Robert E. Irion, Sandy, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, September 20, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 537, 538, and 539

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Robert E. Irion eptember 20th, 2002 I get back to base and Steve isn't there yet and I don t know what s happ n d. You know you didn t talk much on the radio unless you really had to. He comes in about ten minutes later and he does a roll when he gets over the field. He'd gotten this jet, he'd shot it down. The squadron leader called a meeting, got all the pilots together in the comer there after the mission, and said: "Okay, guys. We've been telling you not to chase the jets." "But look, we got one today." He said, "What do you think?" He said, "Do you think we ought to go after them?" And just in one voice everybody said: "Hell, yes! That's what we came here for!" And he said, "Alright. I'm going to go over and talk to Colonel Henry. I'm going to tell him that we're going to start going after them. But I don't want you chasing willy-nilly after everything in the sky. But if you think you've got the drop on them, if you really think that you've got an advantage, that you can get them. You've got the green light." And we started going after them from there on. Our squadron got three planes- that was the first one- we got three jets. That was the first one. I got the second one. And I was in the action when they got the third one there. So I was in on all three of our squadron kills. But the first one was the pure and simple Steve's expertise, not mine, because I chased my guy and he left me. But his made a tum and that was a fatal move. The thing was: jet fighters had such a speed advantage on you. If they flew their airplane right there was no reason for them to ever be shot down. 94