{"id":32301941,"date":"2026-11-11T16:02:32","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=32301941"},"modified":"2026-11-11T16:02:42","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T15:02:42","slug":"cliff-judkins-f-8-crusader-parachute-failed-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/cliff-judkins-f-8-crusader-parachute-failed-1963\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliff Judkins: The Crusader Pilot Who Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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Somewhere around 600 miles out, 1st Lieutenant Cliff Judkins plugged into a four-engined tanker at 20,000 feet to take on fuel. Within minutes his aircraft was on fire, his ejection seat had failed and he was standing up in the cockpit of a falling jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Date:<\/strong> June 1963 (19 June, according to the Aviation Safety Network)<\/li><li><strong>Pilot:<\/strong> 1st Lt Cliff Judkins, USMC<\/li><li><strong>Unit:<\/strong> VMF(AW)-323<\/li><li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Vought F-8E Crusader<\/li><li><strong>Where:<\/strong> Pacific Ocean, about 600 miles off California, en route to Hawaii<\/li><li><strong>What failed:<\/strong> Engine (explosion and fire), ejection seat, main parachute<\/li><li><strong>Rescue:<\/strong> USS Embattle, about two and a half hours after he hit the water<\/li><li><strong>Back in the cockpit:<\/strong> Within six months<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">&ldquo;Jud, You&rsquo;re On Fire&rdquo;<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judkins wrote his own account of the day, later published by Ron Knott in <em>Supersonic Cowboys<\/em>. As he finished refuelling, he heard a loud explosion; the engine&rsquo;s RPM and tailpipe temperature dropped away, fuel was streaming out and burning behind the jet, and another pilot called that he was on fire. The Marine Corps later concluded that an automatic fuel cut-off had failed, so that the tank overfilled and ruptured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He pulled the primary ejection handle. Nothing happened. He pulled the alternate handle. Nothing again. Ditching a Crusader in the open ocean was not considered survivable, so he jettisoned the canopy by hand, unstrapped, stood up and let the slipstream, at around 225 knots, pull him out of the cockpit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;My desperation was growing, and any scheme that offered a shred of success seemed better than riding that plane into the sea.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Cliff Judkins<\/strong> &mdash; quoted by Marion Military Institute<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A Parachute That Would Not Open<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He pulled the D-ring. The small pilot chute came out, but the main 24-foot canopy did not deploy: it flapped above him, tangled in its own shroud lines. He shook and pulled at the lines all the way down and could not free it. He hit the Pacific with almost no braking at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The list of injuries is long. His left ankle was broken in five places and his right in three, his right pelvis and a vertebra were fractured, a tendon in his left foot was cut and his left lung partially collapsed. His survival raft had been lost. Aircraft overhead dropped rafts, but he was too badly hurt to reach them, and he stayed in the water until the ship USS Embattle reached him about two and a half hours later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Navy doctor later noticed a long scar on his abdomen. Four years earlier Judkins had lost his spleen in a serious car accident in Texas. The doctor told him that a spleen would very probably have ruptured on impact, and that he would most likely have died.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Back in the Crusader<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within six months Judkins was flying the F-8 again. After the Marine Corps he joined Delta Air Lines, where he flew for 30 years and retired as a captain. He told the story for decades, including to cadets at his old school, Marion Military Institute in Alabama, in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Viral Post Gets Right<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story going round follows Judkins&rsquo; own account closely: the June 1963 Trans-Pac, refuelling at 20,000 feet, the explosion and fire, two failed ejection handles, the manual bailout, the unopened main parachute, the injuries, USS Embattle, the missing spleen and his return to flying within six months. Three details are not in his account. The 110 mph impact speed is a later estimate, not his figure. The bailout altitude of about 15,000 feet comes from the title of his story rather than from the narrative itself. And we have not been able to confirm the details given online about his death in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: Cliff Judkins, &ldquo;I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived&rdquo;, in Ron Knott, <em>Supersonic Cowboys<\/em>, reproduced by VFP-62; Aviation Safety Network, F-8E Crusader accident record, June 1963; Marion Military Institute, &ldquo;GRIT Profile: Cliff Judkins &rsquo;56&rdquo; (19 November 2018); John M. White, &ldquo;Jud, You&rsquo;re On Fire&rdquo; (5 January 2024).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who was Cliff Judkins?