There I was in "Nam and...… Wrong story and wrong guy.
I had something unusual happen on my last day as an Air Warrior. I told my son about it and he almost cried with laughter. So here goes.
I had been circling a friendly base looking for invading cons. An enemy F4U was diving in on me, I thought no worries I will make a hard left turn. Well the rascal makes a great shot that takes off some surface area. He then pulls up to relative safety. Not able to maneuver efficiently I coast to the strip.
Some what bored I jump into an 88. I spy the culprit that scratched up my plane. So I start firing. He's engaged with a friendly, trying to stall him out. They look close! I continue firing, nope, short, short again, short again. I point the gun to what seemed like straight up and fire.
Oh my, this looks spot on. Intently watching the round I see it start to fall towards the enemy plane. As it draws near I start talking aloud, explode, explode. Then the round drops below the nose of the craft, Explode Explode! It doesn't explode. The behemoth round smacks the craft pre-detonation. Wow, I get the kill message.
Over the local channel I ask in exclamation, Did anyone see that!! A voice comes back, I did. It killed me too. Uh! Then I realized the round smacked the con, continued dropping and exploded by the friendly.
I inappropriately laughed but the guy was genuinely appreciative of the shot. It was about 3500 yards (I think). I can't remember the friendly's name but certainly an individual of good character.
