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Unusual Vietnam MiG kills

The FM-2/F4F Wildcat had a landing gear system that required the pilot to hand crank it into position (think T-34 manual gear extension, particularly about the notes/warnings/cautions). Some enterprising pilots figured a way to speed the process by unlocking the system and then pulling a hi-G turn to fling the gear into place. As one might imagine, the gear handle in the cockpit spun and it wasn't unusual to see a Wildcat pilot walking around with an arm in a sling.

On another note, if you liked the earlier picture of the Navy's F-111 you might get a kick out of this site: http://www.chinalakealumni.org/index.htm
 
flyingswo said:
The FM-2/F4F Wildcat had a landing gear system that required the pilot to hand crank it into position .....On another note, if you liked the earlier picture of the Navy's F-111 you might get a kick out of this site: http://www.chinalakealumni.org/index.htm
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I had a chance meeting the other day with a former Wildcat pilot --- a former NAP, in fact, I believe the only one who was an ACE. I did a lot of research on him and I'm in the process of interviewing the gentleman for one of the books I'm working on. WHAT A GREAT GUY !! More later on that ...

Thanks for the China Lake url ... good stuff.
 
Since this originally started as post about Vietnam Mig stories....

This article can be found in the MAR '04 issue of the USNI Proceedings.

Randall "Duke" Cunningham
On 19 January 1972, an F-4 Phantom II piloted by Lieutenant Randall "Duke" Cunningham took off from the USS Constellation (CV-64) on a mission over North Vietnam. Operating just north of the Demilitarized Zone, his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant (junior grade) William "Irish" Driscoll picked up two MiG-21 Fishbeds. Cunningham immediately gave chase. Flying at treetop level, Cunningham and Driscoll engaged one MiG with Sidewinder missiles, and scored a kill. This engagement marked the end of a two-year lull in air-to-air combat over North Vietnam, but it was just the beginning for Cunningham and Driscoll.

A few months later, Operation Linebacker had begun, and Cunningham and Driscoll were flying escort for a group of A-6 Intruders, when three MiG-17s appeared. In a brief but harrowing engagement, Cunningham and Driscoll downed one of the enemy aircraft, which was on the tail of his wingman, while the other two were firing on them.

Two days later, Cunningham's section was on a flak-suppression mission in the Hanoi/Haiphong corridor when 22 enemy fighters attacked them. In an intense engagement, Cunningham shot down one MiG-17 with a Sidewinder, then saved the squadron's executive officer by shooting down another.

But the toughest fight had just begun. Cunningham found himself in a close-run battle with another aircraft, reputedly piloted by a North Vietnamese ace. First passing the MiG in a head-on encounter, Cunningham attempted a series of rolling scissor maneuvers, dodging cannon fire from his skilled adversary. With afterburners flaming brightly, Cunningham then tried to outclimb the MiG as the two of them streaked upward to nearly 20,000 feet. But the determined Communist pilot stayed with him. Cunningham suddenly pulled hard toward the MiG, yanked his throttles to idle, and extended his speed brakes. His enemy shot past him, and as they "pitched over the top," Cunningham fired a Sidewinder. The missile slammed into the aircraft, and both man and machine plummeted earthward, slamming into the North Vietnamese countryside.

But having survived the arduous air battle, Cunningham's luck ran out when a surface-to-air missile struck his F-4, causing Cunningham and Driscoll to eject into the Gulf of Tonkin. They were rescued, but only after rescue forces fought a running battle with two enemy PT boats.

Duke Cunningham and Irish Driscoll had become the first aces of the Vietnam War and the first to achieve ace status exclusively with air-to-air missiles. Cunningham retired from the Navy in 1987, and today is a congressman.

—Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Since this originally started as post about Vietnam Mig stories....
 

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flyingswo said:
Butch O'Hare, namesake for a certain large airport in Chicago.
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Lt. Cdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare
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Right, and the reason for the identifier "ORD" ?? , instead of say ... "BUTCH" or some other silly thing ??!? The location of the field was originally a fruit "ORCHARD" , i.e., becoming "ORD". The Douglas C-54 was built at a factory on the site and the base, then known as "Orchard Field", was used almost exclusively by the military.

It's appropriate that it should be named after a military hero who was awarded the Medal of Honor. On February 20, 1942, LCDR (then LT) Edward "Butch" O'Hare was the Naval Aviator who shot down five Japanese "Betty" bombers and saved the USS Lexington (CV-2) when he singlehandedly attacked their formation. He disappeared on Nov 27, 1943 while pioneering night fighting techniques as CAG on USS Enterprise (CV-6) flying a Grumman F6F Hellcat. Sadly, there is a distinct possibility that O'Hare was shot down by a USN TBF Avenger crew while he was joining-up on a nighttime rendezvous with them .....
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Grumman TBF Avenger
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Grumman F6F Hellcat

In 1949, more land was acquired for the civilian airfield and Orchard Field was re-named O'Hare in honor of the MOH winner. O'Hare Airport was the "World's Busiest" until it was overtaken by Atlanta's Hartsfield in 1998.
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ROGER BALL !!
 
