He was conducting aerial combat maneuvers near Great Falls, Montana, when his aircraft entered into a flat spin.
Gary attempted a recovery but was unsuccessful. In desperation he deployed the drag chute but nothing seemed to do anything to recover the aircraft from the spin.
At an altitude of 15,000 feet Foust made the decision to fire his ejection seat. He managed to escape, but as he was floating down he saw his stricken aircraft successfully recover itself from the spin!
Foust’s ejection reduced the weight and the center of gravity of the aircraft, enabled it to recover itself and with its throttle at idle the pilot-less aircraft descended and skidded to a halt in a farmer’s cornfield near Big Sandy, Montana.
Gary drifter into the nearby mountains and was rescued by local residents.
There was so little damage on the ‘Cornfield Bomber’ that it was repaired and returned to service. It is now on display in the National Museum of the United States Air Force, where it has been since it was retired.
