Saturday, May 13, 1972
MIGs Trumped By A Pair Of Aces
SAIGON (UPI) --Two U.S. Navy officers flying a carrier-based F4 Phantom jet fighter shot down three Soviet-built MIGs Wednesday to become the first "aces" of the Vietnam war, the U.S. command said Thursday.After bagging their third MIG, the two American fliers were forced to bail out of their own plane when it was crippled by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air (SAM) missile. They were rescued from the Gulf of Tonkin and returned to the carrier Constellation unharmed.With their three-plane "hat tick" Wednesday over North Vietnam, pilot Lt. Randy Cunningham of Mira Mesa, near San Diego, Calif., and his radar officer, Lt. JG William Driscoll, Framingham, Mass., were the first to be credited with five MIG kills in the Vietnam war.Military spokesmen said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, with four MIGs downed in 1968, was the next best, according to their records.The three kills in one day by a single plane also was a Vietnam war record, the spokesman said.Military spokesmen said Navy and Air Force planes flying cover for bombing missions deep in the Communist north shot down a record 10 planes Wednesday, with the Navy getting seven of them.Two Air Force F4 Phantom jets also were shot down north of Hanoi near North Vietnam's Yen Bai air base by MIG19 cannon fire, giving the Communists three planes for the day. Crewmen of the two Air Force jets were listed as missing.Spokesmen said Cunningham and Driscoll shot down their first MIG Jan. 19, and their second May 8.Another Phantom jet off the Constellation, piloted by Lt. Matt Connelly of Penasquitos, Calif., shot down two MIG17s Wednesday. Connelly's radar intercept man was Lt. Thomas Blonksi.In all, four supersonic MIG21s and six of the slower MIG17s were shot down during the day.The Air Force said three of the MIG21s were destroyed when they were engaged by four Phantoms flying protective cover for bombers about 60 miles north of Hanoi."MIGs Trumped By a Pair of Aces", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Saturday, May 13, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.