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| USAF Negative Number: 76821 AC NASM Videodisc Number: 4A?25844 AIRPLANES: BATTLE DAMAGE These unusual photographs of a damaged F?80 Shooting Star returning safely to a base in Korea were taken by an amateur photographer, Mr. Frank A. Hopkins, of Amhrest, Mass., who is a planning engineer for the Far East Air Forces. Mr Hopkins was on the runway at the time, thus being able to make the spot news shots. Photo No. 1 shows the F?80 (with its landing gear shot away by tank cannon fire) bouncing into the air after making a forced belly landing in a rice paddy. Mr. Hopkins said the Shooting Star bounced about 20 feet in the air after making a forced belly landing in a rice paddy. Mr. Hopkins said the Shooting Star bounced about 20 feet in the air after striking the paddy and the picture shows the airplane about halfway up to that distance. The concrete runway is in the foreground and a forced landing would have been hazardous, since the F?80 was traveling 170 miles per hour. Photo No. 2 shows the same airplane which the pilot walked away from, unhurt. Note the cannon holes in the fuselage below the letters "FT." |
