Story: “John McCain was a fighter pilot.” Fact: No, in fact he wasn’t.

“A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage other aircraft and typically pilots a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting (close range aerial combat).” Wikipedia.

John McCain flew A-4 Skyhawks almost exclusively for his entire military career. the A-4 is a light bomber aircraft, also known as the “Tinkertoy Bomber”. This is what he was in when there was the accident on the Uss Forrestal and this is the kind of plane he was flying when he was shot down and subsequently captured.

There was only one confirmed air to air kill involving the A-4 during the entire Vietnam War, and that was on May 1, 1967 by by LCDR Theodore R. Swartz with an unguided air-to-air missle.

These are not “fighter planes”, they are bombers. And John McCain was a “bomber pilot” not a fighter pilot. This is what John McCain, the “war hero” did in Vietnam before being shot down and, according to his own testimony, cutting a deal with his Vietnamese after 3 days in captivity...

...But suffice to say now, that while it may be very difficult to defeat the “image” of John McCain in Nov. it would certainly not be hard to defeat the real John McCain. And that is why the corporate media launched a “shock and awe” style attack on someone who had the nerve to even call any mention of his record into question.

John Kerry was forced to allow the media complete access to his military records when he was running for office. To date the US Navy has only released 19 pages of what appears to be over 600 in his military file...

...John McCain worked feverishly to prevent the North Vietnamese from releasing their records of the POW camps as well as the debriefing records of all the returning POWs. When the POW_MIA movement was attempting to find missing soldiers after the war McCain worked to suppress their access to any records about the camps. What exactly did McCain have to hide?...[Open in new window]