Category: Allies
We rightfully assume that it takes months of intensive training to safely fly a Marine Corps attack jet.
LCPL Edward Foote pulled it off never having flown an A4 before. Public domain.
Top Gun was one of the most popular action movies of all time. Featuring a compelling story, aerial visuals that were life-changing for the era, uber-cool characters, and a pulsating musical score, Top Gun ensured that Naval Aviation recruiters could all retire early and get real jobs. Suddenly, everybody and their grandmother dreamt of strapping on an F14 and tearing across the skies.
I admit to having drunk a bit of that Kool-Aid myself. Flying an OH-58 aeroscout helicopter single pilot with the doors off is a bit like riding a 3-dimensional motorcycle. I do miss that so.
Additionally, several of our flight engineers got the avionics guys to splice boom boxes into the intercom systems of our military helicopters. I have actually flown NOE (nap of the earth) down remote Alaskan rivers at 170 knots and thirty feet while rocking to Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone. If you were paying taxes back in the 1990s, sincerely, thanks for that.
Serving as a military aviator was such an incredible privilege. I worked hard to earn that slot, but an awful lot of it was just unvarnished luck. The physical requirements were both stringent and relentless. Sometimes, the most trivial of things would crush a young man’s dreams. Such was the case with an enthusiastic Marine Lance Corporal named Howard Foote.
The A4 Skyhawk was an all-purpose workhorse of an aircraft
throughout the Vietnam War and beyond. Public domain.
The Guy
Lance Cpl. Foote was a born aviator. He served as a maintenance specialist on A6 Intruder strike aircraft and was, by all accounts, an exemplary Marine. He spent his free time flying gliders and made it clear to all who served with him that he aspired to Officer Candidate School and a career as a Marine fighter pilot. His chain of command thought that was a splendid idea and encouraged him at every opportunity.
One weekend, Foote was attempting to set a world altitude record in a civilian glider and suffered an aerial embolism. This is a potentially catastrophic variation on the bends, a condition wherein a nitrogen bubble forms in the bloodstream as a result of rapid pressure changes. Though LCPL Foote recovered, this injury disqualified him from Marine flight training. He was justifiably heartbroken.
The drive to fly high-performance aircraft can seem overwhelming. In Lance Cpt. Foote’s case, it overcame his otherwise sound judgment. Early in the morning on 4 July 1986 — Independence Day — Lance Cpl. Foote donned a flight suit, stole a crew truck, and motored out to a Marine A4 Skyhawk that was technically down for maintenance.
The ailerons were out of adjustment, and there was something amiss with the nose wheel. Regardless, Edward Foote, a young Marine who had previously only flown gliders, climbed aboard, ran through the startup procedure, and soon had the little jet turning and burning.
A left front view of a Marine Attack Squadron 322 (VMA-332) A-4M Skyhawk aircraft parked on the flight line.
The Crime
It was still dark when Foote angled the nimble little attack plane onto the blacked-out runway. Before anyone was the wiser, he firewalled the throttle and blasted off into the California skies. For the time being, at least, he was free.
Lance Cpl. Foote flew the plane for about 45 minutes. He angled out over the Pacific Ocean and entertained himself doing barrel rolls and loops, covering some 50 miles in the process. Eventually, he headed back to the airfield, made five separate passes over the runway, and then executed a perfect landing. Tragically, by then, somebody had noticed that an attack jet was missing.
Foote was charged in a General Court Martial with about a zillion different infractions and confined to the brig. After some vigorous negotiations between the Marine Corps and his attorney, the charges were dropped.
In quiet moments, I suspect all involved at least quietly sympathized with the kid’s plight. Foote was credited with 4.5 months served in confinement and separated with an Other-than-Honorable discharge. His parents were reportedly thrilled with the outcome.
The Rest of the Story
Curiously, our tale does not end there. I mentioned Edward Foote was a born aviator. Once the dust settled on his little attack plane larceny, Foote found another cockpit into which to climb.
Once he properly earned his pilot ratings, he attempted to fly for both Honduras and Israel. Failing at that, he did eventually qualify as a test pilot. Foote was ultimately rated in more than twenty military and civilian aircraft and served as a contract pilot for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Before he hung up his flight suit, Edward Foote had been awarded patents in both aviation design and engineering.
