20. The Drunk Bombing of America
After the inauspicious bombings in early April, 1929, mercenary pilot Patrick Murphy flew further raids against Mexican government forces. He frequently missed the Mexican trenches, and bombed Naco, Arizona. His bombs on the American side of the border blew up a general store, destroyed a car parked in a garage, shattered numerous windows, damaged a US Post Office, and inflicted some injuries, none of them life-threatening.
Murphy’s drunk bombing reign of terror finally ended on April 6th, 1929, when a lucky shot from a federales rifle struck his plane’s engine. Trailing white smoke, Murphy crash-landed, then sprinted to the rebel lines, and from there crossed into America. He was arrested by US soldiers and taken to a Nogales jail, but was never charged. US Army detachments, plus a fighter squadron, were sent to Naco, but by the time they got there the rebels had already been defeated, and the fighting was over.