User:RightCowLeftCoast/Sandbox/1959 San Diego F3H crash

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 Fighter Squadron 121 was the sole crewmember of a single-seat aircraft, choose not to eject from stricken aircraft piloting it away from populated areas of Clairemont, including an elementary school. The aircraft crashed into a canyon, with the pilot being the sole fatality. Hickman has been memorialized due to the naming of an elementary school, and sports complex, in San Diego. Several decades later, a similar crash occurred in University City, a neighborhood north of Clairemont.

Background
Albert Joseph Hickman was born in Sioux City, Iowa in 1938. Hickman was a naval aviator, being assigned to training Fighter Squadron 121 at Naval Air Station Miramar. Miramar was previously part of a rancho controlled by Mission San Diego de Alcalá, before becoming Camp Kearny, a Naval Auxiliary Air Field, and then the United States Navy's Master Jet Air Station. Another part of the rancho controlled by Mission San Diego de Alcalá would become the current neighborhood of Clairemont; previously cattle grazing land, it was developed in the 1950s into one of the United States' largest postwar planned tract house suburban communities. Part of the neighborhood of Clairemont is within the airport traffic area, and the approach-departure clearance imaginary surface, of Miramar.

Crash
On 4 December 1959, Hickman was practicing landing on an aircraft carrier. Returning to Miramar in his F3H-2N Demon, the fighter experienced an engine failure. At the time of the engine failure, Hickman and his aircraft was at an altitude of 2,000 ft when it stalled. Being over a populated area, Hickman choose not to eject from the stalled aircraft. News stories at the time of the crash indicated that Hickman opened the aircraft canopy and waved to warn children of his aircraft, all the while he steered it away from Hawthorne Elementary School in Clairemont, just missing the school's fence. Ultimately, the aircraft came to a stop in a canyon. Hickman was the crash's lone fatality.

Aftermath
An estimate claims that as many as 700 lives were saved when Hickman made his choice to steer the aircraft during its crash. For his actions that lead to his death, Hickman was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City. The present day location of the crash site is on Diane Avenue in Clairemont, with no remnants remaining at the site.

Following the crash, Hickman has been memorialized in several ways. In 1962, an American Legion post in Kearny Mesa was dedicated to Hickman. In 1971, an elementary school in the Mira Mesa neighborhood was named for Hickman; its construction was completed in 1976. In 1994, on land leased from the United States Navy, a sports complex was dedicated in honor of Hickman.

Several decades later, a similar event as the crash in 1959 occurred during the 2008 San Diego F/A-18 crash. On 8 December, a United States Marine Corps two-seat F/A-18D experienced engine problems after taking off from the USS Abraham Lincoln during training. Instead of landing at Naval Air Station North Island, Lieutenant Dan Neubauer, flew the ailing aircraft to Miramar; Neubauer and the aircraft were part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 based at Miramar. On its way to Miramar, the aircraft experienced engine failure resulting in both of the engines being out; Neubauer decided to eject from the aircraft, which was seconds from crashing. The pilot-less aircraft crashed into a residential area of University City that was 1/4 mi from University City High School, and 2 mi from Miramar; four people were killed on the ground. Neubauer ejected safely, landing east of University City High School; he was later cleared to fly again.