Shooting down an airplane with a Patriot missile is worlds of overkill but satisfyingly effective! Those are made to take out much smaller targets flying much faster.
Reminds me of early training on the M-1 tanks where they installed cameras into the sight block so evaluators could see exactly what the gunner was aiming at. After our range run, the gunner is pretty bored inside with nothing to shoot at, so I was “Locked on and tracking” Huey that was traversing the area with the tanks sights for close to 30 seconds. A one star general in the debriefing tent saw our filmed run and asked me if I though I could shoot a helicopter out of the air with the main gun.
There were big smiles all around.
Funny story.
Funny that is until a Cobra climbs on your distracted six and lights you up with a TOW. :)
The tanker was good in that he shot and moved in the mixed terrain so that the helo crew had a very hard time spotting it.
One airman finally saw a muzzle flash, and they were able to kill the tank just before the fuel gauge required disengagement.