Grounded in Iowa

On a crisp morning in March 1968, Clarence McCarville was busy feeding a flock of turkeys on his northeastern Iowa farm. Suddenly, a Wisconsin Air National Guard F-102 jet fighter dropped like a buzz bomb from the sky and piled into the McCarville farmhouse, destroying it and several nearby sheds. Nine months later, by implausible coincidence, an F89 Iowa Air National Guard plane exploded when it plowed into the ground 100 ft. from Peter Tjernagel's farmhouse in the central part of the state. About 12,000 Ibs. of flaming jet fuel spewed from the plane and burned everything in sight, including corn cribs, grain bins and a $7,700 borrowed combine.

The McCarvilles filed suit against the Air Force, asking $87,758 in damages resulting from the crash. The Tjernagels claimed damages amounting to $112,000. Though federal authorities gave the McCarvilles $2,000 and the Tjernagels $5,000 in "emergency funds," they argued that the planes --and the responsibility--belonged to the states of Iowa and Wisconsin. Iowa replied that the National Guard planes were on federally approved missions when the crashes occurred, thus making the Federal Government accountable. As the haggling continued, the two families settled into makeshift quarters --the McCarvilles in a 16-ft. by 14-ft. chicken coop and the Tjernagels in a rented house.

Finally, after three years of frustrating negotiations, Iowa Governor Robert Ray cut through the red tape by devising a neat bureaucratic stroke of his own. In his capacity as commander in chief of the Iowa National Guard, Ray ordered all of its 95 aircraft and 1,625 motor vehicles indefinitely immobilized except in the event of a national emergency. "I am not satisfied," he said, "that what has happened to the Tjernagels and the McCarvilles could not happen to other lowans."

For 24 hours last week, the Iowa National Guard stood down. Then the Air Force gave in. It agreed to pay the Tjernagels $75,852 and the McCarvilles $52,000 in damages. With that, Ray ordered the planes aloft again.

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