Man that was true. Not long before my tour ended, the Air Force filed court-martial charges against a bird colonel named Jack Broughton, who was a deputy wing commander of F-105 Thunderchiefs that were fighting in the north. Jack was a helluva commander and a great combat pilot. His guys loved him. A couple of them had come in over Haiphong harbour as a Soviet freighter was off-loading weapons. The Soviets opened fire on them with a deck gun, and Jack’s guys fired back. When they returned to base, they told Jack what they had done, and he, in turn, made a serious mistake. He destroyed their gun camera film – the evidence – and told his pilots to keep quiet.
Meanwhile the Russians filed a formal complaint, claiming American jets had attacked one of their ships without provocation. The White House queried General Ryan, then the Air Force Commander in the Pacific and he launched an investigation. When the Air Force finally confronted Jack, he confessed, and the brass decided to court-martial him and his two pilots…
Fighter pilots would go crazy with frustration watching Russian freighters unloading SAM missiles in Haiphong harbour, knowing that the rules of engagement prevented them from doing a damned thing about it.