Marine sea skid

In 1984 a German Marine F-104G had water contact and escaped unhurt.
The pilot was on a practice weapon delivery pass on a target in the water, towed by a ship.
During the strafing pass he got distracted and misjudged the delivery parameter like dive angle and minimum delivery altitude.
He fired the gun at a point where he should have been already in the recovery.
During the recovery the APC (Automatic Pitch Control) fired twice and made the situation even worse.
The tail of the Starfighter did hit the water and the drag chute compartment was ripped off and even the chute deployed.

Just another lucky day

Here a view of the missing drag chute compartment
 
serial number: 26+74 (construction number 7420)
date: May 23, 1984
copyright © F-40 Die Flugzeuge der Bundeswehr: F-104, Siegfried Wache