All language subtitles for 100.Missions.Surviving.Vietnam.2020.2020.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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[narrator]
1966.

A war that begins
in the rice paddies

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of South Vietnam

moves into the skies
over the North.

and US pilots are paying
a high price.

You could die at any time
and you might not
see it coming.

[narrator]
Follow a fearless commander.

[Olds]
Missiles streak past,

flak black in the sky.

[narrator]
A gung-ho prodigy.

[Richter]
Set up your sights, babe,
there's a MiG out there.

[narrator]
And a cautious rookie.

[Rasimus]
I'm afraid of being captured,
I'm not ready to die.

[narrator] Their goal,
survive 100 missions.

The hundred missions
gives them that light
at the end of the tunnel.

[narrator]
Their reward,

a raucous send off,

and a ticket home.

[men cheering]

[plane engine roaring]

[electric guitar playing]

[narrator]
Few fighter pilots in Vietnam
are as renowned as Flying Ace,

Robin Olds.

[Olds]
Fighter pilot is an attitude,

it's aggressiveness,
it's self-confidence.

It is a streak
of rebelliousness.

But there's something else,

a desire to be second
to no one.

[Hankins]
If anyone is to be held
as the example to live up to of

what the brash, aggressive,
hard drinking,

hard talking fighter pilot is,
it's Robin Olds.

During World War II,
he had flown P-38 Lightings
and P-51 Mustangs.

He had become a double ace.
He had twelve kills,

and had been very successful.

[narrator]
Swashbuckling pilots like Olds

are becoming relics
by the time Vietnam begins.

The US Air force is focused
on strategic bombing,

and has put behind it
the classic dogfights
of World War II.

[Hankins]
Fast forward to mid-1966,

to the eighth tactical
fighter wing in Vietnam,

which is having a little bit
of a morale problem.

Robin Olds gets plucked out
and dropped into Vietnam

purposefully to try to infuse
this sort of warrior spirit,

fighter pilot culture mentality
into that unit.

[narrator]
The eighth tactical
fighter wing

is based in Ubon, Thailand.

One of seven bases
the US is using

to bomb North Vietnam.

Its campaign,
called Rolling Thunder,

is rolling North,
and into the most heavily
defended areas.

[Olds]
The action was heating up.

Our fighter squadrons were
striking targets around Hanoi,

and there was heavy opposition.

-[man speaking over radio]
-[bombs exploding]

[narrator] For the pilots,
the odds of capture
or death are staggering.

And the thought
of serving a typical
one year tour is bleak.

To boost morale,
the Air Force sets a limit.

Fly one hundred sorties
into Vietnam,

and you can go home.

[Hankins]
As a pilot keeps flying
more and more missions,

it's taking a toll,

emotionally, physically.

There's got to be an end point
that they can work towards.

That's what the hundred
missions does.

It gives them that light
at the end of the tunnel.

[narrator]
To Robin Olds,
the benchmark is a nuisance.

[Olds] The magical
one hundredth mission

would send me home
sooner than end of tour.

There was no way
I would leave my men.

[narrator]
But most pilots
do not have the experience

and proven skill of Robin Olds.

Lieutenants like Ed Rasimus
ave never even flown in combat.

[Rasimus] I was on my way
to fly in the air war

against North Vietnam.

Hell, six months earlier,

I didn't even know
there was an air war

against anybody.

[narrator]
After completing ROTC,

Rasimus was surprised
to rise to the top
of his flight school class.

But his skill has not come
with nerves of steel.

[Rasimus]
Now the thought is,
how do I get out of this?

To say I felt sick
is an understatement.

[narrator]
The good news for Rasimus
is that he gets to fly

the supersonic
F-105 Thunderchief.

In 1966,

he's posted to the US base
at Korat, Thailand.

Home to 36 Thunderchiefs,
known as Thuds.

The super fast Thuds are flying
most of the bombing missions
into North Vietnam,

and suffering
the highest losses.

[Rasimus]
In the previous seven days,

Korat had lost
eight aircraft and pilots.

