On one mission over the Pacific as a torpedo bomber pilot he was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft fire and was rescued from the water by a U. S. submarine.
McCain, who survived two plane crashes and a massive fire aboard the USS Forrestal before his A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bomber was shot down over Hanoi in 1967, said he had not given much thought to the possibility of threats to his life as a high-profile presidential candidate.