How A Pilot Pushed His Wingman’s Damaged Plane Out Of Enemy Territory

Brigadier General Robbie Risner’s heroism as a fighter ace in surviving almost eight years in imprisonment and torture as a POW in North Vietnam is commendable.

But do you know that he’s also a jet ace during the Korean War with eight confirmed kills, and did an incredible feat of pushing his wingman’s damaged plane out of Korean enemy territory?

Korean War

His first few months of duty in Korea was relatively slow but things soon picked up.

On the night of September 15, 1954, Risner’s squadron was escorting a bombing run near the North Korean and Chinese border when he engaged in a low-altitude, supersonic dogfight, following the MiG as it tried to flee to its airbase inside China.

Risner’s Sabre tore the enemy plane into pieces and scored a kill.

Trouble Brewing Ahead

When Risner headed home with his wingman, Lt. Joseph Logan, Logan’s Sabre took heavy anti-aircraft fire as it started to dump fuel.

To help his wingman, Risner did a maneuver no one had ever done before. He told Logan to cut his engine and positioned the nose of his plane to Logan’s tailpipe.

He was trying to give Logan’s Sabre enough lift to make it close to Cho-do Island.

Although the Island belonged to North Korea, the Air Force had an air rescue unit on the island, and if he could get Logan close enough to bail out, it would save him from being captured by the enemy.

Impossible Feat

The tandem flew until the gasoline and other liquids started to jump over Risner’s own plane.

They got close enough to Cho-do so that Logan could bail out while Risner could head home, and he almost didn’t.

When Risner reached the Kimpo air base, his engine flamed out and forced him to do a dead-stick landing.

Logan, on the other hand, came close to Cho-do’s shoreline but was tangled in his own chute and drowned before he was rescued.

Risner’s last words to Logan were, “I’ll see you at the base tonight.” Risner went on to shoot down eight more enemy fighters during the Korean War.