![risner](http://uploads.neatorama.com/images/posts/284/52/52284/1347462479-0.jpg)
In
1952, Air Force Captain James Robinson Risner and his wingman 1st
Lieutenant Joe Logan chased enemy MiGs across Korea into Chinese
territory. After the battle, Logan's plane was disabled and leaking oil
and fuel. Instead of bailing out to be captured, Risner used his plane
to
push Logan's plane along!
With jet acedom
and hours of practice time fueling his Fighter Pilot Ego, Risner vowed
not to let Logan go down. Risner radioed instructions to his wingman:
shut down the engine, and jetman jargon for “hang on to your butt”.
Risner carefully positioned himself behind Logan, and gave the throttle a
gentle nudge. He closed in on the damaged Sabre. The injured plane
leaked fuel and hydraulic fluid into Risner’s engine, and smeared his
canopy with a gooey patina. He kept on until the nose of his aircraft
collided with Logan’s tail. The planes bucked unsteadily. “[the plane]
stayed sort of locked there as long as we both maintained stable
flight,” Risner explained, “but the turbulence created by Joe’s aircraft
made stable flight for me very difficult. There was a point at which I
was between the updraft and the downdraft. A change of a few inches
ejected me either up or down.”
The unorthodox maneuver kept Logan
at 190 knots, and imparted sufficient force to stay beyond the reach of
AA guns below. Risner broke off after a few minutes when his own plane
threatened to choke on the unwelcome juices in its intake. They glided
for a time, but Risner had to push him again to get him out over the
sea.
Risner's maneuver landed him on the cover of
TIME magazine in 1965. But that's not the end of the story, because that
issue caused him even more grief from enemy forces ...in Vietnam. Read
the entire story at
Damn Interesting.
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