New aircraft were being ferried
in daily from Japan,

but pilots were in extremely
short supply.

[narrator]
Rasimus is relieved
to see Karl Richter,

a buddy from F-105 training

who arrived ten days earlier

and is much more eager
for the fight.

Like me, you know,
what happens, you know,
if, uh, if I get shot down?

I'm too mean.
They'll never get me anyway.

[Rasimus]
I trusted him.

He didn't exaggerate
or make up stories.

And I was pretty sure
that unlike me,

he had never had
a moment's fear
about flying combat.

[narrator]
Taught to fly as a boy,

Richter became a skilled pilot
by eighteen

when he enrolled
in the Air Force academy.

Now Richter and Rasimus

have combat skills to learn.

[Rasimus] The first missions

were the most dangerous
for new pilots,

because of fear,
lack of experience,

and unfamiliarity
with the whole pattern
of the war.

[Hankins] They're being shot
at from all kinds of enemies
that they can't see,

that they don't know are there.

They're trying
to pull maneuvers.

They're trying to hit
their targets.

This is all very different

than the training
that they've had.

[narrator]
New arrivals are supposed
to get their feet wet

on low risk flights.

But only four days
after arriving,

Richter receives
a baptism by fire.

[man speaking over radio]

[Rasimus]
In a perfect world,

Karl wouldn't have been
anywhere near

a mission that dangerous.

But with the losses
of the previous week,

it was almost inevitable
that he be thrown
into the cauldron.

Any fresh meat was welcome.

[narrator]
The target is a railroad
to Hanoi,

a strongly defended
supply line.

And the sky is thick
with anti-aircraft fire.

[man over radio]

Richter dives in exactly
as planned.

[man speaking over radio]

But as he climbs away,

he flies into the bomb blast
of a friendly plane.

[man over radio]
Vegas one is hit.

[narrator]
The blast blows away
part of his tail,

and his Thud pitches violently.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator] Richter's flying
skill saves him

from bailing out
over North Vietnam.

The close call seems
only to embolden him.

[Rasimus]
As he recounted the story,
Karl's voice got louder

and the tale was punctuated
with more and more profanity.

All the story meant to me
was that you could get killed

flying even one mission.

Just a few days later,
Rasimus gets his turn
in combat

on his third mission.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
The target is far from Hanoi.

But it's an anti-aircraft site,

a ring of guns
that can down an F-105

with a few lucky shots.

[man speaking over radio]

[Hankins]
By far, the largest amount
of aircraft losses

over North Vietnam

are coming
from small arms fire

and anti aircraft artillery,

which are claiming
60 to 70 percent or more
of fixed wing aircraft.

[man over radio]
I got a guy at twelve.

-[narrator] His fear
briefly forgotten,
-[beeping]

Rasimus is spellbound
by what he sees.

[Rasimus]
The valley floor, ten miles
long by five miles wide,

was a sea of white flashes.

It was amazing.

[narrator]
Then, the reality sinks in.

[man shouting over radio]

[Rasimus]
The flashbulbs, the fireballs,

the twinkling circles,
they were guns.

This was flak.
They were shooting at me.

[narrator]
He's got two choices.

Quit now,
or face the danger head on.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
Ed Rasimus is feeling the heat

on his third mission
in Vietnam.

Diving onto
an anti-aircraft gun

he sees it explode,
hit squarely by the plane
ahead of him.

He drops his two
massive bombs...

[man speaking over radio]

And escapes unscathed.

But he's shaken up,

and he's got 97 missions to go.

[Rasimus]
I'm not ready to die,

and I'm afraid
of being captured.

One hundred could be done
in four or five months,

one hundred could be survived,
couldn't it?

[Hankins]
It was such
a deadly environment,

a lot of pilots thought
they were not going
to make it to 100 missions.

And among some
of the F-105 squadrons

there were sayings
that developed,

pilots saying, "there's no way
I can make it to 100 missions."

That became a catchphrase.

