MCANNALLY JOHN C

CPT John C. McAnnally was a potential VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 04/15/1981 at the age of 37.3 from A/C accident
Placerville, CA
Date of Birth 12/28/1943
Served in the U.S. Marine Corps
This information was provided by Michael Sobyra, SSN deceased search

More detail on this person: F-4 crash during a multi-aircraft Air-Air mission in support of an evaluation for the photo-recon F-4's.I could talk Volumes about John Clinton McAnnally. He was killed on a Wednesday, 'Tax Day'. It was a multi-aircraft Air-Air mission in support of an evaluation for the photo-recce F-4's, known then as a MCCRES. The long & short is that John was engaged with an A-4 aggressor aircraft, broke hard, & his aircraft departed. (it will never be known if material failure (wing spars, etc.), was a contributing factor to the departure, but many of us suspected it was. Those F-4's were OLD! Most, 2-3 times the expected 'service life.' They were too low to recover, John was cool..., as ever, deployed the drag chute, stepped through some of the 'OCF' procedures, and at 70° nose low, he initiated command ejection, well within the envelope. With about 8,000 lbs. of gas, the subsequent explosion created an enormous fireball, & the heat melted his parachute as at was streaming out of the seat. Everything worked. Except John's luck. It was already common knowledge at the time that John would be one of the first 3 F/A-18 USMC C.O.'s.

The RIO survived. 'Denny' Viera would later be my RIO when we went through TOPGUN. The fall killed John, actually, there was a 'faint' pulse when the SAR helo arrived 45 minutes later, & he died shortly thereafter. This was out by the Leach Lake complex. He was taken to Fort Irwin, I believe. 323' was an extremely tight unit then, as the 'Snakes' always are. I cannot believe that it has been 25 years since that day. There was not one pilot or RIO in that unit who had anything but an enormous respect 'Pal' as a leader. As for what he could do with that F-4 in the Air-Air / Air-Ground arena.........? All of us were just pitifully envious.

I remember that my brother David was in the HMLA-369, 'Gunfighters' in the 1980's, & came across a Vietnam cruise book that had pictures of John. I am sure he was in 369', Cobra's, I believe. One side story about John. He always hated it when the new/young guys would complain about how 'tough' things were. John had no use for those who did not appreciate their luck in seeking to live & breathe aviation 24/7........, nor those who used it as a 'stepping stone' to the airlines. So he told the story that he was, I believe, the second Marine to go through Navy Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN. He was second..., because he deserved to be second. One of his TOPGUN classmates was Manfred Rietsch. That gives you an idea of the caliber' of aviators at the time, attending TOPGUN. As John would say, "his reward....? I went to Vietnam, & flew helo's." He never bitched......., And he was so very proud of his helo service there, he also flew F-4's in Vietnam, I believe with VMFA-122.

I would be more than HAPPY, to share more if you like. 25 years, and I have never seen another like John. I am positive I never will, not in this lifetime.

John's exact date of death was 15 April 1981. He was XO of our squadron at El Toro, CA. VMFA-323.

I was John's body escort to his burial in Placerville, CA.

That was a tough one. He was and remains one of the truly 'Great' military Aviators & Leaders.

From: Michael Sobyra, Major (Ret), 'JUICE' at

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 10/23/2024


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