PARDO'S PUSH
     On 10 March, 1967 as the last element of the 8th TFW, 433rd TFS,
 was bombing the Thai Nguygen steel mills near Hanoi, North Vietnam,
 Captain Earl Aman's F4 was severely damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
     It was certain the aircraft would run out of fuel and Aman and
 his backseater would eject over North Vietnam.
     Squadron buddy, Captain Bob Pardo did not accept that fate, and
 after critically analyzing their options, he gambled: He wold push
 Aman's damaged Phantom, by his tailhook, into Laos.
     Pardo's F4 had also been hit, and it ran out of fuel, two minutes
 after watching Aman and his backseater eject.
     All four airmen parachuted into the jungle and were later rescued
 in a ]ess hostile jungle environment. They went on to fly additional
 combat missions over North Vietnam,
     Pushing a disabled car with another car is a fairly common ac-
 tivity that most of us have been involved in at one time or another.
 But, pushing a jet fighter in flight at 350 mph with another airplane
 is an event that could only result from one pilot trying desperately
 to save the life of a fellow pilot returning from a combat mission
 with a damaged airplane.
 Contact! McClelland Aviation Newsletter Volume 12, No. 3 Fall 1996
--- DB 1.39/004487
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