France: L'Affaire Voodoo

Captain Joseph P. Smith of the U.S. 38th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron gunned his RF-101 Voodoo jet down the base runway at Ramstein, West Germany. His destination, according to a flight plan filed half an hour earlier with French air control, was France's Rhône Valley. His announced purpose: training for NATO defense. At 4:54 p.m., as he was making his second pass at 2,000 ft. over the Rhône town of Pierrelatte, Captain Smith was greeted wingtip to wingtip by an old French Vautour interceptor. He made two more passes over Pierrelatte and then headed back to Ramstein, where he touched...

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