Bail-Out

Captain Harold E. Fischer Jr., 27, the U.S.'s third-ranking jet ace,* is a shy, boyish-looking Iowa farm boy who drew a bead on a MIG-15 as if he were leading a wild duck. Interviewed last month on becoming a "double ace," he embarrassed the Air Force by saying that he knocked out eight of his ten MIGs, not by using the Air Force's fine radar gunsight, but just by using "Kentucky windage" to get on his target.

One day last week, Captain Fischer appeared particularly eager to get into combat. He tried to fly on a morning mission, but had to wait until afternoon. As he trotted out to his F-86 Sabre jet, he said to his buddies: "Let's go get them--or get got." Up near the Yalu, he tangled with a MIG, and lost. His wingman heard Fischer say, "Get out, get the hell out of the area." Then his radio was silent.

Next day there were two more items of news about Airman Fischer. The Peking radio announced that he had bailed out and was a prisoner--and quoted his service number correctly. In Las Vegas, Nev., his wife, accompanied by three-year-old Harold III, appeared before a judge in a suit filed weeks ago and got a divorce.

*No. 1: Colonel Royal N. Baker of McKinney, Texas. No. 2: Major George Davis, Lubbock, Texas.

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