A4sForever said:
UNUSUAL MiG KILLS:
The guy on the right doing Aviator "talk" with his hands got the "possible" that day. His name is LT Pete Russell. Pete was KIA while flying an OV-10 for VAL-4 on 23 May 1969. His name is on panel 24W, line 090 on The Vietnam Memorial.
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I should have put this in the original post ... rest easy, Brother Pete ...

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
KIA 11 December 1941​
 
That's a nice pic of what appears to be David McCampbell's F6F. Sounds like I'm preaching to the choir, but he's the Navy's top scoring ace with 34 kills. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for shooting down 9 planes in a single engagement over the Phillipines (His wingman got 6). Surprisingly, he scored his 34 kills in only one tour. Early in the war he was an LSO on board CV-7, USS Wasp, until she was sunk. He didn't actually see combat until 1944, when he served as the CAG of Air Group 15 aboard the USS Essex.

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I know we are talking about our Aces (specifically US Navy) but I had to tell the story of Erich Hartman:

http://www.acepilots.com/misc_hartmann.html
http://www.2worldwar2.com/erich-hartmann.htm

He entered combat with the Luftwaffe in October 1942 (at age 20), got his first kill in Nov 1942. Over 1400 sorties, 800+ engagements. 14 crash landings.

352 confirmed kills.

He was 23 when the war ended and spent 10 years in a soviet POW camp.
 
SteveG75 said:
I know we are talking about our Aces (specifically US Navy) but I had to tell the story of Erich Hartman:

http://www.acepilots.com/misc_hartmann.html
http://www.2worldwar2.com/erich-hartmann.htm

He entered combat with the Luftwaffe in October 1942 (at age 20), got his first kill in Nov 1942. Over 1400 sorties, 800+ engagements. 14 crash landings.

352 confirmed kills.

He was 23 when the war ended and spent 10 years in a soviet POW camp.
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I've heard of this guy before. While he was the enemy, he's absolutely incredible. Wasn't he captured and escaped at least once? (haven't looked at the links yet)
 
For the German pilots in WWII, there was no such thing as a tour of duty. They stayed in the war until it was over or they were shot down. Most American pilots flew for awhile in combat, and were rotated back to the US for instructor duties.
 
although it should be noted that some historians believe that he kills might not be that high because of the way the Germans count their kills...but still he was a incredible pilot! :eek:
 
Falcaner said:
although it should be noted that some historians believe that he kills might not be that high because of the way the Germans count their kills...but still he was a incredible pilot! :eek:
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I read several accounts about that as well and it I have seen both that version and the opposite view as well, that the Germans were very strict in their kill counting.

Unfortunately, counting kills back in those days was not a precise science and many kills, both Allied and Axis, have not stood up to historical scrutinity. A well known instance is 'Pappy' Boyngton's score that has been revised downward from 26 or 28 to 22 in many recent history books (but I believe not officially by the USMC) because he was credited with only 2 kills instead of the 6 he claimed in the Flying Tigers.

Something to support the German claims was the high kill counts for another country that fought the Russians in WWII. As a matter of fact, their highest scoring ace was officially the highest ranking non-German ace in the world (unofficially several Japanese aces may or may not have gotten in the 90 to 120 range). Anyone care to guess which country it was?

Here is a list of prominent aces of all countries in WWII, the answer is there:

http://www.1000pictures.com/aircraft/aces.htm
 
Flash said:
I read several accounts about that as well and it I have seen both that version and the opposite view as well, that the Germans were very strict in their kill counting.

Unfortunately, counting kills back in those days was not a precise science and many kills, both Allied and Axis, have not stood up to historical scrutinity. A well known instance is 'Pappy' Boyngton's score that has been revised downward from 26 or 28 to 22 in many recent history books (but I believe not officially by the USMC) because he was credited with only 2 kills instead of the 6 he claimed in the Flying Tigers.

Something to support the German claims was the high kill counts for another country that fought the Russians in WWII. As a matter of fact, their highest scoring ace was officially the highest ranking non-German ace in the world (unofficially several Japanese aces may or may not have gotten in the 90 to 120 range). Anyone care to guess which country it was?

Here is a list of prominent aces of all countries in WWII, the answer is there:

http://www.1000pictures.com/aircraft/aces.htm
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I bet a Finn...I heard they along with the USN/USMC were the only aviators practicing high angle gunnery.
 
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