Fisherman Snags Live F-15 Fired Sidewinder AIM-9 Missile During Fishing Trip.

Fisherman Snags Live F-15 Fired Sidewinder AIM-9 Missile During Fishing Trip.

Fisherman Snags Missile During Fishing Trip

Posted At : June 11, 2009 8:06 AM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: What Not To Do With UXO

Panama City, Florida A 37-year commercial fisherman fishing 50 miles off the coast of Panama City in the Gulf of Mexico caught more than just fish when he pulled in a missile unveiling a curious catch when he returned from an expedition through the Gulf of Mexico this week: A corroded missile that had been fired from an F-15 fighter jet.… The man reportedly kept the eight-foot long missile strapped to roof of his boat for 10 days before returning to port in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg.

Fisherman Rodney Salomon hooked the missile about 50 miles off the Panhandle town of Panama City and then kept it on his boat, the Broad Venture, for ten days. Salomon hoped to keep it as a souvenir, but took precautions because he didn't know if it was live.

"I had it secure. I keep it cool," he said, adding that he packed it with ice.

Local authorities first said the projectile was live and unstable, but Eglin Air Force Base later said it was a telemetry missile that carried no explosives. Still, the MacDill Air Force Base Bomb Squad inspected and dismantled the missile after Salomon returned to port on Monday evening in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg.

Eglin spokesman Samuel King said the bomb squad was needed to retrieve and dispose of sensitive technology used to measure and transmit data on the missile, which was fired in August 2004 from an F-15 fighter jet during a test.

When the man reported the find to police, they responded with a civilian bomb squad. After confirming that the item was military ordnance, the bomb squad called the EOD unit from MacDill AFB for technical support.

EOD identified the corroded missile as a live AIM-9. EOD rendered the missile safe in a nearby parking lot before transporting it off-site for proper disposal. The Air Force reported that the missile most likely came from a training exercise conducted in August 2004 by the 53rd weapons evaluation group based out of Tyndall AFB.

A local Florida news station covering the story interviewed the man who reportedly stated - "I had it strapped to the roof of my boat as we rode through lightning storms.....I wasn't scared."

Local authorities first said the projectile was live and unstable, but Eglin Air Force Base later said it was a telemetry missile that carried no explosives. Still, the MacDill Air Force Base Bomb Squad inspected and dismantled the missile after Salomon returned to port on Monday evening in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg.

Eglin spokesman Samuel King said the bomb squad was needed to retrieve and dispose of sensitive technology used to measure and transmit data on the missile, which was fired in August 2004 from an F-15 fighter jet during a test.

"Once we found out it was ours, our guidance was that it needed to be destroyed," King said.

The Air Force and Navy use Gulf waters off the Panhandle for weapons training. King said that the weapons evaluation group tests about 300 missiles over the Gulf each year.

Salomon told authorities he had seen other missiles in the same area and asked if he could keep his catch once it had been dismantled. The request was denied.

Well, what’s a guy to do: practice catch and release fishing, or get screwed out of your trophy by the government?

As for this Sidewinder Missile being a harmless non-explosive device; I think someone is telling a helluva fish story, and it’s not the fisherman this time!

F-16 Armament - AIM-9 Sidewinder :: F-16.net

The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile. It has a high-explosive warhead and a passive infrared guidance system. ...