I have mentioned that I flew F-4s but that did not start out the way most Air Force, Navy or Marine pilots learned to fly. I had one orientation flight that I talked my way into at Eglin AFB, Florida. With over 2,000 hours as an Electronic Warfare Officer buried in the bowels of B-52Bs at Biggs AFB, El Paso, fighters were a new experience. So were fighter pilots, a whole different breed compared to "Bus Drivers". Little did I know the bet was on; how long it would take to make me barf in my hat. Whoever had "under 15 minutes" won the bet. Scared to death in the back of an F-4, I wish I remembered who that pilot that did wing overs on take off and pulled more Gs, especially negative Gs, than I knew existed.
My next back seat ride was my first combat mission. A nice, safe functional check flight for an engine change out of Da Nang AB, Vietnam was okayed. Just about the time we lifted off the ground and started the gear up, the good engine blew up! Four feet off the ground, one newly changed engine, one non-functioning engine (except for the fire warning lights and no thrust), trying to make it over the top of the village off the north end of the runway between us and the water. After running as much as the overall checklist as we could and dumping fuel, we came in from the south for a landing. Due to having to make a one engine straight-in approach over bad-guy territory south of the base, we landed and post-flight showed 34 holes in the airplane from enemy groundfire. Never even thought of barfing; too busy learning how to be a back seat fighter pilot. My pilot said, "Just another day at the office."
