6 October 1955 – McDonnell company test pilot George Shirley Mills bails out of McDonnell F3H-2N Demon over Carrollton, Illinois near St. Louis, Missouri after what appears to be a massive systems failure, including the J-40 engine.
Instead of crashing, the fighter circles over two states for more than an hour sans canopy, ejection seat, and pilot. It eventually impacts in a cornfield near Monticello, Iowa, 250 miles (400 km) from where Mills ejected.