re: #427 pre-Boomer Marine brat

216 had a bird hit the round-down. Bad. Plane broke into 4 pieces. Pilot died (I heard because of fire in the O2 line.)

I have a photo of an F-8 landing, looks like a “cool normal photo” just before the actual touchdown.
I snapped the shot, and when the mirror came back up (Canon FT/QL), there was a big ball of fire coming down the flight deck. Marine on the fantail actually lived through it. Pilot didn’t.