[narrator]
North Vietnam's defenses

also surprised Robin Olds.

[Olds]
Nothing I had experienced

in World War II matched it.

Missiles streaked past,
flak blackened the sky,

tracers laced patterns
across my canopy,

and then, capping the day,
MiGs would suddenly appear.

[narrator]
Fighter pilots are famous
for their bravado

in the face of danger.

[Hankins] This is a job
where you could die at any time

and you might
not see it coming.

The psychological stresses
that these pilots
are going through

require some sort of coping
mechanism, some release valve

to deal with that fear.

[narrator]
The release valves
get a workout.

-Drinking, horseplay...
-[men cheering]

And especially bucking
minor regulations.

Robin Olds overgrown mustache
quickly catches on.

[Olds]
I was far away from home.

It was a gesture of defiance.

The kids on base loved it.

[Rasimus]
If there was any truth
to the notion

that mustaches
made you bulletproof

we weren't about
to press our luck.

[narrator]
New arrivals quickly trade
their blue caps

for Australian boonie hats,

that double as log books.

[Rasimus] When you flew
a combat mission

you inked a hash mark
on the band.

If there was ever any question
about your mission count,

your hat was the primary
source document.

[Hankins]
Any young pilot that comes in

that's walking around
the squadron

is gonna know just from looking
how experienced someone is.

That's an instant sign of,

that is a veteran that's been
through some business.

[narrator]
After the pilots adopt
a mutt named Roscoe,

they start to read
his behavior
for signs of danger.

[Rasimus] If Roscoe slept
through the briefing,

the mission
would be an easy one.

If he was agitated
or walked out midway,

well, things would
not go smoothly.

[narrator]
Whether by superstition
or skill,

Ed Rasimus survives
his first 20 missions.

[Rasimus]
I'd seen I could do this.

I was part of this group,

and I'd glimpsed
maybe just a bit of fear
in the other pilots.

Because I'd kept my mouth shut
and done my job,

no one would know
about my fear.

[Hankins]
These behaviors are seen
as the ideal.

We won't talk about the fear.
We won't let that seep
into our brains,

because we need to stay
concentrated on our job.

We need a little bit
of that arrogance to be able
to do this job effectively.

[narrator]
Despite a perilous
first flight to Hanoi,

Karl Richter only grows
more eager for battle.

He skips R and R

to fly high-risk
observation missions
over the South,

and doesn't care
that they won't count
towards the magical 100.

[Richter]
I really enjoy the flying.

You know, it's so good,
I can't believe it.

Everybody says
"yeah, I'm waving a flag",

but where are you gonna
stop communism?

Are you gonna wait until
they're in Des Moines, Iowa?

[narrator]
By September, 1966,

Richter has flown
more than 80 missions
over North Vietnam,

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
He is near the port city
of Haiphong

when he spots two MiG-17s
closing in on the planes
ahead of him.

[man speaking over radio]

[Richter]
Right away, the only thing
that passed my mind

was, "set up your sights, babe,
there's a MiG out there."

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
Richter drops his bombs,

and races after the MiGs.

[man speaking over radio]

[Richter]
I started firing,

I thought, "this is really
going to be embarrassing

if you miss this guy."

Then, the second time I fired,
I saw my 20 millimeter rounds

start to sparkle
on his right wing.

[man speaking over radio]

He ejected okay.
He got a good parachute.

[narrator]
At 23,

Karl Richter
is the youngest US pilot

to shoot down a MiG
over Vietnam.

[Hankins]
It's very difficult to get
a MiG kill in an F-105.

The F-105
is designed specifically

to go really fast, really low,

drop a bomb on a target
and then get out of there
really quickly.

[narrator]
Richter's MiG victory
is a bright spot

in a bombing campaign
that is dragging on.

And frustration is rising.

Particularly among F-4 pilots

who are best equipped
to tangle with the MiGs.

[Olds] I could sense
lethargy among the troops.

Morale seemed to be
in the toilet.

Things had to change.

