Erv,

  I've been enjoying surfing your website--it brings back a lot of fond
memories!  I was in the 87th FIS during the time that 57-0230 was
damaged during a landing accident at Charleston AFB SC.  Here's the
story:

  The airplane was on a two-ship cross-country flight, taxiing for
takeoff at Warner-Robins AFB GA.  During the taxi, the lower collar of
the left landing gear sidebrace fractured and fell onto the taxiway.
This was not noticed by the pilot as no warning lights illuminated.  The
takeoff was normal until gear retraction, when the landing gear did not
retract fully.  When the landing gear was extended, the left main
landing gear hyperextended against the left external fuel tank.  The
pilot elected to divert to Charleston AFB SC, where the 87th FIS had an
alert detachment.  Fuel was burned off after the relatively short trip
from Atlanta to Charleston, and the airplane was set up for an approach
end arrestment.  Despite the pilot's best efforts, he was unable to hold
the left wing up after touchdown, and the left main landing gear
collapsed outboard.  The nose gear was broken off by the force of the
derotation impact, and the airplane slid to a stop on the runway on the
left external fuel tank, the radome, and the right main wheel.  The
pilot shut down the engine and egressed the airplane safely.  The
airplane never flew again under its own power.

  I was the investigating officer for the mishap as I was the 87th FIS
Chief of Safety.  As the mishap was investigated, it became clear that
if replacement value was used for parts, the mishap would become a Class
B (I think between $100K and $500K at the time).  However, since the
airplane was within months of being sent to AMARC anyways, the costs
used were sheet metal costs, which were relatively inexpensive.  In
order to remove any potential for undue commander's influence, I was
replaced as the investigator by the 24th NORAD Region Chief of Safety,
who found that the pilot had done everything possible to minimize
damage.  This was the first time that this exact mishap had happened in
the F-106 community, although it had essentially the same symptoms as
Main Landing Gear Boss Pin Failure, which had happened before.  It was
an indication that the F-106 had reached the end of its life from a
structural lifetime of key components standpoint.  The components were
originally designed for a 4,000 hour lifetime; they were being used with
over 6,000 hours on the airplanes.  The engineering had been
conservative, but not that conservative!

  I've Bcc'd the pilot of 57-0230 for the landing mishap to see if he
wants to add anything to my narrative.  Once again, thanks for the
memories!

Doug Benjamin
737 Senior Project Pilot
Boeing Commercial Airplanes
206-655-0502