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Cliff Judkins was a US Marine Corps F-8 Crusader pilot who survived a fall into the Pacific in June 1963 after his jet caught fire, his ejection seat failed and his main parachute did not open. He later flew for Delta Air Lines for 30 years.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Cliff Judkins survive without a parachute?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Judkins&rsquo; small pilot chute deployed but his main canopy stayed tangled, so it gave him very little braking. He hit the sea with severe injuries, including broken ankles, a fractured pelvis and vertebra and a partly collapsed lung, and stayed in the water until USS Embattle picked him up about two and a half hours later.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Cliff Judkins&rsquo; F-8 Crusader catch fire?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">According to Judkins&rsquo; account, the Marine Corps concluded that an automatic fuel cut-off failed during air-to-air refuelling, so the tank overfilled and ruptured, causing an explosion and fire.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did his ejection seat not work?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Both the primary and the alternate ejection handles of Judkins&rsquo; F-8 seat failed to fire. He jettisoned the canopy by hand, stood up and let the slipstream pull him out of the cockpit.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did a missing spleen help Cliff Judkins survive?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Judkins had lost his spleen in a car accident four years earlier. A Navy doctor told him that a spleen would very likely have ruptured when he hit the water, and that the internal bleeding would probably have killed him.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did Cliff Judkins fly again?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. Judkins was back flying the F-8 Crusader within six months, and after leaving the Marine Corps he flew for Delta Air Lines for 30 years.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was Cliff Judkins?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Cliff Judkins was a US Marine Corps F-8 Crusader pilot who survived a fall into the Pacific in June 1963 after his jet caught fire, his ejection seat failed and his main parachute did not open. He later flew for Delta Air Lines for 30 years.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Cliff Judkins survive without a parachute?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Judkins\u2019 small pilot chute deployed but his main canopy stayed tangled, so it gave him very little braking. He hit the sea with severe injuries, including broken ankles, a fractured pelvis and vertebra and a partly collapsed lung, and stayed in the water until USS Embattle picked him up about two and a half hours later.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did Cliff Judkins\u2019 F-8 Crusader catch fire?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"According to Judkins\u2019 account, the Marine Corps concluded that an automatic fuel cut-off failed during air-to-air refuelling, so the tank overfilled and ruptured, causing an explosion and fire.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did his ejection seat not work?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Both the primary and the alternate ejection handles of Judkins\u2019 F-8 seat failed to fire. He jettisoned the canopy by hand, stood up and let the slipstream pull him out of the cockpit.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did a missing spleen help Cliff Judkins survive?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Judkins had lost his spleen in a car accident four years earlier. A Navy doctor told him that a spleen would very likely have ruptured when he hit the water, and that the internal bleeding would probably have killed him.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did Cliff Judkins fly again?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. Judkins was back flying the F-8 Crusader within six months, and after leaving the Marine Corps he flew for Delta Air Lines for 30 years.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/william-rankin-fell-through-thunderstorm-1959\/\">The Man Who Fell Through a Thunderstorm<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/f-8-crusader-last-gunfighter-vietnam-navy\/\">F-8 Crusader: Last of the Gunfighters<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/7500-lives-and-counting-the-invention-of-the-ejection-seat\/\">7,800 Lives and Counting: The Invention of the Ejection Seat<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In June 1963, 600 miles out over the Pacific, Marine Lieutenant Cliff Judkins&rsquo; F-8 Crusader exploded during air refuelling. His ejection seat would not fire, he climbed out by hand, and his main parachute never opened. He hit the ocean and lived. Here is his story, from his own account.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":32301918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32301941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cliff Judkins: F-8 Pilot Who Fell 15,000 ft and Lived (1963) | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In June 1963 Marine Lt Cliff Judkins\u2019 F-8 Crusader caught fire over the Pacific, his ejection seat failed and so did his parachute. He hit the sea and survived. 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