Captain, Steve Ritchie of the 555th TFS, flying his F-4D Phantom
through a hail of deadly enemy flak, exits the target area after
a typical FAST FAC mission on enemy installations in North Vietnam,
1972. Behind him a vast trail of devastation marks the mission’s
progress, as his fellow Phantom crews continue to wreak havoc
with their heavy ordnance, the target area explodes in a series
of mighty detonations.
Ritchie would, in the space of a few weeks during Operation Linebacker
in the summer of 1972 become a legend - the only USAF fighter
pilot Ace of the Vietnam War. |