His 400 M.P.H. single-seat fighter spouting flames and the odds of survival piled heavily against him, a U.S. pilot landed the 2,000 horse-power aircraft successfully on the carrier Cowpens, during operations in the Pacific late in 1944, saving both his own life and the Hellcat. With superb skill he jockeyed for position (1), made a level approach (2) and. a perfect touch-down. As the carrier's fire-fighters played on the blaze he struggled from the red hot cockpit, scorched and near blinded with smoke and still burdened with his parachute pack, ran along a wing (3), then leapt to the safety of the flight-deck (4). So efficient were the firemen that only one minute and thirty seconds elapsed between the time the Hellcat touched down and the flames were extinguished. Astonishingly, the plane was soon refurbished to fight again.
