ORIGINAL: Troy-RCU

I was told a story of an F-8 fighter that took off from Miramar with its wings folded up. Once in the air the pilot noticed the plane was buffeting bad and when he started a turn it snap rolled hard. After gaining some resemblance of control the tower called him and notified him his wings were folded. Sure enough, he looked back and saw the glow of the wingtip lights folded inward. The F8E had a 35' wing span and a fuselage about 6' wide. He had folded 12' (about 6' on each side), and now that 12' of folded wings was lying on top the remaining wing. Except for bad buffeting on the emergency approach, he came in hot and steady with a nervous temptation to pull the ejection seat. He lowered his arresting hook, touched down, the plane jolted to a stop, and he walked away a lucky man. I think the government was smart to buy the F-8 with wings. Apparently it flies better that way