[narrator]
Spirits lift when Olds dubs
his fighter wing the Wolf Pack,

in honor of his World War II
commander.

He recruits
as his second in command

a fighter pilot who flew
100 combat missions
in Korea.

Daniel James,
who goes by "Chappie",

is a strong
mentor to young pilots.

[James] We had an outfit
that believed in us.

It was mutual.

We believed in them, too.

[Hankins] Their men
gave them the nickname
"Black Man and Robin",

as a way to kind of refer
to them as this dynamic duo

that commanded so well together.

[narrator]
James and Olds set out
to bolster the team work

among the fighter wings
in South East Asia.

During a bombing pause
for the Buddha's birthday,

the Korat base
welcomes them in style

for a meeting of pilots
from across the region.

[music playing]

[Olds]
I led a parade

from the flight line
to the O club.

There was a lot
of whiskey drinking,

fun and games, songs,
skits and stuff.

But the serious business
of talking to one another
went on, too.

[narrator] A top concern
is North Vietnam's
growing arsenal

of supersonic MiG-21s.

Olds comes up
with a bold scheme
to defeat the MiGs,

dubbed Operation Bolo.

[Hankins]
The main plan
for Operation Bolo,

which some historians describe
as an electronic Trojan horse
maneuver,

was to trick MiGs

into attacking
what they would think

was some vulnerable F-105s.

[narrator]
F-4 pilots will fly
into North Vietnam

disguised as a strike force
of F-105s.

They'll be armed
with a Thuds' radar
jamming gear,

but instead of bombs,

they'll have missiles
for air to air combat.

[Olds]
The MiGs would come up after us

and get a deadly reception.

[narrator]
After weeks of planning,

the daring mission
gets the green light.

With dozens of pilots lives

in the balance.

[narrator]
January 2nd, 1967.

H hour for Operation Bolo.

The ruse to trick
North Vietnam's air force
gets underway,

as F-4 pilots,
including Chappie James
and Robin Olds,

strap themselves in.

Even the Commander is nervous

about the biggest gamble
of his career.

[Olds]
I felt a searing pain
in the pit of my stomach

and was already drenched
in sweat by the time
I reached my bird.

Dear God, please let me
lead these wonderful men
into a successful battle

and safely back home.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
The first to launch are F-105s.

They'll suppress ground fire.

Electronic warfare planes,
known as Big Eyes,

will orbit nearby
to detect threats,

and jam North Vietnamese radar.

Then, 56 Phantoms take off
from bases in Thailand

and South Vietnam.

The plan calls for them
to take turns sweeping
over airfields

to lure the MiGs
into attacking.

But the F-4s from Da Nang
run into bad weather,

and they turn around,
cutting the force by a third.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
It leaves the entire mission

in the hands of Robin Olds
and the Wolf Pack.

[ man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
Olds flight fuels up,

it activates the radar jammers

borrowed from the F-105s.

[Hankins] This jamming pod
gave off a certain

electronic signature
that the MiGs could detect.

The F-4 Phantoms also flew
in the same formations
and used the same call signs

as the F-105s
would typically use.

That way if the MiGs

had picked up
any communications,

they would think that
it was that group of F-105s

that they were used
to seeing in that area.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
And the MiGs fall for it.

[Olds]
Chappie calls a MiG-21
on my flight

that has popped
up out of the undercast.

I break hard just in time
to see another MiG
at my eleven o'clock.

MiGs are popping out
of the cloud deck everywhere.

[man yelling over radio]

[narrator]
Olds spots a third
enemy fighter.

[man speaking over radio]

[Olds]
I got up on top of him
and half upside down,

waited for him to complete
his turn,

Then timed it so I continued
down behind him.

Frankly, I am not sure
he ever saw me.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
Meanwhile, two MiGs attack
the second flight,

lead by Chappie James.

[James] The MiG broke left
and for a split second

I could clearly see the pilot

and the bright red
star markings.

I immediately started
a barrel roll

to gain separation
for attack

but he broke right
into the flight path
of my number two.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
James' wingman
gets the victory.

