The setting - a VERY dark night at Tuy Hoa in 1968 and a 2nd Lt. sitting his second night alert with his crusty old Flight Commander (Major Sam Bassler). Maj. Bassler was a stickler for flight "protocol" and expected the wing man to be where he was supposed to be at all times, keep his mouth shut, and drop perfect bombs. A really nice guy, but his "ass chewings" were legend in the 31st TFW.

Klaxon sounds at around 1:00 AM. "Normal" night scramble till we get to the arming area. The arming crew finishes with lead quickly, but has trouble charging one of my guns. While they are fiddling with the gun, lead gets impatient and taxis without me. I bang on the side of the plane trying to tell them to forget the gun, just put the panel on and let me go. When they finally buttoned me up, lead was already across the AM-2 runway and almost ready to taxi on the main runway. I blasted out of the arming area and accelerated across the AM-2 trying to catch him before he got in takeoff position.

Remember how poor the lighting on the Hun was? Remember how hard it is to judge closure/distance on a dark night?

As I approached the runway, I suddenly realized that lead had stopped short and had been waiting for me. I was closing at a great rate of knots. I yanked the throttle back and got on the brakes, narrowly missing him as he turned on the runway. With great relief, I got off the brakes and coasted into position on his right wing. Just as I stopped, I noted that lights on the "idiot panel" were illuminating one by one and that the cockpit was becoming strangely quiet. I excitedly informed lead that I had flamed out.

His response was, "Well, did you stopcock the damned thing"? Yep...I had yanked the throttle back so hard that it had come around the idle detent and shut off the engine.

The new setting - Two alert birds on a scramble just sitting at the end of the runway. One running, one not. One very embarrassed Lieutenant sitting there while maintenance dropped the starter cartridge breach on the runway till it cooled enough for a new cart to be installed. The longest 20 minutes of my life.

The mission turned out to be a "sky puke", so being late was no big deal.

Nonetheless, the embarrassment lasted longer than the Energizer Bunny.

Perry Davis
F-100, 308th TFS
Tuy Hoa, RVN
May 1968 - May 1969