I never heard about this before. One jet was damaged and lost all power over N Vietnam. Other pilot used his jet to push the powerless plane for eight minutes until they were over friendly territory. Doesn't even sound possible but it happened!
OT 'Pardo's Push' Incredible bravery by Vietnam War pilot.
- Thread starter The Spin Meister
- Start date
Very impressive. Conflict/war brings out the best (and worst) in people.... or maybe gives them the opportunity to show the extremes of our human capabilities for violence, hatred, compassion, selflessness.
Wow. Sounds like he used the tail hook of the first plane to extend what would ordinarily be described as a sled ride down. Ballsy move for both pilots.
Thank you for that. I never heard of it before and I am absolutely amazed. I have read a lot of military history and I don't know of any other country whose individual members of the armed forces exhibit more ingenuity than our own.
If you look at the Wikipedia article, there was a guy in the Korean War who did the same thing. Pretty amazing.
I hope you know how correct you are. I have seen GI's solve problems, do incredible things and give up their lives for each other. Too many people don't understand this dynamic.
I do. The flexibility of the American soldier, in World War II, for example, to solve problems on their own, without directions from superiors, was in stark contrast to the German model.
I'm not so sure about the latter. While there were cases where Hitler refused to allow his generals to take defensive positions or to withdraw, Stalingrad being one example, German generals and lower ranks had a fair bit of opportunity for flexibility. Blitzkrieg just couldn't have worked without it. Tactically, German troops usually were very sound.
From most everything I've read, German troops at company level or below were much less creative in achieving their objectives, or in changing objectives when the original one was no longer possible.
For example (from the Wikipedia article on Blitzkrieg)
Rather than receiving an explicit order, a commander would be told of his superior's intent and the role which his unit was to fill in this concept. The method of execution was then a matter for the discretion of the subordinate commander. Staff burden was reduced at the top and spread among tiers of command with knowledge about their situation. Delegation and the encouragement of initiative aided implementation, important decisions could be taken quickly and communicated verbally or with brief written orders
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Depends on what level of command you are talking about. From what I have heard, Americans were much better at platoon and company levels. If a Lt or Sar was KIA, it was very likely a good replacement would be found for immediate field promotion. If German officers were killed, the company would be in disarray until a new officer was sent.
Some of that had to do with heavy losses during the war. Their top guys tended to stay in combat, thus reducing their chances to help in training the next level. They also tended to lose them when poor strategic decisions (like Stalingrad) were made. By the time the US got into the war, Germany had had about three years of attrition. And kicked the heck out of the first US soldiers they ran into in North Africa.
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