Pardo and Wayne’s plane also had been hit when they made their own run on the steel mill. As they came off the target, their Phantom was hit again, by a 37mm round in the fuselage aft of the pilot’s seat. Bright warning lights flashed on Pardo’s instrument panel, alerting him that the plane was severely damaged. It lost electrical power and began losing fuel. Miraculously, though, the F-4 was still handling normally.

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Knowing their planes were badly damaged, both crews climbed their crippled F-4s to 30,000 feet to preserve fuel and to enable them to glide as far as possible after they ran out. The remaining aircraft in the strike force had no alternative but to continue heading back to Ubon. Pardo could see the fuel leaking from the other F-4, and he radioed to Aman: Earl, you’ve been hit badly; you’re losing fuel.

Aman answered him: We know; we’re getting ready to bail out.

Pardo and Wayne knew that if that happened, their comrades would face certain capture or death. Pardo yelled into his radio: Don’t jump! We’re going to do our damnedest to help you fly out of here!

Pardo never mentioned that his own plane also had been hit. Both aircraft were over a danger zone southwest of Hanoi, between North Vietnam’s Red and Black rivers, and the skies were filled with patrolling enemy MiGs. Despite the fact that his own crippled plane was wavering, Pardo again called over the radio: Aman, I think we can help you. Jettison your drag chute, and we’ll do our damnedest to get you out of here.

Pardo then struggled to position the nose of his aircraft into the empty drag chute receptacle of Aman’s F-4. The front of Pardo’s plane wobbled up to the tail of Aman’s, but the attempt failed because there was too much jet wash coming off the engines of the lead plane. Refusing to give up, Pardo next attempted to position the top of his plane’s fuselage against the belly of the other F-4, while Aman and Houghton did their best to steady their plane. That effort, however, also failed because of the excessive jet wash.

Although his comrades in the front fighter were now convinced there was no choice but to bail out in enemy territory, Pardo would not give up. He radioed seemingly impossible instructions to Aman: Drop your tailhook, and we’ll push you out of here!

The suggestion was mind blowing. The steel tailhook was designed to be used only for emergency landings to snag barrier cables and break the plane’s forward momentum–as in the U.S. Navy procedure for landing on an aircraft carrier. But to use the tailhook to push a crippled aircraft while still in the air? What Pardo was planning to do had never been tried.

As the tailhook of the lead F-4 dropped and automatically locked into position, the plane’s slipstream made its tail sway. This in turn made it very difficult for Pardo to establish contact between the tailhook and the glass windscreen of his own aircraft. Houghton and Aman’s plane was now down to only 400 pounds of fuel, and that was rapidly draining out as it descended at the rate of 3,000 feet per minute.

Flying at 300 miles per hour, Pardo carefully brought his plane’s nose up under the rear end of the other plane to nudge his inch-thick glass windscreen against the tailhook. Any pushing had to be done with utmost care. If the glass broke, the tailhook would smash into Pardo’s face. Pardo cautiously began to push his windscreen against Aman’s tailhook for a few seconds at a time, in each instance just until the force of turbulence thrust his plane aside. Nonetheless, Aman’s rate of descent began to slow.

Suddenly, cracks started to zigzag through Pardo’s windscreen. Pardo immediately backed his fighter off and tried a different approach. This time he positioned the tailhook against the square of metal at the junction of his windscreen and his radome. Carefully, Pardo continued to push the other fighter a few seconds at a time, until turbulence would once again brush Pardo’s plane aside. But the tactic was working. The rate of descent of Aman’s F-4 was cut from 3,000 to 1,500 feet per minute.

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