BATH

Naval aviator Thomas Hudner watched helplessly as a fellow fighter pilot’s plane turned into a death trap after a crash-landing behind enemy lines during the Korean War. The injured pilot was pinned in the cockpit, unable to escape from the burning plane.

The lieutenant did the only thing he could to help: He crash-landed his own plane, climbed out and tried to save his comrade, Ensign Jesse Brown.

“What Tom did is one of the greatest feats of bravery in any war,” said Adam Makos, who wrote a book about the aviator called “Devotion.”

The 92-year-old Medal of Honor recipient watched Saturday as the future USS Thomas Hudner was christened during a snowstorm at Bath Iron Works.

The wet and cold spectators included Hudner’s wife, Georgea, one of the ship’s sponsors, their children and other family members. Brown’s daughter and two brothers were also there. Also on hand were two other Medal of Honor recipients, along with Marine Corps veterans who credited naval aviators for saving their skin during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, where both enemy bullets and brutal cold claimed the lives of Marines.

“Without the fighter pilots, we wouldn’t be here today,” said John “Red” Parkinson, a Marine corporal during the battle who commented that the snowy weather seemed appropriate.

The ceremony celebrated heroism — and friendship.

Brown was the African- American son of sharecroppers in Mississippi who became the first black aviator in the U.S. Navy. Hudner, who’s white, was a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and son of a well-to-do grocery store owner in Massachusetts. The two squadron mates hit it off despite their differences.

Fletcher Brown, one of Jesse’s brothers, said both men were driven and loved to fly. “From what I know about Tom and what I know about Jesse, they were probably two of a kind. The only difference is one was wealthy and one was a cotton picker,” he said.

On the fateful mission, on Dec. 4, 1950, the two flew from the aircraft carrier USS Leyte to protect outnumbered Marines who were encircled by Chinese soldiers.

Brown’s gull-winged Corsair began leaking oil after being struck by ground fire, and he crash-landed on a snowy mountainside in enemy territory. Brown survived the hard landing but suffered injuries and was trapped inside the burning airplane.

Circling overhead, Hudner saw that Brown was unable to escape. So Hudner did a wheels-up belly landing in his own plane and ran to his friend’s aid.

It was a race against time. If the crash injuries or the flames didn’t claim Brown, then the bitter cold surely would. The temperature was just above zero.

There was no happy ending, however.

Neither Hudner nor the crew of a rescue helicopter could free Brown despite taking an ax to the plane. Brown lost consciousness.

“An aviator is calculating by nature and all he had to do was look around to know he wasn’t coming home. That’s when he glanced up at me and said his last words, ‘Just tell Daisy how much I love her,’” Hudner said before the event, referencing Brown’s wife.

Hudner promised to return, and he did return years later. But Brown’s remains were never found.

A U.S. Navy frigate was named for Brown in 1973.

Hudner said he was just helping a shipmate. “If it had been me down there on the ground, Jesse would have done the same thing for me,” he said.

On Saturday, speakers praised Hudner’s selfless act during the ceremony.

Director of Navy Staff Vice Admiral James G. Foggo III said that Saturday’s wintery conditions were far superior to those experienced by Hudner and Brown.

“Winter off the coast of Korea, the Sea of Japan, is an unrelenting torrent of rough waters, frigid temperatures and near-constant snow and ice storms,” said Foggo. “Worse than this today — 30 below.”

The ceremonial breaking of bottles of sparkling wine on the ship’s bow was performed by the vessel’s sponsors: Thomas Hudner’s wife Georgea F. Hudner and Barbara Joan Miller.

“When the future USS Thomas Hudner goes to sea as part of the Navy fleet, it will do so with the fearless spirit of an American hero, backed by the promise of Maine’s shipbuilders that Bath built is best built,” said BIW President Dirk Lesko.

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation praised Hudner for his bravery, and congratulated BIW workers for their work.

“… Thomas Hudner demonstrated the extraordinary sacrifice and selfless devotion that are the foundations of one of the American military’s most sacred traditions — leave no man behind,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Second District Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, also took time in his remarks to tie the event to an “America first” economic agenda.

“Our borders are porous in many cases, which allows those who are entering illegally, and we don’t always know their intentions. Unfair trade damages our economic engine which we need to generate the tax revenues to defend ourselves,” said Poliquin. “I believe it’s time we put American families, American workers, American jobs, and yes, American men and women who serve our country, we should put them always first.

“When America is strong here, our world is safer everywhere,” he added.

The Thomas Hudner is the 66th Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer and the 36th to be built by BIW. It is the second to be built at BIW after the program was restarted several years ago.

The nearly 510-foot-long vessel will be transported to the Kennebec River later this month.

The vessel is currently under the command of Cmdr. Nathan W. Scherry and will have a complement of 323 sailors.

According to an early release by BIW, Hudner is designed to be “a multi-mission combatant that offers defense against a wide range of threats, including ballistic missiles” and its class is “one of the most powerful surface combatants ever put to sea.”

DAVID SHARP of the Associated Press and Nathan Strout of The Times Record contributed to this report.