In just 13 minutes,

US fighters down
7 North Vietnamese MiGs,

without a single loss.

The deliberately planned
fighter sweep went
just as we hoped.

The MiGs came up,
the MiGs were aggressive,

we tangled, they lost.

[Hankins]
This is a huge morale boost
for the Wolf Pack.

They come out
of this celebrating.
They're excited.

What operation Bolo does,
it shows that

in the hands
of skilled pilots,
in the right conditions,

these Phantoms
can wreak havoc against
a North Vietnamese Air Force.

[men cheering]

[narrator]
The Wolf Pack wipes out
almost half

of North Vietnam's
supersonic MiG-21s.

[narrator]
Many in the Wolf Pack
have also moved closer

to the coveted 100 missions.

But Robin Olds has no plans
to go home.

[Olds]
I started covertly
erasing my missions.

Nobody could figure out
what number

I had or hadn't flown.

[narrator]
The Wolf Pack
is happy to keep him.

North Vietnam's leader,
Ho Chi Minh,

has plenty of tricks
of his own.

[Olds]
Missions got tougher than ever.

Uncle Ho had lost
a lot of his MiGs

but he rewarded us
with barrages of SAMs.

[narrator] North Vietnam
deployed the first
Surface to Air Missiles,

or SAMs, in 1965.

[Hankins]
If you're a pilot,
it's terrifying.

Now you've got this telephone
pole sized missile

flying right at you
at way faster
than the speed of sound.

And it can track you,
it can follow you.

[man speaking over radio]

[Rasimus] Whether or not
you got targeted

depended on something
between luck and magic.

And they chased you down
to kill you.

[men over radio] Oh man.
Take it down, Take it down,
baby. See the launch.

[Rasimus]
The best defense
was a last-second hard turn up

and into the missile's flight
path,

forcing it to overshoot.

[man over radio]
Oh, they're big mother--!

[narrator]
Fail to spot the missile,
and you lose your plane,

and maybe your life.

[man over radio]
It we'd gone down,
we would've run right into him.

[narrator]
The missile threat
devastates the pilots' hopes

of surviving 100 missions.

The air force responds
with a fleet of aircraft

equipped to destroy
North Vietnam's SAMs,

dubbed Wild Weasels.

[Rasimus] I like the idea
of viscous carnivores

attacking the enemy
that was trying to kill me.

[narrator]
Wild Weasels have a second seat

for an electronic
warfare officer.

They fly ahead
of the strike force.

[Hankins]
The basic concept
of the Wild Weasels

is you're going
to serve as bait.

You're gonna go up there.

You're gonna get an enemy
radar to lock onto you.

[man speaking over radio]
We're in the main beam.

[Hankins]
And you will then
fire a missile

that is specifically designed

to track those radar signals

down to their source
and take out that radar.

The first time
this mission was briefed,
one of those officers says,

"So, sir, you want me to go
get a SAM to lock on to me
and get shot at?

You've gotta be shitting me."

And that phrase was turned
into an abbreviation,

YGBSM, which is now
the official motto

of the Wild Weasels
to this day.

[man shouting over radio]

[narrator]
The first Weasels
are slaughtered.

Five are shot down within weeks
of arriving in Vietnam.

But one crew seems unstoppable

on its path to 100 missions.

Stan Goldstein

and pilot John Revak.

[Goldstein] John and I
were both New Yorkers,

we were happy to drink and fly.

It was my first marriage.

[narrator] Goldstein and Revak
managed to fly 99 missions

over North Vietnam together,

completely unscathed.

Wild Weasel pilots have over
50 percent loss rate.

A combination of high losses

with just the realities
of staffing,

most of those duos don't fly
together every single mission.

[narrator]
The pair are a flight away
from 100

when stunning news arrives
from President Lyndon Johnson.

I have now ordered

that all air, naval,
and artillery bombardment

of North Vietnam cease.

[narrator]
Washington's bombing pauses
are an attempt

to test North Vietnam's desire
to negotiate.

