page_title: 1959 San Diego F3H crash
hierarchical_section_title: 1959 San Diego F3H crash
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Navy McDonnell F3H-2N Demon (BuNo 133573) of Fighter Squadron VF-121 "Peacemakers". In March 1956, VF-14 received the first operational F3H-2N fighters. Eventually replaced by the F4H/F-4 Phantom, the F3H/F-3 served until 1964. The F3H-2N 133573 was later modified as a test bed for the AN/APQ-50 radar for the F4H-1 Phantom II
context_page_description: The 1959 San Diego F3H crash was the crash of a United States Navy McDonnell F3H-2N Demon in San Diego, California, on 4 December 1959. The pilot, Ensign Albert Joseph Hickman from VF-121, chose not to eject from the stricken aircraft, piloting it away from populated areas of Clairemont, including an elementary school, saving "as many as 700 people" on the ground, according to one estimate. The aircraft crashed into a canyon, with the pilot being the sole fatality. Hickman has been memorialized in the naming of an elementary school and a sports complex in San Diego. Several decades later, a similar crash occurred in University City, a neighborhood north of Clairemont.
context_section_description: The 1959 San Diego F3H crash was the crash of a United States Navy McDonnell F3H-2N Demon in San Diego, California, on 4 December 1959. The pilot, Ensign Albert Joseph Hickman from VF-121, chose not to eject from the stricken aircraft, piloting it away from populated areas of Clairemont, including an elementary school, saving "as many as 700 people" on the ground, according to one estimate. The aircraft crashed into a canyon, with the pilot being the sole fatality. Hickman has been memorialized in the naming of an elementary school and a sports complex in San Diego. Several decades later, a similar crash occurred in University City, a neighborhood north of Clairemont.
caption: F3H-2N Demon of Fighter Squadron VF-121 in 1956
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