The Major Bung Ly story (http://studentpilot.com/interact/forum/showthread.php?20184-...) where he landed a Cessna on a carrier was always impressive to me.
How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
11–17 of 17 posts
Re: How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
#12When I was 9, we ran away from Kuwait because a friend of my father saw the Iraqi tanks move in and called him using a radio phone.
We put random stuff in the back of one of the toyota pickups that were used as runabout in the construction site, drove to the harbor, and my dad traded the car for an empty container on a cargo ship.
We lived in the container for 2 or 3 days until the ship got to Egypt, to which we disembarked, and we managed to get family to buy us plane tickets to Italy - bit of a feat pre-internet, I remember that for some reason, buying a plane ticket remotely could be arranged, but not a ferry ticket which is why we flew home rather than sail there via Sicily.
We get to my grandparents' house in Italy, and only then they explain to me what was going on.
That's the closest I ever have been to a war zone, and would like to keep it that way.
Re: How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
#13I asked a Vietnamese friend whose grandparents had been interned in one of the mentioned camps why the South had lost the war. He explained that the soldiers from South Vietnam had shown a suprising level of cowardice and nepotism. There is perhaps another story, that of a soldier fleeing with expensive military equipment in the moddle of a battle, I bet he is laughing at his collegues who died fighting for their cou…
By the time the evacuation of Saigon happened the war was over.
Why they lost before that point can be debated. Communist nations funding of the North increased while US funding was cut by Congress.
Some claim the US agreed to sacrifice South Vietnam to the Chinese in exchange for reestablishment of relations and trade.
Others claim it was because of Watergate and the war weariness of the American people.
Probably a lot of things.
Re: How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
#14I asked a Vietnamese friend whose grandparents had been interned in one of the mentioned camps why the South had lost the war. He explained that the soldiers from South Vietnam had shown a suprising level of cowardice and nepotism. There is perhaps another story, that of a soldier fleeing with expensive military equipment in the moddle of a battle, I bet he is laughing at his collegues who died fighting for their cou…
He might have been a shit soldier but he was a hell of a father.
Re: How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
#15I asked a Vietnamese friend whose grandparents had been interned in one of the mentioned camps why the South had lost the war. He explained that the soldiers from South Vietnam had shown a suprising level of cowardice and nepotism. There is perhaps another story, that of a soldier fleeing with expensive military equipment in the moddle of a battle, I bet he is laughing at his collegues who died fighting for their cou…
By the time the evacuation of Saigon happened the war was over. Why they lost before that point can be debated. Communist nations funding of the North increased while US funding was cut by Congress. Some claim the US agreed to sacrifice South Vietnam to the Chinese in exchange for reestablishment of relations and trade. Others claim it was because of Watergate and the war weariness of the American people. Probably a…
People fighting for their homeland and existence tend be in it for the long haul and quite determined - they don't have a choice
An aggressive, invading, external military just whilst it is makes financial sense.
Re: How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
#16I think the best story is that of Orestes Lorenzo, the Cuban fighter pilot. In 1991, he defected by flying his Mig 23 to Florida and landing at a military air base. That wasn't enough - he had left his wife and children in Cuba. So a year or two later, he flew a Cessna back to Cuba, flying 10 feet over the ocean to avoid radar. He landed on a rural highway, and picked up his wife and children. They made it back to Florida, and today they live in Orlando.
He just recently flew an L-39 Albatros jet at an airshow in Cozumel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRXRBcuJE-U
Re: How a Vietnamese helicopter pilot saved his family
#17I think the best story is that of Orestes Lorenzo, the Cuban fighter pilot. In 1991, he defected by flying his Mig 23 to Florida and landing at a military air base. That wasn't enough - he had left his wife and children in Cuba. So a year or two later, he flew a Cessna back to Cuba, flying 10 feet over the ocean to avoid radar. He landed on a rural highway, and picked up his wife and children. They made it back to Fl…
Why didn't the USAF hire him as a flight instructor?