I worked on fighter jets also (F-4, A-6, F-8, and UH1), during my time in Vietnam, 1967-1969.
The F-4 Phantom, and the whup, whup of the UH1, destroyed my overall hearing, but it largely went unattended to because I was alive!, and could "hear" just OK.
In early Feb. 1968, an explosion at the...