Vietnam Sniper + John Denver

AfricaPredator

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I was watching television tonight and I saw a guy claim that the late John Denver was a top class sniper, in a class of his own.

Anybody confirm this? I know the other chap with a feather was and still is and will always be a legend, but this person? Confirm ?????? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
False! John Denver's father retired as a Lieutenant Col. from the USAF but because of his poor eyesight John couldn't become a pilot like his dad. He was drafted in 1964 but classified 1Y ? because he had lost two toes in a lawnmower accident and never served in the military.
 
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Shows how story's can go around and become blown all out of the true facts /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Thanks for that info /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

BUT they claim he was killed in a plane accident, was he flying?
 
The only thing John Denver could shoot was little glass shooters of whiskey... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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BUT they claim he was killed in a plane accident, was he flying?



The part about him dieing in a plane crash is true. Not sure if he was the pilot or not. I think he was though, Not sure.
 
Yes, he died in a plane crash flying one of his own planes, illegally, too. At least that is the impression I got at the time from the news: that he lost his pilots license but went but kept flying anyway. Could be he never had a license but was using experimental airplanes which don't need a license to fly.?. Never can believe all you hear from the news, anyway.
 
John Denver crashed just off the coast of Pacific Grove CA just below Monterey. He was alone and was flying a type of single engine plane that he was unfamiliar with. The plane required that the gas flow be shifted manually from the first tank to the second tank when the fuel was low. He was acostomed to a plane that did this automatically. He was flying over water at about 500 feet (some eye witnesses say maybe lower). When the engine quit because the tank he was on ran out of gas, it was too late to restart at that altitude.

Everything I ever heard about the guy was that he was a tree hugging lib. From Rocky Mt high to Pacific Ocean low!
 
John Denver was flying a Long EZ,a plane designed by Burt Rutan... one of the greatest designer's of aircraft of our time. He built the Voyager craft that flew around the world. The problem was the builder of this particular experimental kit plane modified the design placing the fuel valve behind the pilot and outside the cockpit. The valve was operated by a shaft placed behind the pilot's left shoulder in an almost impossible position to operate while flying. The gauges had to be read with a mirror from behind the back bulkhead! Not a good idea!!!!

I actually had the opportunity to visit John's neighbor back in 1996... did a photo shoot there for a magazine, she said John loved to shoot handguns in the back yard. Especially after having a few sips. That's about as much to the sharpshooter's legend as I can tell! Beautiful place overlooking Aspen airport... ironic isn't it? He crashed and died a few months later.

Nikonut
 
I wonder if his neighbor wasn't a little confused. I remember years ago a news story where John Denver was in a legal fight with Hunter S. Thompson. Apparently their houses were on opposite slopes of a small valley. Thompson was in the habit of getting drunk and blasting away at bottles and cans he threw down by the stream (in the general direction of Denver's house) with very large handguns, and Denver objected. As I recall Denver lost the fight as they were outside the city limits and there was no ordinance against the discharge of firearms on your own property.

I saw an interview with Thompson a short time later. The reporter was with him in his Caddy convertible, Thompson driving while drinking from a bottle of whiskey and waving a large revolver around. He related the same story with details, and characterized Denver in diminutive feline terms.
 
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John Denver was flying a Long EZ,a plane designed by Burt Rutan... one of the greatest designer's of aircraft of our time. He built the Voyager craft that flew around the world. The problem was the builder of this particular experimental kit plane modified the design placing the fuel valve behind the pilot and outside the cockpit. The valve was operated by a shaft placed behind the pilot's left shoulder in an almost impossible position to operate while flying. The gauges had to be read with a mirror from behind the back bulkhead! Not a good idea!!!!

I actually had the opportunity to visit John's neighbor back in 1996... did a photo shoot there for a magazine, she said John loved to shoot handguns in the back yard. Especially after having a few sips. That's about as much to the sharpshooter's legend as I can tell! Beautiful place overlooking Aspen airport... ironic isn't it? He crashed and died a few months later.

Nikonut



You're right, JD was flying a Long-EZ. He ran out of fuel and stalled it short into powerlines trying to land.
 
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If he ran out of fuel in one tank, why didn't he just switch to the other tank and start it back up on compression?
 
Guys,
Given the cramped cockpit of that plane and the position of the fuel switch it would have been almost impossible to reach over the left shoulder with the right hand to turn the shaft without pushing off the right rudder pedal and according to witnesses that is exactly the way the plane went down, a quick dive to the right. Also the control valve was setup whereas turning the valve left opened the right tank and turning the valve right opened the left tank! This is certainly not the standard where turning the valve left opens the left tank and vice versa. I'm pretty sure that if the switch was turned over to one side I would have just turned it to the other side! The plane was at less than 500ft when the problems occured... so there wasn't much room to play when the ocean was coming up fast! He crashed into the ocean off the coast of California, not powerlines!

The lady that was John's neighbor lived in the house next door on the upside of the hill, not behind him. She said there were several "crazies" living around there. In ASPEN? I could only imagine. She said John was a nice guy but could be a little weird sometimes... go figure! I still believe his demise was a loss to the music community. I've got slides around here somewhere(not JDenver,just his property) ...just don't know where!

Nikonut /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
Not to worry... I've been wrong most of my life if you ask my ex=wife! I was certainly wrong about her! LOL

Nikonut /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Tim, actually it was Anna Nicole who was the world class mercenary sniper. She managed to bag a old guy worth billions without firing a shot. You might want to Snopes that one though.
 
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