SC man addresses newfound fame after wild viral interview about missing F-35
71-year-old Randolph White gained viral fame for describing the distinct sound of the presumed F-35 fighter jet crash.
A South Carolina man went viral for a wild interview with a local news station after he heard a presumed F-35 jet crash outside his home while he was "taking a shave" but didn’t call anyone because he didn’t know what it was.
"Randolph White retired from his job at the papermill in Georgetown 10 years ago. He lives in this house with his wife in a very rural area of Williamsburg County. He loves living about two miles away from where he grew up. Normally it’s pretty quiet," News 2 reporter Raymond Owens explained. The segment then cut to an interview with White that exploded on social media.
With a distinct raspy voice, White, 72, informed viewers he was "in the bathroom taking a shave" when he heard the crash.
"I heard a screeching, between a screech and a whistle," White said before imitating the noise in the clip that has caught the imagination of the public.
"I said, ‘What in the world is this?’ And I heard a boom," White continued. "And my whole house shook."
The reporter said White didn’t realize it was a plane at the time, so he didn’t call anybody.
"The first thought that came to me… I said, ‘Well, did a meteorite come from outer space or something?’ And I said, ‘Well, if it was an airplane, it needs to be reported because that thing was flying just too low," White said.
An F-35 Lightning II fighter jet is seen during a public display at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix on March 17, 2018. (Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The following day, White noticed authorities who were searching for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II belonging to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort that went missing when a "mishap" caused its pilot to eject.
When White saw helicopters he thought "someone must have robbed a bank, kill some people," but he eventually realized authorities were searching for the plane.
"Just through the grace of God, nobody didn’t get hurt," White said. "Because there’s a church right up there, about a half mile."
White quickly went viral for the outlandish interview:
Joint Base Charleston told Fox News Digital that the debris field was found in Williamsburg County.
FOX News’ Andrea Vacciano and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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