“Pardo Push” pilot remembered as hero, inspiration to family and friends

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – A College Station man is being honored by friends and family as a veteran, decorated pilot and loving father.

Lieutenant Colonel, John “Bob” Pardo, passed away in early December. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his service during the Vietnam War, hailing the veteran a hero.

Most notably, a flight maneuver was named after him. The Pardo Push is a tactic Pardo used to save fellow airmen from going down in enemy territory.

“We knew for sure that the airplane with Earl Aman and Bob Houghton in it was not going to make it out in North Vietnam without some kind of help,” co-pilot Steve Wayne said.

Both planes were losing fuel, but Pardo knew he and Wayne’s plane had enough to help out the second plane.

“Bob really devised the scheme,” Wayne said.

Pardo positioned their plane to push the second plane through the air, slowing descent and moving them toward a safe location to eject. According to accounts, all four airmen were able to eject and live to tell the tale. Pardo was reprimanded for his actions due to the damage caused to his airplane with the maneuver. Later, he was highly decorated with a Purple Heart, for his service including for the Pardo Push.

“I could say he was more than a friend. We always kidded about him being smaller and stature, but he was eight and a half years older and so he is, was then and always will be my big brother,” Wayne said.

Pardo’s memory lives on beyond his service, through his namesake his son, John Pardo.

“That’s sort of cool having a dad who’s a fighter pilot,” he said, John also became a fighter pilot and says the Pardo Push is a prime example of who his father was. “If you put your mind to it you can find a way and you can, you can do things and you can be successful and you know, I try to sort of mirror that with respect to my career and what I did.”

The Pardo Push has become an Air Force legend and is a maneuver that was only accomplished once before the mission and has yet to be attempted again.