For the pilots, the pause means
missions no longer count.

Instead of one more
combat flight,

Goldstein and Revak
settle in for six more months.

[Goldstein] We were becoming
rather infamous

for possessing 99 missions.

John and I wonder

what we can do
to change our luck.

[narrator]
It takes the misfortune
of another air crew.

25 days after the bombing halt,

the two are over Laos

when word comes
of a downed plane
across the border,

in North Vietnam.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
A reconnaissance flight
has gone bad.

The Weasel pair
gets the go ahead

to cross into enemy territory
to protect the rescue.

[man speaking over radio]

[Goldstein]
Unfortunately,
the downed pilots

land close
to a North Vietnamese

army jungle encampment.

[narrator]
The rescue fails.

Goldstein and Revak
return to Korat
with mixed emotions.

They're frightened
for the downed pilots,

but they finally completed
their 100th mission

into North Vietnam.

[Goldstein]
We smoke back to Korat.

John agrees
to give me the stick

and let me make the flyby
from the back-seat.

Climbing down
is like descending
from a heavenly experience.

[Hankins]
100 missions
is one of the most

celebratory moments
in a fighter pilot's tour.

You're going to be greeted
with the entire rest
of your squadron.

There's gonna be champagne
on the flight line,

maybe some flares being lit up.

[Goldstein]
I could not have felt better

than Caesar riding his chariot.

We were greeted with cheers,
water hoses

and ignited smoke canisters,

and then we were carried
to the pool.

John and I rang the bell,

signifying we would
buy the bar.

100 Missions, like most things
in fighter pilot culture,

it is both very serious
and also very goofy.

[narrator]
Goldstein and Revak
don dry flight suits

with a new patch.

The first 100 mission
celebration at Korat

in 25 days goes on all night,

while others wonder
if they'll survive
for a party of their own.

[narrator]
The Vietnam War drags on.

The bombing pauses
don't rev up peace talks.

Instead, the North
beefs up its defenses,

and Rolling Thunder resumes,

with even larger strike forces.

These formations
could be dozens,

maybe up to or over
100 planes.

Most of those aircraft
are not putting
bombs on target.

It just takes that many more
aircraft to try to protect

that core group at the middle.

And even that
doesn't always work.

[narrator]
Ground crews work tirelessly
through the night

to turn the planes
around quickly.

[Rasimus]
Preflight and taxi

were in the morning twilight.

These guys worked hard
in horrendous heat and humidity

to give us safe,
mission-ready airplanes.

[narrator]
Ed Rasimus now
has 80 missions behind him,

and his fears have given way

to a fire in the belly.

[Rasimus]
I seldom felt a fear anymore.

Running along the treetops
at 540 knots

loaded with high explosive iron

may be the most exciting thing
a man can do with his pants on.

[Olds] Flying is not just
a job, it's a love affair.

You don't climb
into an aircraft and sit down.

You strap the machine
to your butt,

become one with it.

[narrator]
After more than six months,

Robin Olds has kept
his mission count a secret.

[Olds]
We were busier than hell.

Damned if I was going
to record one hundred

before I was ordered home.

I kept the number hovering
in the high 80s and low 90s.

[narrator]
In the late spring of 1967,

the path to 100 missions
once again becomes very steep.

North Vietnam has replenished
its MiG-21s,

and expanded it's network
of guns.

F-105 pilots can now expect
to bail out twice

before they even reach
mission 70.

[Waldrop]
It really got serious.

Sometimes the flak
would be so heavy,

you'd think
you could walk on it.

We were losing a lot of guys.

[narrator]
David Waldrop starts his tour

as a 90 day
temporary replacement.

But Korat is desperate
for new pilots,

and he volunteers to stay
despite the danger.

[Waldrop] I wanted to get
my 100 missions.

I wanted to be able
to put on my flight suit,

that patch with 100 missions
in the F-105.

[narrator]
Waldrop's got more
than 45 missions behind him

when he joins
a large strike force

sent to destroy
a railroad yard near Hanoi.

