The following is a paraphrase of a hilarious account of air-to-air combat during the Vietnam War from the book Alpha Strike Vietnam by Jeffrey Levinson:

It was the Vietnam War. Two US Navy A-4 Skyhawks were in a dogfight with a Mig. As is often the case, the two pilots became target focused and became oblivious to all else around them. As both Skyhawks manuevered into position, they both hosed off a Sidewinder at the Mig. By their accounts, the lead A-4's heater found the Mig and lit it up. But the trail A-4's missile just disappeared.

Weird point, tho: when the jets landed back on the carrier. Lead Skyhawk was missing an elevator. Oh, it landed fine. It's a Scooter for pete's sake- one of the best, most versatile jets the USN ever did fly. But it was weird, no one could account for the missing missile OR the tail.

Once the debrief was over, another pilot stuck up his hand. He, too had wanted to enter the fray, but being a more senior pilot, and therefore experienced, he decided to stay high and away to avoid the exact kind of thing that he witnessed happen, as he related to everyone's amazement:

He said he saw the trailing 'Hawk fire a heater at the Mig. But the lead A-4 entered the seeker's field of vision at exactly the wrong time and became its target. He didn't panic. There was no time or sense in making a radio call due to the short time of flight involved, he just watched so he could make a proper report afterward.

But just as the trail Skyhawk's Sidewinder was about to impact the lead Skyhawk's tail, the Lead Skyhawk fired HIS missile at the MiG. It zoomed out and away just before the trailer's missile went up his tailpipe, which caused the first missile, from the trailing Skyhawk, to veer off and follow the new, much hotter, brighter plume. But not without first clipping the lead's right horizontal tail and leaving a couple scrapes down the length of the jet as its tip-of-the-fin rolling stabilizers rolled the missile down the its starboard side. It then followed the lead's Sidewinder like it was supposed to, right into the MiG where it exploded as designed, but a single second too late to get there first.

Several pilots called "B.S", but the wriley witness summoned them all to the flight deck. Sure enough, once they all examined the lead's jet, the slice in the stabilizer and the roller marks in the jet's paint substantiated his story. There was a chance for big-time ego bruising fist fight, but nothing happened. Fog of war and all that. Stuff happens. And all was well.

Until the pilot of the trailing jet tried to claim a half kill.