Royce Williams Soviet MiG Dogfight

In 1952, during the Korean War, U.S. Navy pilot E. Royce Williams flew a straight-wing F9F Panther on a combat air patrol when seven swept-wing Soviet MiG-15s engaged his section. Despite the MiGs being about 100 miles per hour faster and having better high-altitude performance, Williams fought them alone and shot down at least four in a single running dogfight. Because the United States was not officially at war with the Soviet Union, his feat remained classified, and officials ordered him to keep quiet about the mission. Williams was debriefed by President Dwight Eisenhower, but he did not even tell his wife about the encounter until Soviet archives later confirmed the shootdowns decades afterward.

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