I read the USAF Safety TWX on an incident where a 57th FIS F4E ;aunched
out of Rekyavik with his wings unlocked. When the bird rotated the tips
went vertical and with the sudden shift of the now modified aero center
the bird nosed up steeply. The RIO made the appropriate comment while
the AC rolled the plane inverted to get the nose back down. At the
horizon he rolled right side up and still in burner found that at 300
the tips would lie flat. (Note that USAF F4Es do not have cockpit-
folding controls, - it's all done outside, on the ground, of course.)
They punched the tanks and dumped fuel and determined from a little
test flying that they could make an approach. I forgot the exact speed
but it was doable.
So they came in flat and fast, planted the bird on the runway, slowed
enough to pop the chute and stopped okay. The WingCo had the usual talk
with the crew. He posited that the attaboy canceled the aw **** and the
crew agreed.
(A little careless maybe but not stupid). The mishap occurred because
the bird had just been painted sea grey over the usual slime and
sewage; the wings being unlocked, the telltale red pins also became
grey, and no one noticed they were sticking up when the bird was towed
from the hanagr to teh flightline - or during preflight . . . This
happened sometime around 1972-1973 because I was stationed at Bitburg
AB Germany when I read the TWX report.
Walt BJ ret ftr plt