"If this design is really as terrible as Kelly Johnson says it is, the Air Force will think that, too, and they'll give the contract to somebody else. I think we ought to submit the proposal."

The city is about to fall. Tan Son Nhut AB is surrounded and under attack from the North Vietnamese. An all-night mortar barrage leaves more than 100 aircraft-the bulk of what had been the South Vietnamese Air Force-in twisted, burning hulks strewn across the airfield. Around 0900, the shelling stops. One C-130A remains intact. It will become the last flight out.