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Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Mike Leonard’s book “An American Combat Bird Dog Pilot: From the Battlefield of Vietnam and Beyond” available from SOFREP-Books here.
Lt. Col. Leonard is a retired Air Force officer and highly experienced global business executive. He was a United States Air Force command pilot with a military career spanning 20 years, including two combat tours to Vietnam in 1965-1966, and 1969-1970. Mike spent four years flying the VC-140B Special Air Mission aircraft during his time with the 89th Military Airlift Wing, the “Home of Air Force One.”
His combat decorations include three Distinguished Flying Crosses, nine Air Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. What you are about to read is one of those just-so stories of military service that illustrate how the deadly serious business of military aviation can also be very funny at times.
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This week on SOFREP Radio we’re excited to welcome our guest, Col. Michael Leonard (ret.), US Air Force pilot and author of the new book
An American Combat Bird Dog Pilot: From the Battlefield of Vietnam and Beyond.
In this exclusive interview with Leonard, we get a first hand account of his adventures, from his days before the military right on through to his years as an executive working for companies like the Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation and Lockheed-Martin.
Of note is Leonard’s recounting of close calls as a O-1 Bird Dog pilot in Vietnam. As a Forward Air Control, or FAC, Leonard was often the only link between ground forces and friendly artillery fire. In his little fixed-wing plane, Leonard had to circle over hot battlezones, dodging enemy anti-air and small arms fire while calling in coordinates on enemy locations.