets "adopt it," according to an Alameda Times-Star story from 1984.
Alamedan Ken Ryan, a friend of Burns, also has personal memories of flying the little jet. He served in Da Nang after joining the Marines in 1967. The A-4 Skyhawk was used to deliver bombs and Ryan conducted 130 missions in Vietnam descending from about 15,000 feet and delivering the ammunition at about 4,500 feet. He doesn't offer details or wax heroic about his Vietnam duty, but he did say he was shot at many times and was never injured nor ever had to eject.
He flew in the Marines for five years then joined the Reserves and flew as a "weekend warrior" for 11 years. He is now retired, married and has two little girls.
In 2003, the jet was removed from the school's campus for a new coat of paint and routine maintenance. During its absence a group of less than 20 activists, including parents and teachers, lobbied the school to have it relocated to the decommissioned base (now Alameda Point) because they thought it inappropriate to display a war plane that had delivered bombs in Vietnam.
But no Vietnamese, Cambodians or Laotians spoke in support of the activists' suggestion, despite the group's petition with 400 signatures. Encinal Principal Bill Sonneman said the plane would return, that it was the right thing to do.
The jet was returned to the campus, with motorcycle police escorts leading the way and no new controversies about it have cropped up since.
Ellie
By Lucinda Ryan
Correspondent
Contra Costa Times
Posted:02/12/2009 04:36:45 PM PST
That jet plane on the pedestal at Encinal High School may not look imposing with its diminutive profile. Nor does it bear the charred metal from the fire that started while it was aloft near the Bay Bridge.
The jet, which has been Encinal High School's mascot since 1984, took wing for the last time on Oct. 19, 1974, when Jon Burns, now a retired Alaska Airlines pilot living in Kauai, was serving in the Marine Corps Reserves maintaining his flying skills at Naval Air Station, Alameda.
He climbed into the Skyhawk eager to fly in what he describes as "a maneuverable, reliable airplane."
"When I took off from Alameda, the fire warning light came on," he said. "All of the other engine indications were normal. I was over the Bay Bridge when smoke got into the cockpit.
"It was a Friday night and lots of people were sailing in the Bay so I was reluctant to use the ejection system," he recalled. "The plane could have hit the bridge or the people in the Bay. I turned around and landed at NAS. By then the plane was on fire. I got out, the fire trucks came and I was fine.
"It turned out that a welded seam in the tailpipe where the jet blast comes out failed and let exhaust into the fuselage," he said.
The Skyhawk wasn't fine. It was damaged beyond repair and in 1977 was hauled to Treasure Island to the Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard Museum where it was displayed until it was towed by helicopter back across the Bay, (underneath the Bay Bridge, which must have been an unusual site to any boaters below), to its home of the past 25 years on the Encinal campus.
A sophomore, Michelle Sechrist — whose father was in the Marines — learned the military was looking for a new home for the plane and suggested the Encinal Jets "adopt it," according to an Alameda Times-Star story from 1984.
Alamedan Ken Ryan, a friend of Burns, also has personal memories of flying the little jet. He served in Da Nang after joining the Marines in 1967. The A-4 Skyhawk was used to deliver bombs and Ryan conducted 130 missions in Vietnam descending from about 15,000 feet and delivering the ammunition at about 4,500 feet. He doesn't offer details or wax heroic about his Vietnam duty, but he did say he was shot at many times and was never injured nor ever had to eject.
He flew in the Marines for five years then joined the Reserves and flew as a "weekend warrior" for 11 years. He is now retired, married and has two little girls.
In 2003, the jet was removed from the school's campus for a new coat of paint and routine maintenance. During its absence a group of less than 20 activists, including parents and teachers, lobbied the school to have it relocated to the decommissioned base (now Alameda Point) because they thought it inappropriate to display a war plane that had delivered bombs in Vietnam.
But no Vietnamese, Cambodians or Laotians spoke in support of the activists' suggestion, despite the group's petition with 400 signatures. Encinal Principal Bill Sonneman said the plane would return, that it was the right thing to do.
The jet was returned to the campus, with motorcycle police escorts leading the way and no new controversies about it have cropped up since.
Ellie