Warbird Information Exchange

Yesterday I was watching a you tube viseo posted on F/B. Subject was recently declassifed info about a dogfight over Korea in which a Panther achieved four kills in a single mission. Yes, that's four MiG air-to-air kills. The PCU locked up and crashed and I've not been able to find it sense. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Help,
Owen

From Wikipedia "On 18 November 1952, Lt. Royce Williams of VF-781, flying off USS Oriskany destroyed four MiGs in a single, 35-minute combat. This unique feat has remained little-known, due to the involvement of National Security Agency (NSA) – the existence of which was then top secret – in planning the mission.[10] Following intelligence provided by the NSA, the MiGs had been intercepted during a series of air strikes against the North Korean port of Hoeryong. After losing contact with his wingman, Williams found himself alone in a dogfight with six MiG-15s; when he was able to land on Oriskany, his Panther was found to have sustained 263 hits by cannon shells or fragments, and to be beyond repair. Williams' victories were even more notable in that all four MiGs were flown by Soviet Naval Aviation pilots: Russian sources confirmed Williams' claims, 40 years later, stating that the pilots lost were Captains Belyakov and Vandalov, and Lieutenants Pakhomkin and Tarshinov."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F9F_Panther
Citation: Cleaver, Thomas M. "Four Down! The Korean Combat the U.S. Tried to Forget." Flight Journal, June 2013, pp. 42–49.

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Here's a link to the article: http://www.epnaao.com/PDF/Four-Down.pdf

_________________
Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

OK fellas, thanks for the input. Now does anyone have a link
to a URL for the YouTube video>

Thanks,
Owen

Capt. Williams was nice enough to join us at an IPMS Model Meeting here in San Diego a few months ago and give us a first hand account of the incident. It was really cool as he also shared some of his stories of flying different birds and his training to be a Naval Aviator!

Very cool stuff!

Great story that I have heard references to previously but not in as much detail.

I can't help wondering how Lt Williams managed to survive, let alone shoot multiple Soviet planes down.
He and his wing man attacked from a position of disadvantage against superior numbers, then they separated rather than fighting as a team. Williams had WW2 combat experience, was a good shot but his recent experience included “…Little in the way of tactics and not much aerial gunnery.”

Reportedly the straight wing Panther had a speed, maneuver and acceleration disadvantage against the MiG 15.
Were the Russians inexperienced and let themselves get in a turning battle where their swept wings didn't help.
Was the 4 x 20mm Panther armament superior in a fighter battle than the MiG 15s bomber killer cannons?
Any additional information on how Lt Williams managed to be so successful would be appreciated given that the superior F-86 had a hard time against well flown MiG 15s.

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Chris Mellor

I was at a symposium at the Planes a Fame in Chino a few years ago when Mr. Williams gave a personal account of that day. Perhaps, they have a video in their library.

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Better is the enemy of Good.