"Diamond Jim" wrote in message
...

"C.D.Damron" wrote in message
news:6DQlf.609975$_o.150180@attbi_s71...

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
ink.net...
Cunningham is a classic example of a good man gone bad! I can't think
of
anyone in my lifetime who had more going for him and ended up with less
than


From what I have heard, nobody thought Cunningham was too bright.


Well you heard wrong. It takes a certain amount of intelligence to become
a
Naval Aviator to start with. Dummies don't make it!

While he wasn't in any danger of receiving a noble prize, he didn't need
anyone to tie his shoes either. He was about average. He really was only
interested in flying, and had no desire to be CNO, and never wanted
anything
other than duty in a squadron. There is nothing wrong with that.

All true. Nobody would have accused Duke of being the consummate naval
officer. He was a mark-one, mod-zero aviator and nothing more. He wasn't
even necessarily the best Phantom driver, but he was quite possibly the best
PREPARED Phantom driver in Vietnam circa 1972. He was presented
opportunities quite by chance and capitalized on them to the tune of 5
kills. There were more than a few guys in theatre with equal skills and at
least some of the opportunities and came away with nothing (due to a failure
to reset the gunsight for A/A, failure to turn on missile cooling, etc etc).

R / John