12. Boosting A Disabled Airplane

To our knowledge, this has been done just once, in March of 1967 during the Vietnam War, when an American pilot, Captain Robert Pardo, used the canopy of his McDonnell Douglas F-4, suffering damage from anti-aircraft fire, to help extend the flight time of another F-4. To do this, Pardo positioned his jet beneath the other and used his canopy to push up on the extended tailhook of the other jet, flown by Captain Earl Aman. The maneuver, known as "Pardo's Push," succeeded in getting both planes into slightly less-hostile territory before they all had to bail out. Both of the pilots and both of their backseaters successfully ejected and were later rescued by U.S. forces, considerably worse for the wear but alive and soon on their way back home to be with their families.