Lets review the glorious time of our legendary Air force.
North Vietnamese Aces
MiG-17 and MiG-21 pilots, Phantom and "Thud" Killers
By Diego Zampini, Nov. 2002. Updated March 22, 2012.
August 23 1967, 14:00. Another US raid against the capital of North Vietnam is in process.
Due to the size of the American formation (40 aircraft, including Thunderchiefs carrying bombs, F-105Fs ready to supress the SAM radars, and escorting Phantoms) the crew of one of those F-4Ds, Charles R. Tyler (pilot) and Ronald M. Sittner (WSO), of the 555th TFS/8th TFW, felt overconfident. They did not expect any MiGs, which had been inactive after several bloody defeats dealt them by the Phantoms of the 8th TFW in late May and early June.
Suddenly, Tyler heard on the radio an F-105D pilot (Elmo Baker) announcing that he had been hit by a MiG-21 and was ejecting. As Tyler looked for the unexpected bandit, a tremendous explosion shook his plane, and Tyler lost control of his aircraft, and bailed out. Hanging in his parachute he saw his F-4D falling in flames to the jungle, but he did not see his WSO eject; Sittner had been killed instantly by the missile hit. Both Tyler and Baker were captured by North Vietnamese troops as soon as they touched the ground.
Both had been shot down by R-3S Atoll missiles fired by two MiG-21PF Fishbeds of the 921st Fighter Regiment of the Quan Chung Khong Quan (Vietnamese People's Air Force, VPAF) flown by Nguyen Nhat Chieu and Nguyen Van Coc. Two more F-4Ds fell that day, without any MiGs lost, one of the VPAF's most successful days.
While only two American pilots became aces in the Vietnam War -Randy "Duke" Cunningham (USN) and Steve Ritchie (USAF) - sixteen Vietnamese pilots earned that honor. Nguyen Van Coc is also the Top Ace of Vietnam War with 9 kills: 7 planes and 2 UAV (Un-manned Airborne Vehicle) Firebees. Among those seven US planes, six are confirmed by US records (see table below), and we should add to this figure a confirmed USAF loss (the F-102A flown by Wallace Wiggins (KIA) on February 3 1968), originally considered a probable by the VPAF. Even omitting UAV "drones," his 7 confirmed kills qualified Coc as the Top Ace of the war, because no American pilot achieved more than 5.
Why so many Vietnamese Aces?
Why did so many VPAF pilots score higher than their American adversaries? Mainly because of the numbers. In 1965 the VPAF had only 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of qualified pilots, which increased to 180 MiGs and 72 pilots by 1968. Those brave six dozen pilots confronted about 200 F-4s of the 8th, 35th and 366th TFW, about 140 Thunderchiefs of the 355th and 388th TFW, and about 100 USN aircraft (F-8s, A-4s and F-4s) which operated from the carriers on "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin, plus scores of other support aircraft (EB-6Bs jamming, HH-53s rescuing downed pilots, Skyraiders covering them, etc).
Considering such odds, it is clear why some Vietnamese pilots scored more than the Americans; the VPAF pilots simply were busier than their US counterparts, and they "flew till they died." They had no rotation home after 100 combat sorties because they were already home. American pilots generally finished a tour of duty and rotated home for training, command, or flight test assignments. Some requested for a second combat tour, but they were the exceptions.
North Vietnamese pilots run towards their MiG-17s to take off and engage US aircraft.
What about the tactics of both sides? Because the USAF did not attack the main radar installations and command centers (it worried about killing Russian or Chinese advisers), the Vietnamese flew their interceptors with superb guidance from ground controllers, who positioned the MiGs in perfect ambush battle stations. The MIGs made fast and devastating attacks against US formations from several directions (usually the MiG-17s performed head-on attacks and the MiG-21s attacked from the rear). After shooting down a few American planes and forcing some of the F-105s to drop their bombs prematurely, the MiGs did not wait for retaliation, but disengaged rapidly. This "guerrilla warfare in the air" proved very successful.
Such tactics were sometimes helped by weird American practices. For example, in late 1966 the F-105 formations used to fly every day at the same time in the same flight paths and used the same callsigns over and over again. The North Vietnamese realized that and took the chance: in December 1966 the MiG-21 pilots of the 921st FR intercepted the "Thuds" before they met the escorting F-4s, downing 14 F-105s without any losses. That ended on January 2 1967 when
Col. Robin Olds executed Operation "Bolo."
Vietnamese ground personnel prepare two MiG-21PF for combat.
What about training? In mid-1960's the American pilots were focused on the use of air-to-air missiles (like the radar homing AIM-7 Sparrow and IR AIM-9) to win the air battles. However, they had forgotten that a skillful pilot in the cockpit was as important as the weapons he uses. The VPAF knew that, and trained its pilots to exploit the superb agility of the MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 - getting into close combat, where the heavy Phantoms and "Thuds" were at a disadvantage. Only in 1972, when the "Top Gun" program improved the skills in aerial combat of USN Phantom pilots like
Randall Cunningham, and the F-4E appeared with a 20 mm built-in Vulcan cannon, could the Americans neutralize that Vietnamese edge.
Finally, the overwhelming US numerical superiority meant that, from the point of view of the Vietnamese pilots, the aerial battlefield was a "target rich environment." For the American airmen Vietnam was a "target poor environment." The Americans could not find enough enemy aircraft to pile up large scores simply because there weren't that many MiGs around; the VPAF never had more than 200 combat aircraft.
All these factors created more Vietnamese aces than American, and created opportunities for a few Vietnamese aces to pile up bigger scores than their American counterparts. Officially, there were 16 VPAF Aces during Vietnam War (13 were MiG-21 pilots, and three were MiG-17 drivers, there were no MiG-19 aces). The number in parentheses indicates the kills confirmed by US sources; they could be increased in the future. The list includes all the Vietnamese credited as aces.
VPAF MiG-17 and MiG-21 Aces of the Vietnam War
Vietnamese Aces - MiG-17 and MiG-21 pilots
, but Kevlar helmets aren't the only kit in the VPA either. They have other headwear. These guys and gals are form Dac Cong - the special forces
- I only have good intentions... I promise 
