Please tell us about your Coronado Memory
In about 1952 I was sitting on Center Beach with friends watching the surf. We had been body surfing all morning and were taking a break. I saw a parachute deploy far out to sea, it seemed to be as far out as the tip of Point Loma. It came from a single pilot F7U Cutlass jet fighter. He apparently was having trouble and headed the aircraft out to sea before he ejected. The plane then started a wide right turn and came around toward the beach, no one at the controls. We watched as it made one circle over the water at about 5 thousand feet. It kept that same circular pattern as it descended toward the water but each time it came closer to the beach, engines running and well trimmed to keep flying. It made about two turns over the water and on the next turn it was right over the beach still getting lower. It was mid summer and there were several thousand people enjoying the nice day. We were all pointing and talking about where this thing was going to crash. Was it going to crash on the beach? Well, it was headed right at the Hotel del Coronado at about 1000 feet when a navy prop airplane came along side of the wayward Cutlass and tipped the left wing up, causing it to stall out and crash about 100 yards off the Hotel. It was a huge splash. The navy plane circled once and flew back to North Island. I hope they gave that pilot a medal for saving the Hotel Del because it was headed right for it. We paddled out to the crash site on surf mats before the navy boats arrived and tried to see the plane but could not. The next morning I remember a large barge with a crane on it came out and hoisted the plane onto it and took it back to North Island. It sat by the runway there on the bay side for many years before it was sent to a museum somewhere. It was a very exciting day