Lt. Royce Williams - Cold War story of E. Royce Williams, who became the only fighter pilot to shoot down four Soviet MiG-15s in one combat (verified by the Russians but not by the US Navy)
The story of Navy SEAL E. Royce Williams, who became the only fighter pilot to shoot down four Soviet MiG-15s in one combat (verified by the Russians, but not by the US Navy)
Lt. Royce Williams
On November 18, 1952, Royce Williams became the highest-scoring Navy aviator and the highest-scoring pilot of the Korean War.
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18 November 1952 US Navy F9F-5 Panther pilot Lt Claire Ellwood (Section Chief) Lt (jg) John Middleton with Wing Commander Lt E. Royce Williams, Jr. (Section Chief) Lt. His wing took off from USS Oriskany (CVA-34) and intercepted Russian MiG-15 fighters targeting them from the Soviet base at Vladivostok.
A National Security Agency (NSA) team aboard the heavy cruiser USS Helena (CA-75) believed the MiGs were retaliating after US jets attacked in northeastern North Korea earlier that morning.
According to Thomas McKelvey Clever in his book "Holding the Line", four F9F-5s were flown in blizzard conditions. After a few minutes in the clouds the sky brightened. Suddenly the cat rose out of the clouds into the clear deep blue sky at 12,000 feet. They kept climbing. As they passed 16,000 feet, Williams saw seven obstacles at 40,000 feet or higher, which he named the Pygmy Snake. Moments later, his keen eyes caught a sunbeam of shiny-winged MiG-15s, each bearing a red Soviet star on their flanks, as the contrails spread out behind them. "I shot the gun and blew it up to test it," he recalled. At that time, Chief Elwood reported that his fuel pump warning light had come on. The FDO ordered him to break up the Oriskany and report. Elwood led to Williams, who and his wingman Middleton turned and dived towards the clouds.
"We were just past 26,000 feet when the Russians split and dived out of the ground," Williams recalled. "The first opened fire on us from the right in the form of four planes. I climbed hard and turned left to avoid the four MiGs. I burst and hit the arrow hard in the back. He went down to smoke, and my wing then followed him, leaving me alone Williams now faced six Soviet fighters alone.
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The remaining three MiGs of the first group easily moved away from the Panther and positioned themselves for another round of fire. Williams saw his left wing come out as he changed direction. "They gave me cool maneuverability and acceleration - the MiG was far superior to the F9F in those numbers. "The only thing I can do is take them out." He managed to cut through the lightning fire past the MiGs but couldn't get any hits score. As the first three retreated again, the remaining three joined in. He looked over his shoulder and saw a locked MiG at six o'clock. He pulled the stick back into his gut, dropped it on his right leg and made a very hard vertical wing turn with the jets shooting from the wing oil tank.The MiG continued on its tail.
In the rush of adrenaline, the fight seemed to last an hour. Enemy groups were torn apart, and Williams had a chance to track down a single MiG when the pilot became bored. Some of the spin seemed to be hit, but he stomped on the helm and hit the irons for a clear six o'clock. "I fired at every MiG that came through gun range."
Turn around. Turn around again. Not one second is straight and level. Blast quickly to knock out their targets. Turn around again. And then again.
"Finally the leader and his wing went to the right, and I went after the section chief of the plane I had shot down. He went up into the sun and I lost him and then I saw the leader and his wings get a dive attack. I turned to her and looked at the leader. He turned and the wingman rolled towards me and we went belly to belly as I shook him with a long burst. He took fire and went down. The Warden then came around and I turned and shot at him and he went down. The leader then came around again, and I shot, and as the pigeon left, his kit came out."
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"While maneuvering to avoid the debris, I tried to clear my tail. I was following another wounded MIG when I noticed one of the two suddenly slide into six. It exploded with a 37mm cannon and hit me the wing. The shell entered the engine compartment and disrupted the fluid in the accessory compartment. I suddenly lost rudder and paddles and had only partial aero control. The elevator was the only thing that really worked. I dived to the cloud platform at 13,000 feet , and it was 500 feet behind me, still shooting down. That 10,000 foot drop seemed to take forever!" My wingman finally got back into the fight and into the MiG, and when I got into the cloud, it went away."
Williams struggled to control the catfish, hoping it would come out of the dive. "I was about 400 feet above the cloud. I was too low to eject—you had to be at 1,200 feet and climb high enough to successfully eject from the cat, so I was stuck on whether I wanted to stay in the plane or not. "I soon found that below 170 knots it was uncontrollable, so I still had to maintain top speed."
When he passed the ship hundreds of feet from the frozen ocean, several escort destroyers passed and opened fire. "Fortunately, I'm low enough and fast enough that they don't really have a chance to target, so nobody hits me."
In the Oriskany rule, the phenomenon of cover failure is clearly defined. "I told them that I could not fly slower than 170 knots and that I could clearly see the ship when it was turning in the wind." Williams put himself to the last resort. The carrier sputtered over the bow, lifted its rear and fell 20 feet. "I didn't want to dig a hole because I didn't believe I could make a successful ditch, and the water was cold enough that even in my wetsuit I couldn't stand for ten minutes."
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The normal landing speed of the F9F was 105 knots. Williams took control of the battered Panther and took a direct approach at 170 knots. "The captain of the Oriskany went away from the ship to windward, which gave me an opportunity to get on board." Williams swung his cocoon and flew the "Roger Pass" with the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) in a straight line in both directions. The plane went down and the LSO started to back up as it cut. "I grabbed three wires and closed them."
After a moment of catching his breath, Williams exited the stunned jet and was surprised to see the damage and return.
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"They counted 263 holes in the plane, mostly from 23 mm hits and 37 mm hits, including a hole in the wing that went into the engine accessory section. If he had moved six centimeters, he would have hit the spar and my wing was hit. Eight centimeters to the tail end, it would have blown the engine. I fired all 760 rounds of 20mm on board. "If I hadn't been armed with these guns, I wouldn't have had a chance."
Royce Williams 1
After pulling everything of value from Airline F9F-5 BuNo 125459, the mangled body was raised and disappeared into the dark sea.
In the fight of his life, Royce Williams achieved what no other American fighter pilot had ever done: shooting down four MiG-15s in one combat. Given the superior speed, maneuverability and firepower of the F9F-5 Panther.
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