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Like many improbable occupancies before we had networks needing content like the Dogfights series the story got grafted on to a TV series character, Harmon Rabb on JAG. I'm reasonably sure a supertitle was imposed on screen telling us a real even had happened in Vietnam and not in the late 1990s in a Tomcat by a JAG lawyer fighter pilot.
I guess a refueling probe is pretty robust and can take some pressure, but just offhand I would not think it would be robust enough to push another similar aircraft hard enough for it to not lose altitude. Old Bob had some exceptional engineering intuition guiding just how hard he could push without collapsing that refueling probe. I seriously doubt that this was covered in any of his training. Of course maybe he knew he could not push enough to keep the other bird at altitude, just enough to extend the glide path to exit enemy air space.
Most aircraft parts are not built a lot stronger than they need to be, so they don't weigh more than necessary. Maybe to keep the aircraft in contact for refueling, one normally pushes harder with the refueling probe than I would guess.
Anyway this was a bravura expression of courage, judgment, and innovation, figuring out a solution that was not in the book.
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Bob Pardo's heroic actions and thinking outside the box brought this to mind: When I was a young boy I used to watch a TV series called 'Blue Angels' who were flying IIRC straight wing Grumman F9Fs. I remember one of the shows where one of them supposedly had a flameout and two others joined him on either side and held the crippled planes wings up with their own 'til they were on short final. This being the days long before CGI, I wonder if anyone could confirm this was actually done?
I guess a refueling probe is pretty robust and can take some pressure, but just offhand I would not think it would be robust enough to push another similar aircraft hard enough for it to not lose altitude. Old Bob had some exceptional engineering intuition guiding just how hard he could push without collapsing that refueling probe. I seriously doubt that this was covered in any of his training. Of course maybe he knew he could not push enough to keep the other bird at altitude, just enough to extend the glide path to exit enemy air space.
Most aircraft parts are not built a lot stronger than they need to be, so they don't weigh more than necessary. Maybe to keep the aircraft in contact for refueling, one normally pushes harder with the refueling probe than I would guess.
Anyway this was a bravura expression of courage, judgment, and innovation, figuring out a solution that was not in the book.
it was not the refueling probe, it was the tailhook on the damaged plane, Pardo put the end of the hook at the base of his windshield.
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