Shortly before his final flight over North Vietnam, Air Force Maj. Robert Lodge told his fellow airmen that if his plane ever went down, he would rather die than risk being captured and possibly divulging information that would endanger American aircrews.

Lodge had detailed knowledge of a highly classified system that allowed American fighters to detect enemy MiGs from beyond visual range, said retired Col. Chuck DeBellevue, who flew with Lodge with the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron during the Vietnam War.

“His thought process was: If he gets shot down and rescue is not possible, he wasn’t going to get out of the airplane, because he knew that they knew who he was, and that they would beat the shit out of him to get him to talk, and he would talk,” DeBellevue told Task & Purpose. “You

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