When the family returned to the United State, they were stationed in Lincoln, Nebraska. In November of 1956, while on alert during the Suez Canal Crisis, Robert reported to the runway in Lincoln, where a plane that had previous maintenance problems was to be checked once again before transporting it to a different facility. Robert entered the pilots cockpit to run a check list and determine the current problem with the aircraft. As the check list proceeded, no one was aware of the horrific disaster to come. Suddenly the pilot’s seat started to rumble before blasting through the cockpit canopy, ejecting Robert 2 along with his seat thirty feet into the air. The parachute attached to the seat did not have time to deploy. As Robert came down, all he could think to do was to roll upon landing, which he did, in a judo position learned in boot camp. He lay unconscious on the tarmac bleeding from the front and back of the head. He had received massive cuts from his helmet compressing on his head. He was black and blue from sever contusions to his entire left side, and partially deaf because his left ear drum was blown out. When the emergency vehicles arrived with the medics, he was at first assumed dead because of the amount of lost blood and the severity of the head wounds. As Robert was being taken to the hospital, his commanding officer and the Base Chaplain were on their way to give his wife and family the terrible news of the accident. He spent several months in the hospital. He could no longer fly aircraft and decided to retire from the Air Force in 1957, after 16 years in the service.