| Miraculous Avoidance of a Crash [message #1817] |
Wed, 02 January 2013 15:27  |
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rdwhitaker
Messages: 118
Registered: December 2012
Location: Vancouver, Washington
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Senior Member |
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I used to work with a man who was a pilot during the Viet Nam war. He flew a jet that was manned by two people, the pilot and the bombadier.
They received a call that some US servicemen were stranded on the top of a hill and there were enemy soldiers approaching them from all sides of the hill. My friend was given the assignment to clear a path for our soldiers to evacuate from the hill.
As he flew towards the hill, his bombadier told him it would be best if they dropped their ordinance on the downward slope after they flew over the top of the hill. This way none of the ordinance would bounce up and hit our own soldiers. So my friend flew the jet low and close to the hill and then dove to fly the jet parallel with the downward slope. The bombadier released the ordinance from near the top all the way down to the base of the hill, creating a clear path for our soldiers to escape.
What they forgot to account for was the fact that there was a forest at the base of the hill. When they finished their bombing run, my friend realized they were headed straight at tree trunks. He started pulling up as hard as he could, but they were flying too fast and the jet could not rise fast enough to avoid collision. He held on bracing for impact and closed his eyes just as he saw tree trunks rushing towards him.
A couple of second later, he opened his eyes when he realized they didn't hit anything. They were flying in the clear, above the trees. He thought he must have pulled up just enough to clear the tops of the trees.
After they returned to base, my friend was called in to the commander's office. The commander shut the door and told him he had something to show him. The jet was equipped with cameras on the front and on the rear. These were used to evaluate bombing runs to improve performance. The commander ran a copy of the tapes from their bombing run earlier in the day for my friend to see. First was the film from the front camera. He saw how the jet swooped over the top of the hill and then was guided all the way along the downward slope to the base. He watched as the jet was being pulled up into a steep climb. He watched as the jet headed straight for tree trunks. Then he was amazed to see the trees part in a wide "V" just before the jet should have made impact. The jet's wings barely cleared the trees where they had been parted. Then the commander showed him the film from the rear of the jet. Just after the jet passed through the "V" that had formed in the trees, the rear camera showed the trees snap back into place again.
The commander stared at my friend for a moment and then asked him in a frustrated voice, "I don't know what happened there and I don't know HOW I'm going to explain it to my superiors! Can YOU explain it?" My friend said he could not. So his commander told him, "Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I can't explain it and you can't explain it, so I am going to destroy that film and say the cameras malfunctioned. I suggest you not talk to others about this!"
That was an experience where my friend was convinced his life was spared by angelic intervention.
Ryan
Don't . . . Quit . . . Trying!!
[Updated on: Wed, 02 January 2013 15:31] Report message to a moderator |
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