Posted on 01/21/2023 12:14:17 PM PST by Navy Patriot
Royce Williams was a real-life "Top Gun" 10 years before Tom Cruise was even born.
On a cold November day in 1952, Williams shot down four Soviet fighter jets -- and became a legend no one would hear about for more than 50 years.
The now 97-year-old former naval aviator was presented with the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest military honor at a ceremony Friday in California.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said on Friday that among the many proposals he has reviewed to upgrade sailors' awards, Williams' case "stood out above all others. It was very clear to me that his actions were truly extraordinary and more closely aligned with the criteria describing a higher medal."
(Excerpt) Read more at abc12.com ...
Very much worth the read!
From the headline, I thought this happened today. I was bracing for the flash.
I just saw a YouTube video of a story about a Navy Vaught F4U- Corsair who he and his wingman were jumped by three Mig-15s and the Corsair pilot took one out becoming the first radial fighter to take out a jet fighter.
There will be no flash
Topper Harley lives!
(seriously, inspirational story!)
While I normally do not pay any attention to Airdales or Marines, Captain Jesse G. Folmar, USMC is another one I am proud of.
Didn’t Mustangs and Thunderbolts take out ME-262s in WW2??
Your cockiness and war mongering are noted...repeatedly...daily...
The “Soviet” in the title should have eased your mind.
I know of Chuck Yeager taking out a ME-262 but I’m not sure if he was in a Mustang or Thunderbolt.
Not until he finishes his prison sentence anyway.
Having read this story I suspect the Soviets were beaten so badly they did not want to repeat the experience.
Was it Maverick and Iceman?
Mustang isn’t a radial. I don’t know if any thunderbolt got any 262s.
https://ww2db.com/aircraft_spec.php?aircraft_model_id=17
So the gov refused to award him, for reasons only the pashas knew, and he had to wait 50 years for a death bed “we’re sorry”?
The only appropriate response would be “shove it.”
“On a cold November day in 1952, Williams shot down four Soviet fighter jets”
Don’t know either way, but the dude now thinks Ukraine will win this war.
A better question would be “why now”?
The Communist Political Narrative for Korea was that Korea was a vassal state of Japan that invaded and made war on China through WWII and lost, therefore China (now Communist) should occupy and administer Korea.
This was echoed by the Soviet Union as a member of the Allies against Japan for three weeks.
The Soviet Union did not recognize the United Nations regarding the WWII disposition of Korea.
The Soviet Union helped install a Communist Government in North Korea and supplied the North Koreans and Chinese Communists with much military hardware, (jet) aircraft and much other war material.
However the military incidents authored by the Soviet Union it's self regarding Korea were very few, while the Political-Publicity Narrative was constant.
There is a possibility that this dispatch of Soviet Jets into Korean combat airspace was a screw up on the part of the Soviet chain of Command.
Or they found out the hard way.
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