[Waldrop] A concrete floor

wouldn't be as hard
as my stomach.

And your mouth is like cotton.

You know
what you're up against.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
Protecting the strike
from MiGs are F-4s,

led by Robin Olds.

[Olds]
About 60 miles northwest
of our target,

Big Eye called,
"Bandits! Bandits!"

[man speaking over radio]
Bandits, Bandits!

Northwest at 60,
heading 3-6-zero.

[Waldrop] The force commander
was saying,

"Robin, you gotta get
those guys."

[man speaking over radio]

[Waldrop]
And we were looking.
We were doing the best we can.

And sure enough these MiG-21s
come in, one point two mach,

right out of the sun.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
The MiGs use the sun
and clouds as cover.

[Olds]
Suddenly, two MiG-21s
came screaming in

supersonic at six o'clock
and knocked my guys down.

[man speaking over radio]
May day, mayday, mayday.
Get out. Get out!

[narrator]
Two Phantoms are destroyed.

Three of the four pilots
manage to eject.

[man over radio]
I got three chutes.
I got three chutes.

[narrator]
With rescue impossible
over such a hostile area,

Waldrop and the strike force
continue.

[Waldrop]
I dropped the bombs
and I'm smoking along.

I'm in the process
of turning hard north,

and I look up and I see
this F-105 just going straight
and level.

There's two MiG-17s no more
than 1500 feet behind.

[man over radio]
Two MiG-17s have just
gone over the target.

[narrator]
Thinking fast,

Waldrop dives and turns sharply

to catch the trailing MiG.

[Waldrop]
So I was pulling about
eight and a half Gs

to stay behind these guys.

I closed on the guy going
about 1000 miles an hour

almost 500 feet off the ground.

[narrator]
Waldrop sees his gun round
strike the MiG.

He pulls up
to get another surprise.

[Waldrop]
And all of a sudden,

out of this broken
layer of clouds,

here comes this MiG-17.

[narrator]
It's a third MiG.

[Waldrop]
How did this happen?

I just pulled the nose down
and I rolled out.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
Once again,
Waldrop unleashes the gun

in the F-105s nose.

[man speaking over radio]

[Waldrop]
The first bullets went right
through the cockpit.

[narrator]
This time,
Robin Olds is watching.

[Olds]
It looked like a shark
chasing a minnow.

He was scoring numerous hits
on the MiG.

I breached radio discipline
and shouted,

"Go get 'em, Thud!"

God, it was a thrilling sight.

[narrator]
Both pilots see the MiG crash.

[man over radio]
He's down! He went down!

[narrator]
And then hightail it
back to their bases.

[Olds] When I got home I jumped
on the phone and called Korat.

"I wanna confirm some great
goddamn son of a bitch's kill
today!"

[narrator]
At 45 years old,
and a full colonel,

Olds enjoys mentoring
lieutenants like Waldrop.

He also takes a liking
to Karl Richter.

[Olds] Pilots from other wings

often dropped over
for social times at the O club.

One of my favorites was a kid
named Lieutenant Karl Richter.

Karl and I were great pals.

[narrator]
Like his mentor,
Richter's a bit of a maverick.

He also does not want
to leave combat.

[Richter] People are only

starting to do effective work

after 70 or 80 missions.

At 100, you're really
getting your stride.

[narrator]
Richter puts in
for a second tour.

[Rasimus]
Richter had made up his mind
that he would become the first

to reach an almost magical
200 missions.

Until he got the word
that his extension
was going through,

he was fudging
his flight records.

[narrator]
When a Sortie takes Richter
over North Vietnam

he logs it
as a mission over Laos

to keep his count below 100.

[Rasimus] He was hooked
on the rush.

We knew instinctively
that it wasn't a good thing.

[narrator]
Since he arrived,

Richter's wing
has lost 36 F-105s.

As many planes
as it started with.

More than half the pilots
have failed to complete
their tours,

with many killed or captured.

Richter gets his wish
for an extension.

