“Kudy Jay”

submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson

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The aircraft #67-21418 was named the Kudy Jay (a cross between Pat’s wife’s name Kay and Don’s wife’s name Judy). It was crewed by roommates Captains Pat Sweeney (Nail 45) and Don Brown (Nail 32), during late 1967 at NKP. As you can see she is a flat black night bird with subdued red markings, shielded lights (so Zorro and Nimrod could keep us in sight while hunting), and Cricket emblem. Crew names and truck and gun kills were stenciled on the panel below the pilot’s window.
Time period was pre FANs, so the two pilots traded places each night as PILOT and Scope. Scope carried all the gear, brought coffee and doughnuts, preflighted etc. but the next night he was God (Pilot) and his partner carried the ammo can. Every night, when either Pat or Don (whoever was Scope) was leaning completely out of the aircraft, totally engrossed in tracking a target while the ZPUs, 23s and 37s were getting warmed up, the other would reach across the cockpit and flick the glowing embers off his cigarette just forward of the business end of the scope. The scope, doing what it did, magnified and amplified the burning embers a gazillion times to the point where Scope was sure that every gun in Laos has solved it’s firing solution at the same time. These two good friends always promised to stop this cardiac exercise, but they could never resist getting even every other night!!