F-4 Phantom II Pushed in the Air by Another F-4
Jumping out of an airplane in Vietnam, being captured alive, enduring the conditions of a prison camp, surviving a prison camp! It was not easy. No, this was not Pardo's way. How could he leave his comrades in arms with whom he had just fought? The thought never even crossed his mind. He would stay on Aman's arm until he ran out of fuel and then he would think of a way to get his two friends to safety.
Pardo's Push: How a Quick-Thinking F-4 Pilot Pulled Off an Incredible Flight to Rescue His Wingmates Over Enemy Territory
Pardo's Push
In 1967, over Hanoi-Vietnam; Captain Bob Pardo (seated rear seat Lieutenant Steve Wayne) and wingman Captain Earl Aman (seated rear seat Lieutenant Robert Houghton) of the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, US Air Force, at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. Captain Bob Pardo (Lieutenant Steve Wayne in the back seat) and wingman Captain Earl Aman (Lieutenant Robert Houghton in the back seat) from the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, 433rd Fighter Squadron; nicknamed "The Rhino, Double Ugly, Ol' Smokey, The St. Louis Slugger, Lead Sled and The world's leading distributor of MiG parts." Nicknamed "The Rhino", they made aviation history after their air-to-ground attack missions with F-4 Phantom II multi-role fighter/bombers.
On March 10, 1967, the weather was clear for a bombing raid on a steel mill just north of Hanoi in North Vietnam. During the mission, both F-4s were hit by anti-aircraft fire. Captain Aman's Phantom took the worst of the damage; the fuel tank was hit, causing his aircraft to leak fuel, and within a very short time, he had insufficient fuel to reach a tanker plane orbiting Laos.
The plane flown by Captain Bob Pardo and Lieutenant Steve Wayne in the back seat was not in very good condition either. It had been hit by an anti-aircraft shell during the mission and was leaking fuel. They were not sure they could reach the tanker plane in the air to refuel it. However, Bob Pardo, with careful management, probably had enough fuel to reach a tanker plane, he could go, but they had to leave Aman and Houghton to their uncertain fate.
Jumping out of an airplane in Vietnam, being captured alive, surviving prison camp conditions, surviving a prison camp! It was not easy.
No, this was not Pardo's path. How could he leave his comrades in arms with whom he had just fought? The thought never even crossed his mind. He would stay on Aman's arm until he ran out of fuel and then he would think of a way to get his two friends to safety.
Still over North Vietnam, Aman's plane burst into flames. What should he do now? Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Pardo decided to do something that, as far as he knew, had never been done before. He knew he would probably be punished, but he would do it; Pardo would push Aman's F-4 into Laos.
In 1952, during the Korean War, when Pardo was still in high school, veteran pilot Robbie Risner pushed his wingman out of North Korea in an F-86 Sabre. Later, pilots were ordered to refrain from performing this dangerous act again, and it was a flight that Risner almost never mentioned, erasing it from his memory. Now Pardo was going to try this maneuver with the F-4.
Captain Pardo suddenly called Aman on the radio; "Aman; I'm going to try to push you, fly that plane as straight as you've ever flown it, my friend".
Yes, Pardo had decided to push the downed and damaged Phantom jet to prevent Aman and Houghton from jumping out of the plane over enemy territory. Pardo first tried to push the plane through Aman's brake parachute compartment, had Aman throw the parachute out of the plane and tried to push it through the structural area behind the parachute hatch, but heavy turbulence prevented him from doing so.
Later, Pardo tried to use Aman's tail hook to propel the aircraft, the Phantom was originally designed as a naval air force aircraft equipped with a "heavy-duty" tail hook for landing on aircraft carriers. This hook is also found on other fighter/bombers, except very light ones. When the brakes fail, the pilots lower the hooks and attach them to the barrier rope on the runway to stop the aircraft. However, these hooks must be used for every landing on aircraft carriers, and aircraft that can land on aircraft carriers have a heavy duty hook.
F-4 Phantom II's Heavy Duty Tail Hook.
Aman lowered the tail hook and Pardo moved behind Aman until the tail hook was on Pardo's windshield. Pardo told Aman to slowly shut down both J79 jet engines and turn his 60,000-pound plane into a glider. Aman was almost out of fuel. Aman obeyed and watched both engines slow down. The thrust worked, significantly reducing the rate of descent, but the tail hook slipped off the windshield every 15 to 30 seconds, and Pardo had to precisely reposition his Phantom and gently push the windshield (visor glass) toward the tail hook. However, the windshield began to develop cracks like a spider web. So Pardo continued to push the hook with the metal section of the windshield. Meanwhile, Pardo also fought a fire in one of his own engines and eventually had to shut it down. With 10 minutes of flight time remaining, Pardo used one last engine to slow the altitude loss of both aircraft as much as possible.
Pardo's Push, successfully, lasted about 20 minutes and carried both jets far enough for a safe recovery. After Pardo's plane pushed Aman's plane about 140 kilometers over enemy territory, the planes, powered by the vapors of almost the last remaining fuel, reached Laos airspace at an altitude of 6000 ft. Pardo had only 120 seconds of fuel left in his single engine. The two pilots and backseat passengers pulled the yellow and black ejection grips and ejected their seats, abandoning their crashing aircraft.
Pardo, Aman and Houghton slightly injured their backs in the ejection and all four airmen had to move quickly to escape an approaching Laotian communist militia group. They were then airlifted out of the jungle to safety by helicopters by Search and Rescue teams.
Captain Pardo (left) and Captain Aman (right).
The next day Pardo and Steve went on another offensive mission. The target was the same steel mill north of Hanoi.
Pardo was initially criticized for not saving his own plane, the most expensive super machine of its time, and was even court-martialed by government accountants, but the case was dropped and he was not tried. For this spectacular maneuver, Pardo and Wayne were eventually awarded the Silver Star, the most honorable medal for members of the US Armed Forces, albeit nearly twenty years after the fact.
However, Pardo had already engraved his name in gold letters among the legends of the F-4 and the aviation community for his very difficult maneuvering decision not to leave his wingman in enemy territory, for his execution of this decision regardless of the administrative consequences, and for his success.
This achievement of the gifted and selfless Phantom pilot Pardo, and of the sturdy-bodied, "double-ugly" F-4 Phantom II, which deserved its powerful reputation as a "rhinoceros", was proudly discussed in the series of "Phantom Phixers" articles by F-4 Maintainers. Phantom Phixers was also referenced in the preparation of this article.
Retirement Lives:
Pardo and Aman completed their Air Force careers and both retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel. In later years, upon learning that Aman suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease and had lost his voice and mobility, Pardo founded the Earl Aman Foundation, which raised enough money to purchase Aman a voice synthesizer, a motorized wheelchair and a computer. The Foundation and the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association later raised money for a custom-built van that Aman used for transportation until his death.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bob Pardo.
