This pilot dropped every bomb on two different F-16s on one mission

Craig Andrle was in the cockpit of his F-16, waiting to take off from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan when another American warplane descended out of the sky toward the runway — a hulking AC-130 gunship.

“I’m holding short of the runway, and I see the AC-130 landing and I’m like, ‘oh shit. That’s not good,” Andrle told Task & Purpose.

The mere sight of the gunship was a tip-off that something had gone wrong in a firefight just over the horizon. In a mountain valley about 50 miles away, a unit of Army Rangers had run into a hornet’s nest of resistance. The AC-130 was returning from that fight, even though it should not have been.

For one, the crew was flying during daylight, a sure sign that the fight was particularly intense. And second, the big plane was back in Bagram because, as Andrle heard on the radio, its various guns and cannons were “Winchester” — out of ammo.