![]() Navy Fighting Squadron 781 (VF-781), USS Oriskany (CVA-34) Date of Action: DecemCitation: His medals include the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Legion of Merit with Combat "V". In 2021, one veteran who helped Shelton with his quest believed that there was still only a 75 percent chance of the medal being awarded the key problem is that the dogfight is not recorded in official U.S. The amendment and bill was approved, which were then forwarded to the United States Senate. On 14 July 2022, a bipartisan group of five congressmembers persuaded the House of Representatives to approve an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act which would award the medal to Williams. He said that Williams's heroism was "unmatched either in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or since then". In 2014, retired Rear Admiral Doniphan Shelton became aware of Williams's feat, and he tried unsuccessfully for years to get the Navy or Department of Defense to award him the medal. There has been a years-long campaign to award Williams the Medal of Honor for his exploit. In retirement he lives in Escondido, California. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1980. Williams was captain of the command ship USS Eldorado between September 1969 and January 1971. In his book Holding the Line about Task Force 77, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver described the fight, saying "On November 18, 1952, Royce Williams became the top-scoring carrier-based naval aviator and the top-scoring naval aviator in a Navy jet of the 'forgotten war'." He added, "In the fight of his life, Royce Williams had accomplished what no other American fighter pilot would ever accomplish: shoot down four MiG-15s in one fight." īetween 19, he flew 110 missions in A-4 Skyhawks and F-4 Phantoms from the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War. The four MiGs were flown by Soviet Naval Aviation pilots, with Captains Belyakov and Vandalov, and Lieutenants Pakhomkin and Tarshinov being shot down. A 2014 Russian book, Red Devils over the Yalu: A Chronicle of Soviet Aerial Operations in the Korean War 1950–53, reported the battle and named Williams. The Soviet records confirmed that of the seven MiGs, only one returned to its base. The dogfight was recorded in Soviet archives which were released after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. ![]() The record of the incident in Navy records says only that he shot down one plane and damaged another, for which he was awarded the Silver Star in 1953. Navy and National Security Agency records, and Williams was sworn to secrecy about the incident-so much so that he never told anyone about it, even his wife or his pilot brother, until the Korean War records were declassified in the early 2000s. government, because at that time the Soviet Union was not officially a combatant in the Korean War and it was feared that the story of the air battle would draw the Soviets further into the conflict. The story of his battle with the Soviet-piloted MiGs was covered up by the U.S. He never saw the plane again reportedly, it was pushed into the sea. He was uninjured, but 263 holes were counted in his Panther jet. ![]() By the end of the 35-minute period, only one of the MiGs was still in the air with him, and he managed to escape back to his carrier, out of ammunition and having lost his hydraulics. He shot down four of the MiGs and likely hit two others. It is believed to be the longest dogfight in U.S. The other three pilots had to return to the carrier and the MiGs began to fire on Williams, putting him into a one-man dogfight with seven MiG-15s that lasted 35 minutes. On 18 November 1952, on his second mission of the day, while on combat air patrol near Hoeryong, North Korea, his group of four pilots spotted seven MiG-15s overhead. In 1952, then- Lieutenant Williams was serving with VF-781 aboard the USS Oriskany as part of Task Force 77. A VF-781 F9F lands on the USS Oriskany in November 1952
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