You might remember the Korean War movie Men of the Fighting Lady but did you know that its main characters were based on real pilots, one who was injured on his 27th mission, and the other who talked him down to what, according to the blind pilot, was the best landing he ever made? The event occurred on 22 March 1952. After landing his plane, Ensign Schechter (pictured on right) was taken to a Navy hospital ship. Shrapnel had severely wounded his face, scalp and right eye; his left eye was also damaged. He regained his sight in the left eye but not in the right. Howard Thayer (pictured on left), who made the Navy his career, was killed in 1961 when, on a night mission, he flew into the water returning to the USS Independence in the Mediterranean Sea. Mr. Schechter died in Fairfield, California in 2013. His son, George said the cause was complications of prostate cancer.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 21:27:04 +0000
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