Pardo's Push: Difference between revisions

Pardo's Push was an aviation maneuver carried out by Captain Bob Pardo in order to move his wingman's badly damaged F-4 Phantom II to friendly air space during the Vietnam War.^[1]

Captain Bob Pardo (with back-seater 1st Lt Steve Wayne) and wingman Captain Earl Aman (with back-seater 1st Lt Robert Houghton) were assigned to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. In March 1967, they were trying to attack a steel mill in North Vietnam just north of Hanoi.

On March 10, 1967, the sky was clear for a bombing run, but both F-4 Phantom IIs were hit by anti-aircraft guns. Aman's plane took the worst damage; his fuel tank had been hit, and he quickly lost most of his fuel. He did not have enough fuel to make it to a tanker aircraft over Laos.

To avoid having Aman and Houghton bail out over hostile territory, Pardo decided to try pushing the airplane.^[2] Pardo first tried to use Aman's drag chute compartment to push the plane. However, turbulence was too great and this failed.

Next, Pardo tried to use Aman's tailhook to push the plane, the Phantom having been originally designed as a naval aircraft equipped with a heavy duty tailhook for landings aboard aircraft carriers.

Aman lowered his tailhook and Pardo moved behind Aman until the tailhook was against Pardo's windscreen. Pardo told Aman to shut down both of his J79 jet engines, as Aman was nearly out of fuel and the engines interfered with Pardo's plan. The push worked, reducing the rate of descent considerably, but the tailhook slipped off the windscreen every 15 to 30 seconds, and Pardo would have to reposition his plane. Pardo also struggled with a fire in one of his own engines and eventually had to shut it down. For the last 10 minutes of flight, Pardo used the one remaining engine to slow the descent of both planes.

With Pardo's plane running out of fuel after pushing Aman's plane almost 88 miles,^[3] the planes reached Laos airspace at an altitude of 6000 feet. This left them about two minutes of flying time.^[2] The two pilots and their backseaters ejected, evaded capture, and were picked up by rescue helicopters.^[4]

Although Pardo was initially criticized for not saving his own aircraft, he and Wayne eventually received the Silver Star for the maneuver, albeit nearly two decades after the incident.^[5][6]

In later years, Col Bob Pardo continued to remain concerned for the well-being of his fellow airmen. When he learned that Earl Aman, by then a retired lieutenant colonel, was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease and had lost his voice and mobility, he founded the Earl Aman Foundation, which raised enough money to buy Aman a voice synthesizer, a motorized wheelchair, and a computer. In concert with the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association ("River Rats"), the foundation later worked to buy a van for Lt Col Aman, which Aman used until his death. In peace or war, says Bob Pardo, "if one of us gets in trouble, everyone else gets together to help."^[6]

PARDO's Push was not the first time one Jet fighter tried to assist another...

Oct 22nd, 1952 - Major Robinson 'Robbie' Risner

As Risner and his wingman, Lt. Joe Logan, were leaving the Chinese airfield, the flak caught Joe's fuel tank. Jet fuel and hydraulic fluid spewed out from the wounded Sabre. Robinson instantly decided to try an unprecedented and untried maneuver; he would push the crippled fighter with his, about 60 miles to the UN rescue base on the island of Cho Do. He radioed Joe to shut down his engine. He carefully inserted the nose of his F-86 into the exhaust of Logan's plane and tired to keep the two planes together. The turbulence kept bouncing and separating the two jets, but Risner was able to re-establish contact and guide the powerless plane out over the sea. Near Cho Do, Lt. Logan bailed out, after radioing to Risner, "I'll see you at the base tonight."

Risner stayed in radio contact with the rescue helicopter. Joe, a strong swimmer, landed close to shore, and the chopper tried to blow him in with the rotors. Tragically, Joe Logan didn't make it; he became tangled in his parachute lines and drowned.

• In the adventure/drama TV series JAG, episode 5.03, a manoeuvre based on Pardo's Push is used by the show's lead character, Harmon Rabb, in order to get another aircraft to safety. In the credits of the episode the following appears: "On March 10th, 1967, U.S. Air Force Captain Robert Pardo used his F-4 Phantom to push a fellow American's badly damaged jet from North Vietnam into friendly territory."