In the film, did he save some American soldiers on the ground by strafing some Germans that were sure to kill them, and he didn’t know who the Americans were, and many years later he was conversing with someone and they got onto the subject of the war, and one of them mentioned the incident, and they both realized that Aanenson was the pilot and he was one of the guys on the ground?
If that’s the film, I’ll tell you it was an incredible film. The pilot (Aanenson?) did more dangerous, heroic stuff than you can imagine. It was not a touchie feelie, how-bad-war-is film. Somehow they got a lot of footage of this guy in action.
. This is a true story. He dropped a 500 lb. bomb on a German tank approaching a group of American infantry. He only had one bomb,and to be sure he killed the tank, he had to fly in low and slow which meant his P-47 was going to be substantially damaged by the blast of his own bomb. He hit the tank, and his plane was damaged, but made it back to base. Later, pilot and infantry officer met on the campus of LSU. My Dad -- grad of LSU-- was on campus at same time this meeting took place. I have know this story since childhood.