Albert Hickman

The 1959 San Diego F3H crash was the crash of a McDonnell F3H-2N Demon operated by the United States Navy in San Diego, California, United States, on 4 December 1959. The pilot, Ensign Albert Joseph Hickman from VF-121, chose not to eject from the stricken aircraft, piloting it away from populated areas of Clairemont, including an elementary school, saving "as many as 700 people" on the ground, according to one estimate. Later he graduated from Central High School in 1956, enlisting in the Navy before graduating. Another part of the rancho controlled by Mission San Diego de Alcalá would become the current neighborhood of Clairemont; previously cattle grazing land, it was developed in the 1950s into one of the United States' largest postwar planned tract house suburban communities. Part of the neighborhood of Clairemont is within the airport traffic area of Miramar.

Crash On 4 December 1959, Hickman was practicing carrier landings. As he returned to Miramar in his McDonnell F3H-2N Demon, the aircraft's engine failed. The aircraft was at an altitude of when the engine compressor stalled and surged. It was reported that Hickman chose not to eject from the stricken aircraft and even opened the aircraft canopy and waved to warn children of his aircraft, all the while steering it away from Hawthorne Elementary School in Clairemont, just missing the school's fence. Hickman was the sole fatality. For his actions that led to his death, Hickman was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City.

Building of the American Legion post named in honor of Hickman. Hickman has been memorialized in several ways; in 1962, an American Legion post in Kearny Mesa was dedicated to Hickman. In 1971, an elementary school in the Mira Mesa neighborhood was named after Hickman; In 1994, on land leased from the US Navy, a sports complex was also dedicated in honor of Hickman.

Several decades later, a similar event as the crash in 1959 occurred during the 2008 San Diego F/A-18 crash. Instead of landing at Naval Air Station North Island, Lieutenant Dan Neubauer flew the ailing aircraft to Miramar. Neubauer and the aircraft were part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 based at Miramar. four people were killed on the ground.