But he'll need more
than flying skill

to survive
another 100 missions.

[narrator]
By the summer of 1967,

Karl Richter has become
one of few

to rack up 197 combat flights

into North Vietnam.

For his 198th,

he's leading a new arrival

on a low risk
initiation flight.

He spots a target and dives in.

But a lucky shot
knocks out his controls.

The ejection breaks both
of Richter's legs.

He manages to open his chute,
but lands hard

and suffers more injuries.

[man speaking over radio]

[Rasimus]
An intense rescue effort

snatched Karl
out of the jungle,

but shock and loss of blood
were too severe,

and Karl expired
in the chopper.

[narrator]
Karl Richter
is just 24 years old.

As Ed Rasimus approaches
his 100th mission

the fate of his buddy
is on his mind,

and fears creep back in.

[Rasimus]
The worst parts of the tour

were the first ten
and the last ten.

Stories of guys
getting shot down

with mission counts
in the high 90s

raised lots of superstitions.

No one was going
to get a new flying suit.

If you wore red socks,
you kept doing it.

[narrator]
Rasimus and two others

get orders
for their 100th mission.

They'll fly it together,

going in ahead
of a strike force

to take out a SAM site.

One of the most dangerous
missions of the war.

[Rasimus] We didn't want
to wait any longer

to get our 100th mission,

but we weren't sure if being up
at the pointy end of the spear

for as long as required
on a Weasel mission

was a really good idea either.

[narrator]
Over North Vietnam,
an F-105 is hit.

The pilot ejects.

Rasimus circles above
to keep watch for ground fire,

as the rescue team snatches
the pilot from the jungle.

But now,
Rasimus is running out of fuel.

The slightest mistake,
and he won't make it.

[Rasimus] There's no go around,
there can be no overshoot.

I can't screw it up.

[man speaking over radio]

[narrator]
The celebration for all three
starts immediately.

[cars honking]

[Rasimus]
Guys from the squadron

and the intel shop
and maintenance

are in the back
of the various trucks.

Some are waving
orange smoke flairs.

[men cheering]

[Rasimus]
We reach down
and pull the handle

to extend our refueling probes.

We give the world the finger.

[narrator]
Rasimus dons
a fresh new flight suit

before he even
leaves the tarmac.

[Rasimus] On the left shoulder,

incredibly,
there's that shield.

The 100 mission patch is mine.

Some pilots talk about
just seeing the patch

when they got it
for the first time

moved them to tears.

[Rasimus]
My face hurts from smiling

and laughing so much.

The three of us are giddy.

For the first time
in six months

we're certain
that we will live
through tomorrow.

[narrator]
MiG killer David Waldrop

returns safely
from his final mission

in December, 1967.

[Waldrop] I felt very proud

of having flown that airplane
to its maximum,

having taken good care of it,
never abused it.

[narrator] Waldrop's name
joins every 100 mission flyer
in his squadron

on the unit's
celebratory scarf.

[Waldrop]
To have completed that tour

and gotten out of it intact,
of course, is a relief.

I had done my part.

[men cheering]

[narrator]
Robin Olds ends his tour

in September, 1967.

As he intended,
he has served a full year.

[Olds] The guys surprised me
by carrying me to the club

and up the front steps.

It's a good thing there was
a lot of shouting going on,

because I couldn't stop
the tears running down my face.

[Hankins]
Olds really reinvigorates
this unit

and pushes them to take
the fight to the enemy

in ways that they hadn't been
doing before.

[narrator]
His mustache lives on as well.

[Hankins]
The month of March
in the Air Force

is Mustache March.

It's a place
where most officers
and enlisted folks

will grow out their mustaches
in honor of Robin Olds.

[narrator]
As he leaves Thailand,

the originator
of the Bulletproof Mustache

finally reveals
his mission tally.

He flew over North Vietnam
105 times.

Escaping uninjured,

and never losing an aircraft.

Along the way,
he exemplified the boldness

and bravery that helped
so many others survive

to 100 missions.