On January 15, 1962, Lt. Charles Hodgate, Delton Wilson, John Bush, and Horace Marks struggled to get their A3D-2 Skywarrior airborne after Sanford NAS cleared it for takeoff on a bombing run. The tail bumper, starboard engine, and wingtip dragged for 2150 feet, and the crew was ordered to lower the landing gear, dump fuel, and turn east to avoid Orlando. Wilson then reported a starboard engine-fire warning light, and two A3J aircraft joined the A3D and confirmed the engine fire. As the plane skimmed the treetops and lost altitude with Oviedo School directly in its flight path, an immediate bailout was ordered. Wilson parachuted out and survived, but the plane's escape chute mechanism failed. As children watched, the plane fell short of the school and crashed into Ward Citrus Grove, exploding and killing Charles Hodgate, John Bush, and Horace Marks. Jim Jones, then a high school junior in Jack Calvert's English class, saw three planes skimming the treetops toward the school, watched the two on each side peel away and a parachute drop rapidly, then saw the middle airplane rise vertically, cartwheel to the right, and somersault nose-down into Ward Citrus Grove. Sent by business teacher Novella Aulin to check on Myrt and W.A. Ward, he was the first to arrive at the crash site and felt the heat from the burning aluminum plane, knowing immediately there could be no survivors.