Timm, thinking he had evaded the two MiGs (and still not aware of the third MiG), turned right. The fast- flying MiG 17 was not able to follow, and Cunningham had a clear shot.
Cunningham fired a Sidewinder, which homed in on the MiG 17's hot exhaust and destroyed it. Just as the missile hit, Timm and Fox finally saw the MiG 17. It turned into a fireball, and the North Vietnamese pilot ejected.
So far, only about two minutes had passed. It was Cunningham and Driscoll's fourth kill; they were now tied with air force Col. Robin Olds as top-scoring American aviators of the Vietnam War. But the day's events were not yet over.[664]
Now, two or three of the MiG 17s pursuing Cunningham had closed in.
Four more MiG 21s were also bearing down on the F-4. It did not seem possible they could escape. Driscoll yelled, 'Break! Break! Give me all you've got.' Cunningham turned toward the MiG 21s. Moments later, they were alone in the sky. Cunningham had become separated from his wingman, and it was time to leave. Cunningham turned toward the coast.[665]
As they headed east, Driscoll kept watch behind them for any MiGs that might try to catch them, so it was Cunningham who spotted the next MiG 17, ahead and slightly below them. Cunningham altered course to make a close, head-on pass. This prevented the MiG pilot from using the lateral separation to make a quick turn. Cunningham could then outrun the MiG.
As they closed the distance, the nose of the MiG 17 lit up as the pilot fired his guns. Cunningham hauled back on the stick and went into a vertical climb. He expected the MiG 17 would continue on. When Cunningham looked back over his ejection seat, it was with considerable shock that he saw the MiG 17, also in a vertical climb. Cunningham could see the North Vietnamese pilot's leather helmet, goggles, scarf, and even the expression on his face. Cunningham recalled, 'There was no fear in this guy's eyes.'[666]
The MiG 17 began to fall behind, and Cunningham lit the F-4's afterburner. As he rolled over the top, the MiG 17, on the verge of a stall, nosed over and fired its guns. Normally, North Vietnamese pilots would fire a continuous stream. This pilot fired only a brief burst, to conserve his ammunition. Driscoll recalled, 'It was like, who is this guy?… He knew exactly what he was doing.'[667]
Both planes began to descend and started a vertical rolling scissors. In this maneuver, the planes would go into a weaving climb whenever one flew lower than the other. This forced the opposing plane to overshoot.
Whenever the F-4 pulled out in front, the MiG pilot would fire a short burst.
Each time Cunningham made a maneuver, the MiG 17 would counter him.
Cunningham was holding his own, but the F-4 was losing speed faster than the MiG 17. It was now down to 200 knots, and Cunningham decided it was time to 'bug out.' He lowered half flaps, then made a looping turn at a right angle to the MiG's flight path. The F-4 dove away with full afterburner.
Before the MiG could follow, Cunningham had accelerated to 500 knots and was out of range.
He then turned back toward the MiG 17. The two planes met in a head-on pass, then went into a vertical climb. Again, as they descended, the planes began a rolling scissors. Neither plane could get enough of an advantage for a killing shot. Again, the F-4 slowed to 200 knots. When Cunningham saw the MiG's nose turn slightly, he extended his own turn to the outside of the MiG's flight path. Cunningham then pulled into a vertical loop.
Remembering the previous escape maneuver, the MiG pilot also pulled up into a loop to counter. The two planes passed each other going in opposite directions. Cunningham continued through the loop, extended out under the thrust of the afterburners, and was quickly out of range. With the F-4's speed back up, he turned again, into the fight. Neither pilot attempted to run; one plane would go home, the other would be shot down.
As the two planes headed toward each other in their final pass, Cunningham pulled up into a climb. The MiG 17 did the same, then turned toward the F-4. As it did, Cunningham pulled the throttles to idle, lowered the flaps, and popped the speed brakes. The F-4 went from 550 to 150 knots, and the MiG 17 overshot. The MiG 17 was now 500 to 1,000 feet ahead of the F-4, too close for a Sidewinder. Both planes were on the verge of a stall — at low speed and nose high. Cunningham had to use full afterburner.
