After 10 minutes of cruising, which took him over 50 miles from Mother, Wilson commanded his radar to scan the surface. He saw nothing. Back in RWS mode, he still couldn’t pick up anything. This surprised him because he figured the Fire Scout UAV Weed was working with on this test must be nearby. Bored, Wilson was about to turn around when he noticed Weed turn right to the northwest and begin a shallow descent. Wilson stayed to investigate.
Taking care to remain hidden behind Weed and among the low clouds, Wilson watched Weed descend toward the surface. Staying under the ragged bottoms, Wilson now picked up a lone Fire Scout. Weed turned west, and Wilson gave both aircraft a wide berth. Struggling to keep sight of them, he held at a max-endurance fuel setting to watch the test from about five miles south.
For a moment, Weed disappeared from view. Using raw radar return, Wilson reacquired him and saw Weed in a dive. A puff on the surface revealed one of Weed’s Mk-76 practice bombs hitting the water, accompanied by its white-smoke spotting charge. Intrigued, Wilson flew closer.
Minutes later, two puffs appeared on the surface. Wilson wondered what Weed was bombing. The Fire Scout orbited nearby. Wilson had no idea what was going on, but could not pull himself away.
Another puff of white smoke shot from the surface. Then, Wilson was surprised to see froth develop as an object appeared on the disturbed water. Commanding his radar to air-to-ground, Wilson locked this new surface contact and bumped his FLIR to it. On his display, it appeared to be a boat, a long raft, very low in the water. The next image astounded him. He detected movement on it.
Lifting his head up from the display, Wilson saw a fiery streak extend from the Fire Scout toward the object. His eyes darted back to the FLIR in time to see the missile hit, followed by a bright explosion. With his naked eyes, Wilson saw the black and gray cloud of the live-weapon explosion hover over the unidentified surface contact. Back on the FLIR display — which Wilson was recording — he saw that the object seemed to have pivoted up in the water.
It now dawned on Wilson. They just hit a drug smuggler submersible or submarine!
Alarmed that he was intruding, Wilson shoved the throttles into burner and departed the scene. Horrified by what he had just witnessed, he looked over his shoulder and saw Weed in a strafing run. White geysers lifted around the area of the missile detonation. He’s finishing them off! Wilson thought. Shocked and sickened that smugglers, albeit criminals but human beings nonetheless, were trying to escape the vessel’s final plunge only to be torn to pieces by Weed’s 20mm cannon rounds.