Disney tells us to follow our dreams. That’s a fine sentiment if somewhat impractical. If we all aspired to be princesses or princes, there would be no one left over to do the real work in society.
It is indeed OK to chase those dreams so long as we remain at least somewhat grounded in reality. However, there are some among us, like Edward Foote, who simply seem destined to bend the world to their will. When the flight surgeon told him he’d never fly a Marine attack jet, Foote just stole one and did it anyway.
The list of reasons why he should not have done that is long. It would have been awfully easy to have balled up that airplane and killed himself and others in the process. Only he didn’t. Edward Foote went on to a successful flying career as a test pilot for NASA. In so doing, this audacious young criminal served in some strange small way as a hero to us all.
If you’re reading an article on this site, you almost assuredly have preferences of where you like to shoot. Indeed, a good range can be many things. It can be an oasis from the stresses and pressures of modern life, giving us a place to unwind and do some ballistic meditation.
It can be a place of growth, where we can train in ways that provide us with the skills and mindset to defend ourselves and our family. At other times, the shooting range is a rallying point for a larger community, bringing us into contact with all kinds of Second Amendment advocates and hobbyists.
Of course, most of us have also been to those kinds of ranges. A great many indoor ranges are dark, dingy, and disorganized — the air thick with smoke thanks to a ventilation system perpetually on its last legs.
Some are simply unwelcoming, staffed by armchair commandos more interested in establishing themselves as the smartest guys in the room rather than bringing new shooters into the fold. At the same time, I’m leery of outdoor shooting holes in the middle of nowhere — with the potential for a “laissez faire” approach to range management.
If you remember a time when a range trip or gun store visit made you feel intimidated or uncomfortable, you’re not alone — those were also the initial and unfortunate experiences of Range USA founder Tom Willingham. So, Tom decided to draw on his business acumen and create a better retail experience.
The results of those efforts resulted in Tom’s first shooting range opening in Cincinnati, Ohio back in 2012. The profits of that first location were reinvested into a second, and third, and fourth. Flash forward to the present, and Range USA is ready to celebrate the grand opening of its 50th gun store. Today, the company has the pleasure of calling itself the largest operator of indoor shooting ranges anywhere in the world.
To understand what makes Range USA different, I sat down for a conversation with Jimmy McManus, Range USA’s Vice President.
A Clear Difference
Jimmy was clear to explain that each of the 50 separate locations reflects Tom’s vision of what an indoor range should be. Facilities are clean, uncluttered, well-lit, and stocked with a wide variety of expertly maintained rentals and new firearms available for purchase.
Jimmy also highlighted a strong, service-based culture that differentiates Range USA as a whole. Hiring begins by selecting friendly folks who are used to greeting guests with a smile. Employees don’t receive paid commission, so any firearms sold reflect the staff’s best efforts to match the right people with the right firearms. Store leaders and assistant store leaders are promoted from within, which further reflects Range USA’s commitment to its staff and building the right energy throughout its locations.
What might be a little less obvious are the efforts Range USA has taken to mirror the “one stop” nature of some of America’s successful retailers. Through the Range USA website, customers can find more than 30,000 products in stock, including not only guns and ammunition, but also a wide selection of optics, accessories, and even suppressors. All items, even those requiring an FFL, can ship to the customer’s nearest Range USA location, minimizing the time between unboxing and putting one’s gear to use.
Range USA also has a wide variety of in-person training to match just about wherever a shooter might be in terms of skill level. Beginner handgun classes can show a novice the ropes, and dedicated classes for subjects like defensive shooting and concealed carry are available, often in both intermediate and advanced levels. Additionally, one-on-one training can be scheduled at a number of Range USA locations, depending on available staff.
Building Community
At this point, you might have arrived at the correct assumption that Range USA is well-stocked, well-staffed, and well-considered. However, when I was talking with Jimmy, there was one thought that kept running through my mind: these guys get it.
Specifically, Range USA understands where they fit in with respect to the larger landscape of the shooting sports and promotion of gun rights. “We’ve joked about having a statistic somewhere like a fast food restaurant,” Jimmy said. “In our case, over 10 million have shot on our ranges.” Last year alone, Range USA’s figures showed that 2 million shooters were served.
But here’s an even more eye-opening breakdown of that statistic: Jimmy estimates that 350,000 of their customers last year were first-time shooters with absolutely no experience with firearms or shooting in general. That makes Range USA one of the largest “top of funnel” firearms retailers in the United States.