Using only the F-4's rudder to avoid stalling, he rolled in behind the MiG.
The MiG pilot saw the F-4 cross into his plane's six o'clock position, then lost sight of the plane. He made a maximum turn to the right to keep the F-4 in sight, but the MiG 17 stalled. Its nose went down, and the pilot dove away to regain flying speed.
Cunningham, his own plane near a stall, pulled up the flaps and air brakes, dove, and swung to the right to increase separation. The MiG continued to dive away, attempting to run, and Cunningham pulled in behind the MiG. Now 3,000 feet behind the MiG, Cunningham fired a Sidewinder.
It homed in on the MiG's afterburner. There was a small flash, then a burst of flame and black smoke. The MiG 17 flew into the ground. The pilot did not eject.[668]
Cunningham and Driscoll were now the first American aces of the Vietnam War. But they were still far from home. As they headed toward the coast, an SA-2 missile damaged their plane. Both hydraulic systems failed, and Cunningham had to use the rudder, throttle, and speed brakes to control the plane. For twenty miles, he fought to control the F-4. Just as it crossed the coast, an explosion shook the plane. Cunningham and Driscoll ejected and landed in the mouth of the Red River. As American planes chased off patrol boats, junks, and a freighter, they were picked up by marine helicopters. They were soon returned to the USS
On May 10, 1972, eleven North Vietnamese MiGs were shot down — eight by the navy and three by air force pilots. Two air force F-4s were lost to MiG 19s. During the remainder of the war, the navy kill ratio climbed to 8.33 to 1. In contrast, the air force rate improved only slightly to 2.83 to 1.[670]
The reason for this difference was Top Gun. The navy had revitalized its air combat training, while the air force had stayed stagnant. Most of the navy MiG kills were by Top Gun graduates, Cunningham among them. Top Gun was soon made a separate command, ending the need to beg, borrow, or steal aircraft, fuel, or supplies. The air force also saw the need and, starting in 1975, began the Red Flag exercises. This went far beyond Top Gun, in that Red Flag was a war game involving not only fighters but attack aircraft, bombers, and transport in simulated combat against units that mim-icked Soviet forces.[671]
Yet behind the success of Top Gun, there was Have Drill. The Cunningham dogfight is an example. The maneuvers he used in that epic fight were all taught at Top Gun. But they had been originally developed as part of Have Drill. These included the use of high speed to counter the MiG 17's maneuverability, the close head-on pass, turning away at a right angle to the MiG's flight path, and the pilot-RIO teamwork. Cunningham and Driscoll had used all these to survive and triumph, even when outnumbered by seven or eight to one. And when it was one on one.
There was one loose end, however. Cunningham called the pilot he had fought in the fifth kill the best he had ever faced — to quote Driscoll, 'Who is this guy?' Clearly, he was not a typical North Vietnamese pilot. Cunningham was later told, based on intercepts of North Vietnamese radio traffic, that he was 'Colonel Toon' (also spelled 'Tomb'). He was described as being the North Vietnamese air force's leading ace with thirteen kills. A MiG 21 with thirteen kill markings was thought to be his.[672]
An examination of North Vietnamese propaganda, however, revealed no mention of a pilot named Toon or Tomb.[673] The North Vietnamese were quite willing to describe the exploits of their pilots, even while the war was going on. Toon and Tomb are also not standard Vietnamese names. In the two decades since the dogfight, there has been considerable speculation about the identity of Colonel Toon.
The day after the fight, the North Vietnamese announced the death of Col. Nguyen Van Coc, a MiG 17 pilot with nine claims (including the only F-102 shot down during the war). It was not stated that he had been shot down, however. Cunningham doubted that Coc was Toon. It has also been speculated that he was a Soviet, North Korean, or even Warsaw Pact pilot.
In the early 1990s, former Soviet pilots stationed in North Vietnam indicated that Toon was actually the nickname given by the Soviets to a North Vietnamese pilot named Pham Tuan. Tuan, however, survived the war. In 1980, he was selected by the Soviets to make an eight-day flight to the
