On 11/2/68, Navy pilot Lt. Michael C. Emmett was killed when his Vought F-8J Crusader BuNo 150850 with the VF-124 crashed 25 minutes after taking off from Miramar NAS on a routine combat tactics training mission. The instructor-leader observed the aircraft in a spin at 10,000 feet and called for the pilot to eject, he never responded or ejected. The aircraft continued spinning all the way to the ground impacting in rugged terrain.

Driving to the area I believe the F-8J crash site is located. I attempted to find this site about ten years ago, but was mislead by some of the information I had gathered at the time. Recently I found new details and think I have a good chance at locating it.

On the hike to the crash site. It's been awhile since I've been out hiking and my legs are already reminding me about it.

Found the first piece of wreckage in the wash, looks like it's going to be a good day.

A little farther on, I came upon the partially buried engine. When I was out here ten years ago, came within 200 feet of this engine.

Closer view of the J57-P-20A engine. I think this is the high pressure compressor and combustion sections.

Finding more pieces as I hike up the canyon.

A piece from the fuselage. The marking reads, FUEL VENT LINE ACCESS.

This is about four feet long. Didn't stop to check it out as I'm starting to find a lot of pieces and want to reach the main site.

Still finding pieces as I make my way up the canyon.

This was an interresting looking part.

After picking it up and taking a closer look, I noticed the skull and crossbones on it. I hoped after all the years, it would be washed clean of any toxic chemicals.

The pieces lead me to this steep slope. I could see more wreckage near the top.

Looks like a panel from the fuselage.

Looking down as I near the top.

Group of pieces on the ridge.

Taking a closer look, could tell that this is one of the wing spoilers.

Still on the ridge, found this AIM-9 Sidewinder missile lunch rail.

Another view of the lunch rail.

From the ridge I could see into the next ravine which is where the main crash site is located. It doesn't show well in the photo, but it looks like most of the F-8 remains at the site, but it's badly fragmented.

A piece from the wing.

A large piece from the fuselage.

The same piece from the other side.

The top part is one of the inboard flaps with a piece of the wing's trailing edge attached. The other looks like it's from the wing.

The arresting hook mount.

A large piece of wing skin and the lower sections from the main landing gear.

Closer view of one of landing gears.

And the other gear.

The other inboard flap with a piece of the wing still attached.

More wing skin and a part from the engine.

Don't know what these two components are. The one on the left may have something to do with the fuel system going by the large diameter tubing attached to it. The other maybe either hydraulic or pneumatic.

Discs from the high pressure compressor section of the engine.

Looking down the ravine.

Some of the wreckage in the previous photo looking from below.

A piece from one of the horizontal stabilizers.

More wing skin.

Tag on the back of this unit was marked ARC 27A. Looking it up it turned out to be a UHF AM radio.

A fuselage bulkhead with a part of the main landing retraction strut attached.

Partially buried discs from the engine's low pressure compressor section.

Closer view showing the sheared off blades.

This group of wreckage is just below the buried compressor discs which are in the top of the photo.

I took is photo to get the flags and noticed later at home that there are a couple of barrels from the Colt Mk-12 cannon in it. One can be seen on the rock on the left, the other near the lower right.

Another group of wreckage.

Closer view of the wing skin from the previous photo..

The top piece is from the fuselage. One of the gun ports is on the right, just behind it is a cannon barrel. I haven't been able to match up that heavy duty looking linkage to any photos of F-8s that I could find.

Better view of the cannon barrel.

Closer view of the fuselage piece. This section is from just below the canopy, it has the danger ejection triangle.

Most of the wreckage in this area appears be from the cockpit section. The flags were placed here by Pat Macha's Project Remembrance Team when they guided the pilot's family members to the site. Their visit was on 11/2/18 which was the 50th anniversary of the accident.

I have placed the links to his videos at the end of the photos.