Korean War Hero Tells 'Top Secret' Story 63 Years Later

“It says it was kept top secret for fifty years, during that time he didn’t talk about it. Now he can.”

That is the big question— was this information declassified recently or not. If those who do the classification determined that this info is no longer dangerous to release it and officially declassified it, that is one thing, then he can talk about it, if he is allowed to do so.

But if the info was not officially declassified, then it is still considered detrimental to the US, to release it, doesn’t matter how long ago it was.

From the article it appeared to me that it was not officially declassified, then he was committing a major security breach by releasing it. We really don’t need to go to war with Russia right now.

Curious, to note something like this had been classified to that level, and held for so long. USN was engaged at that point in a struggle for resources with USAF, and the publicity over this would have helped their cause.

A large number of USAF recce missions went north of the line in that period, and the crews were never allowed to divulge what they had done. Mass declassification came only in the 1990s.

CAPT Williams’ encounter went down at a time when the performance characteristics of USN fighter aircraft were not that wonderful; whether CAPT Williams knew this is another question. And whether it would have mattered is yet another question: fighter pilots have more than their share of ego, and faith in their abilities, justified or not. Got to give him the nod, for courage.

Of course, he could simply have gotten lucky.

He should never have broken security, doesn’t matter how long ago it happened. His superior knew what he did and the rest of the people and the world do not need to know — it can only cause problems for the country.

Things are classified for a reason.

. . . so that no honest American will know what Hillary Clinton - and anyone she shares with, intentionally or not - knows.

Hillary had motive and opportunity to hire Craig Livingstone, and her secret - at least from us - server shows that Livingstone’s behavior towards classified information is in character for Hillary.

Today it’s widely known that there was an entire Soviet aviation regiment flying MiG-15’s with Chinese and NK markings. It’s also been accepted that our F-86’s crossed the Yalu to orbit Chinese and even Soviet airbases to prevent them from taking off. When the authorities de-classify they are going to have a heckuva time enforcing secrecy agreements.

Your welcome. I worked with Navy and Marine instructor pilots (IP) operating F/A-18 flight simulators and weapons trainers teaching radar intercepts, basic A/A, knowing when to press engagements, and when to bug out. I learned a lot over many years from some of the best. Watched many IPS's debrief new pilots on what they did correct and what they did wrong.

Capt. Williams was the best pilot that day. He had more situational awareness than simply dumb luck. He kept his energy level up and made the MiG-15's fight on his level and not to their own advantage. The Russian pilots could have backed off and easily picked off the F9F-5 Panther, but they pressed an engagement giving the Panther snap shots. When turning and losing speed and energy before you end up in the weeds if you have a window to bug out safely you do it if you can. Adrenaline got the better of the MiG pilots and at the very end when the Captain finally had a MiG on his tail his wingmen showed up again and took care of that.

You have to wonder in a political system that choses pilots and tells them what to do and some of those MiG pilots may not have really liked flying at all, as apposed to an American system where young men dream of flying and can't wait for every moment they get some stick time and love every moment in the air - the motivation factor and flying skills make a big advantage.

Captain Williams was the better pilot that day! He had guts, audacity, was there to CAP and protect his battle group, did not back off and flew well enough in a tough plane. His only luck was the MiG's were bad shots and when they did make hits on the Panther they were not lethal. Read about the flight and he only had fully functional stabs with no rudder or flaps and landed at 170 knots just to keep it stable and still flying. They dumped the F9F over the side after he caught a 3 wire because it was so shot up.

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