Pardo's Push

[Rocker]

I met Bob Pardo today. There wasn't much time to chat, but talk about a brush with a legend. Just wanted to share.

Edited October 6, 2007 by Rocker

[Toro]

Come on Rocker, you start this thread and don't even tell the newbies who Pardo is.

For those of you who have never heard or read it, stop whatever you're doing and read

Pardo's Push right now. Reader's Digest version: the guy pushes a dead-engine F-4 out of Laos by the tail hook while shutting down and restarting his own engine that has caught fire. I had heard the story a couple times before I met Pardo in person at a River Rat dinner a couple years ago. He spoke for about 45 minutes and every story he told (he obviously had a few) was amazing. What blew me away was when he talked about what happened after they ejected from the story in question and got back to base. Instead of giving him a medal, the Air Force actually tried to court martial him thinking it was some sort of 'hot-dog' stunt. It took the intervention of a US Senator to turn that off and he eventually received the Air Cross and a Silver Star.

[HuggyU2]

Side note on Toro's link: that pic was taken in March of '96 at Randolph. I was standing there, next to the photographer. I was one of the co-organizers for the annual POW Dining-In, and we wanted to get all four together. Apparently, it had not been done since "The Push". We got 3 of them to commit to it, but Steve Houghton was no where to be found. Word got to him a few days prior (I think he was overseas on missionary work), and he said "I'll do whatever it takes". Bottom line, he got there with only a few hours to spare and history was made. Rory "Ox" Blackburn was the driving force behind making this happen, and he's a great American. If you're familiar with the "Pilot for a Day" program that many flying wings do now, Rory is the one that started it at Randolph around '94. I think he's at Delta Airlines now. Can't miss the guy. He's about 6'6" and was a Nebraska lineman, I think. Most of his size is due to his heart of gold.

Edited October 6, 2007 by Huggyu2

[Duck]

His son is an Air Force Colonel and AFROTC Detachment Commander somewhere. He was the CC at my Field Training Unit and would tell us a lot of his father's history after warrior runs. Thanks for the information!

Edited October 6, 2007 by leadeagle05

[Guest Sparky]

His son is an Air Force Colonel and AFROTC Detachment Commander somewhere. He was the CC at my Field Training Unit and would tell us a lot of his father's history after warrior runs. Thanks for the information!

He was also a squadron CC at sheppard in the 80th FTW back in '96 when I was a student pilot..awesome, awesome dude!!

[Rocker]

Come on Rocker, you start this thread and don't even tell the newbies who Pardo is.

I figured many would know who Pardo is, or at least the reference, and that those who didn't would find it out on their own. I was also in a rush. Good follow up.

[hd5032]

Big deal. Harmon Rabb did the same thing once.

[magnetfreezer]

For those near KNPA it was announced today that he will be the speaker at the AF birthday ball here on 26 OCT.

[M2]

Big deal. Harmon Rabb did the same thing once.

Good one!

Cheers! M2