A Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific theater of WW2 named Smith was having a terrible time of it. He had wrecked two of his planes while attempting to land on the aircraft carrier, and he had not yet shot down any enemy planes. He was called to the bridge for a dressing down by the Captain.
"Look," the Captain roared, "because we're short on fighter pilots, I'm going to give you another plane and one last chance to redeem yourself. But if you screw up again, you're going to be swabbing decks for the rest of your naval career! "
With the Captain's words still burning his ears, Smith takes off again to look for enemy planes. After flying through a thick bank of clouds, he suddenly sees a squadron of Japanese Zeros. With consummate skill, Smith throttles his plane forward, and with a series of deft maneuvers, shoots down 5 Zeros in as many minutes. The rest of the Japanese squadron flees in disarray. Smith, now running low on fuel, turns and heads back towards the carrier.
After flying through the thick bank of clouds, he spots the ship and does a perfect landing on the deck. Smith jumps out of his plane and runs up to the bridge of the carrier, yelling, "Captain, Captain! I shot down 5 Zeros! I'm an ace! And I made a perfect landing on deck, no mistakes at all! "
The Captain replies, "Ahh, so, Yank. I think you make one little mistake."