Captain Royce Williams Grumman F9F Panther

Description

On 18 November 1952 then US Navy Lt Royce Williams took off from the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany for North Korea in a snow storm. During this air combat mission, Royce engaged seven RUSSIAN MiG-15 fighters sent to kill him over North Korea. In the longest air engagement in US Navy history, Royce took on all seven MiGs by himself and shot down four of them! A fifth ran out of gas and ditched in the frigid Sea of Japan. One MiG-15 flamed out on short final to their home base of Vladivostok Russia. This image depicts the F9F Panther jet as it appeared while flying the November 1952 mission. Go to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast and hear Royce tell his story.