[cynicom]

Saving himself and the crew is not in the books. Nowhere.

The P3 crew that landed in China was a disgrace but were given medals. The aircraft commander is no longer in the Navy.

[Myrddin]

The P3 crew that landed in China was a disgrace but were given medals. The aircraft commander is no longer in the Navy.

The crew destroyed all the classified equipment before landing. The most important assets on the flight were the operators who recognized the voices, accents and communications of the monitored parties. Equipment can be replaced.

[Bobibutu]

"Saving himself and the crew is not in the books. Nowhere.
The P3 crew that landed in China was a disgrace but were given medals. The aircraft commander is no longer in the Navy."

I vote for the pilot to fly me anywhere after what he accomplished. And I understand your position - I agree - however when TSHTF we tend to do human things for survival vs the book.

[kabar]

Saving himself and the crew is not in the books. Nowhere. The P3 crew that landed in China was a disgrace but were given medals. The aircraft commander is no longer in the Navy.

I spent 8 years in the USN (including a year in Vietnam) and never heard that one before. The Captain is responsibile for the lives and welfare of his crew. They are not on suicide missions nor do we subscribe to the Code of Bushido.

The aircraft commander did an outstanding job of gaining control of the damaged aircraft and landing it safely. Do you know why the commander is no longer in the Navy?

[BIGLOOK]

In '69-71, I flew in the same air frame, PR 32, as the one that landed on Hainan. This was in a war zone..

PR 32 was thumped and then collided with a Chinese J8 (MIG 21 variant) suffering damage to the nose cone and destruction of the radars. The A/C commander regained control of the A/C, and the crew went to "pitch and ditch", destroying all sensitive equipment, jettisoning all to Davy Jones that they could.
The A/C commander brought PR 32 in to a safe landing on Hainan Island....not that he had much choice since he was under escort from other J8s. All in all, a commendable recovery on all parts.
All the Chinese got was a photo op and a battered airframe, which we got back.
We got back an entire aircrew.