In an effort to bring even more newcomers into the shooting sports, Range USA placed a strong focus on the needs of female shooters, a perennially underserved demographic. Here, their “Lady Sure Shots” program has been a roaring success. Held the second Saturday of every month, women get free rentals and free range time, are eligible for discounted monthly memberships, and facilities open 90 minutes early. The events not only attract a great number of women who have never shot a gun in their life, but they’re also a popular destination for many seasoned female shooters who are eager to make new friends and share their knowledge.
I’ve often wondered how many people never explored shooting as a hobby as a result of feeling like they were walking into an old boys’ club, were matched with the wrong firearm their first time out, or didn’t feel like they were in a safe environment. Range USA is doing everything they can to move in the opposite direction; great pains are taken to ensure that new shooters, specifically, have a nice time and come back again. One doesn’t need to have too much of an active imagination to realize what a boon that is to the Second Amendment.
Your Friends and Neighbors
Indeed, demographics are changing. Jimmy shared with me some of the research they’ve compiled with respect to something we’ve all wondered about: who represents the average shooter? The answer to that question has changed massively in the last four years, he said.
Prior to 2020, the answer was probably what you were expecting. “A lot of our marketing focused on a male head of household aged about 30 to 50,” Jimmy told me. “He probably lives in the suburbs, has an SUV in the driveway, and has a salary somewhere around $100,000. His reason for going to the range likely centers around the idea of protection, for either himself or his family.”
But, while Jimmy said that 21 to 35-year-olds made up only 18% of sales in 2020, that figure has since increased to 47% of Range USA’s business. Now that they’ve recently reached the legal age to fully participate in the sport, they’re eager to explore a multitude of categories and products. They track new releases, are knowledgeable about the latest gear and accessories, and — this is a big one — they view shooting as a social activity. Now, Range USA estimates that about two thirds of their visitors will come with at least one guest.
Guns Through the Eyes of Those Who Rent Them
If you want to know about the failure points of any particular firearm, talk to the men and women who rent them out every day. Consider this: if a rental firearm digests one box of 50 rounds every day, that’s a yearly round count of 18,000. After six years of rental time, that’s more than 100,000 rounds down the pipe. (Also, when you don’t see particular brands and models of firearms at a business like Range USA, you can consider that a clue.)
Jimmy agrees that we’re living in a golden age of manufacturing and materials science. There’s less “beta testing” foisted on the public with new releases. In general, guns fit tighter, shoot longer, and are offered at better price points than they were even ten years ago. At the same time, when a gun does go down, returns and fixes happen significantly faster. That’s good news for the industry as a whole — and for the consumers that support the shooting sports.
That said, I couldn’t help but ask Jimmy what they thought of the Springfield Armory product line specifically, and coming from the point of view of people who see them run hard every day. Jimmy noted that no brand in his estimation had a better product line, and that in his opinion, no other manufacturer had done as good of evolving its handgun line. “They’ve made a ton of waves in the last couple years.”
Jimmy singled out the Prodigy as a great example of a gun that catered to enthusiasts, and that the Hellcat enjoyed particularly strong sales and steady rentals at Range USA’s locations. He also said that when a product like the Hellion or the Kuna hits store shelves, just about everyone wants to give them a whirl — and comes to see that the hype was well deserved.
At the same time, Jimmy had a soft spot for Springfield Armory’s lines like the XD and Mil-Spec 1911s: affordable products that catch the eye of first-time shooters, allow them to shoot to the fullest of their potential, and hold up very well under repeated, sustained use.
A New Home Away from Home?
A good number of our readers will find that at least one of the 50 Range USA locations is local to them (see all of their locations here.) If they’re not already familiar with the organization, now is as good of a time as any to see what makes them a little different. Stop in, say hello, and see if you don’t agree that Tom Willingham has successfully built the kind of range and gun store we all want to see more of.
However, even if you’re not yet in the geographic area covered by Range USA, it’s good news that these guys are moving the industry forward. The next time you see a young man fully versed in what red dot optics are good choices for carry guns, or a woman quietly but confidently obliterating a bullseye, there’s a good chance they might have gotten into our corner of the world thanks to the experience they had at a Range USA facility. Where the shooting sports are concerned, an old saying has never held more true: the more, the merrier.
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