The Cornfield Bomber and the F one oh six that landed itself after the pilot punched out

On February 2, 1970, a Convair F-106 Delta Dart recovered from a flat spin, flew itself across the Montana countryside, and belly-landed in a snow-covered wheat field outside Big Sandy, Montana—with no pilot on board. The incident earned the aircraft the nickname “The Cornfield Bomber” and remains one of the most extraordinary events in military aviation history.

What Was the F-106 Delta Dart?

The F-106 was a single-seat, single-engine interceptor built by Convair, capable of speeds exceeding Mach 2. It served as part of Air Defense Command, tasked with intercepting Soviet bombers during the Cold War. The Delta Dart holds the distinction of being the last dedicated interceptor the United States Air Force ever built.

What Happened During the Training Mission?

Captain Gary Foust, an experienced fighter pilot stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, launched with his wingman on an intercept training mission. The two F-106s were practicing dogfight maneuvers at approximately 15,000 feet over the Montana plains when Foust’s aircraft entered a flat spin.

Unlike a normal spin, where the nose points down and established recovery procedures—forward stick, opposite rudder—can break the stall, a flat spin is far more dangerous. The aircraft rotates nearly level, like a disc, with aerodynamic controls rendered ineffective by disturbed airflow. The F-106 was not known to be recoverable from this condition.

Foust tried every recovery technique available: stick inputs, rudder, power changes. Nothing worked. At approximately 8,000 feet above ground level, with the terrain rising to meet him and no indication the aircraft would respond, he pulled the ejection handle.

How Did an Unmanned Fighter Jet Land Itself?

The ejection was textbook. The canopy separated, the rocket seat fired, and Foust descended under a good parachute into the Montana winter. What happened next defied every expectation.

When Foust and the ejection seat—roughly 170 pounds of combined weight—departed the cockpit, the aircraft’s center of gravity shifted aft. That shift raised the nose just enough to change the aerodynamic equation. Meanwhile, the Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet was still running at idle, producing thrust. With the nose now slightly above the horizon, the spin stopped.

The pilotless F-106 leveled its wings and began flying straight and level across Montana. Foust, hanging under his parachute, watched his own aircraft fly away from him in stable, powered flight.

Where Did the Cornfield Bomber Come Down?

The Delta Dart descended gradually under idle power until it reached a farmer’s field near Big Sandy, Montana, a town of roughly 700 people at the time. The aircraft touched down gear-up, no flaps, sliding across the frozen, snow-covered wheat field on its belly. Snow cushioned the landing and slowed the jet without flipping it.

The F-106, tail number 58-0787, came to rest upright and largely intact, its engine still idling when local sheriff’s deputies arrived to find an unmanned Air Force fighter jet parked in a field with no one around for miles.

Was the Aircraft Returned to Service?

The damage was remarkably minor. The Air Force recovery team repaired the belly, replaced the canopy and ejection seat, and returned 58-0787 to active duty. The aircraft continued defending American airspace for nearly two more decades before the F-106 fleet was retired.

Captain Foust landed his parachute without serious injury and returned to flying. His fellow pilots at Malmstrom gave him relentless grief—suggesting he should eject on takeoff and let the jet handle the mission—but his decision-making that day was textbook airmanship. He fought the spin, exhausted his options, and ejected when it was time to go.

Why Did This One-in-a-Million Landing Work?

The Cornfield Bomber’s safe return to earth required an extraordinary convergence of physics:

The weight change from the ejection corrected the flat spin by shifting the center of gravity
The engine at idle produced just enough thrust to sustain controlled flight
The aircraft descended into ground effect over flat terrain
The snow-covered field acted as a natural runway, cushioning the belly landing and decelerating the jet without flipping it

Change any single variable, and the outcome would have been a crash site rather than a recovery.

Where Is the Cornfield Bomber Today?

Aircraft 58-0787 is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The museum’s collection includes the aircraft’s full service record, and the Cornfield Bomber remains one of its most popular exhibits.

Key Takeaways

The Cornfield Bomber incident occurred on February 2, 1970, when an F-106 Delta Dart recovered from a flat spin and landed itself after its pilot ejected over Montana
The pilot’s ejection changed the aircraft’s center of gravity, inadvertently raising the nose enough to break the spin while the engine continued producing thrust
The aircraft sustained minimal damage and was repaired and returned to nearly two more decades of active service
Captain Gary Foust made the correct decision to eject, demonstrating sound airmanship by exhausting all recovery options before departing the aircraft
Aircraft 58-0787 is preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio