 McCain was commissioned an ensign . He spent two years as a naval aviator in training , first at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida through September 1959 , and then at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas , during which time he was promoted to lieutenant , junior grade . He earned a reputation as a party man , as he drove a Corvette , dated an exotic dancer named " Marie the Flame of Florida " , spent all his free time on the beach or in a Bachelor Officer Quarters room turned bar and friendly gambling den , and , as he later said , " generally misused my good health and youth " . He began as a sub @-@ par flier : he had limited patience for studying aviation manuals , and spent study time reading history books instead . He was not assigned to the elite units flying fighter aircraft , and instead became a pilot of attack aircraft . During a March 1960 practice run in Texas , he lost track of his altitude and speed , and his single @-@ seat , single @-@ pistoned @-@ engine AD @-@ 6 Skyraider crashed into Corpus Christi Bay and sank to the bottom . Although momentarily knocked unconscious by the impact , he squeezed out of the cockpit and swam ten feet to the surface , escaping without major injuries . He graduated from flight school at Corpus Christi in May 1960 . He joined squadron VA @-@ 42 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia for five months of further training on the Skyraider . 
