This real-life Korean War “Top Gun” kept his war story secret for 50 years.
In 1952, then-U.S. Navy pilot Royce Williams engaged in possibly the longest solo aerial dogfight against 4 Soviet jets, shooting down the enemy planes in lower than half-hour, KUSI reported.
Williams, 97, who retired in 1975, on Friday received the Navy Cross, the service’s second-highest award for military honor.
The award got here after many years of Williams abiding by a promise to maintain his mouth shut—even amongst family and friends—about this temporary yet striking moment of aerial combat, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in 2022.
Tom Cruise, who played the fictional Maverick within the “Top Gun” series, congratulated the American hero for his award.
“Your grit and bravado are simply astounding,” he said in a video recording. “You might be a real American hero and I give you my most sincere thanks and congratulations to you, sir.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, Williams was conducting combat air patrol in a F9F Panther with three other US fighter pilots along the Yalu River, over the northernmost a part of Korean Peninsula that separates North Korea from China, and near what was then the Soviet Union.
The leader of their patrol suffered mechanical problems and left along with his wingman back to a U.S. aircraft carrier within the Sea of Japan. Then Williams and his wingman noticed seven Soviet MiG-15s heading toward the Americans.
“They simply didn’t come out of Russia and interact us in any way before,” Williams told the American Veterans Center.
After the pair were ordered to get between the Soviet forces and the U.S. aircraft carriers, 4 of the MiGs began shooting on the pair, leading Williams to return fire.
Commercial
Despite being told to face down, for the subsequent half-hour, Williams outmaneuvered the Soviet fighter jets. He unloaded all 760 rounds of the 20mm shells his plane carried, and took 263 holes to his own jet, but managed to return to the aircraft carrier unhurt.
Williams only began sharing the story in 2002, after Korean War records were declassified, The Independent reported. The Soviet Union was not an official combatant within the Korean War.
Rep. Darrell Issa, who campaigned to have Williams’ achievements officially recognized, called him “an American hero and a Top Gun pilot like no other,” CBS-8 previously reported.
He added that there have been few others who could compare to the “the heroism and valor he demonstrated for 30 harrowing minutes, 70 years ago, within the skies over the North Pacific and coast of North Korea.”
