{"id":2548950,"date":"2026-06-23T19:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/royce-williams-secret-dogfight-seven-soviet-migs\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T19:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:35:27","slug":"royce-williams-secret-dogfight-seven-soviet-migs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/royce-williams-secret-dogfight-seven-soviet-migs\/","title":{"rendered":"One Panther, Seven MiGs, Fifty Years of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<p>The blizzard came in off the Sea of Japan in sheets, and the flight deck of the USS Oriskany pitched in the grey November swell. It was 18 November 1952, and Lieutenant Royce Williams climbed into the cockpit of his Grumman F9F-5 Panther for his second mission of the day. He had no idea he was about to fly into the longest dogfight in U.S. Navy history &mdash; or that, when it was over, he would be sworn to a silence that lasted half a century.<\/p>\n<p>Within the hour, Williams would be alone over the freezing ocean against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He would shoot down four of them, limp back to his carrier with a jet riddled by cannon fire, and then be ordered never to speak of it. Not to the press. Not to his fellow pilots. Not even to his wife.<\/p>\n<p>For decades the most extraordinary single air battle of the Korean War simply did not exist. This is the story of the man who fought it, and the fifty years it took for the truth to come home.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f3f4f6;border-radius:8px;padding:20px 24px;margin:26px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:18px;color:#222\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px;line-height:1.8;color:#333\"><li><strong>Date:<\/strong> 18 November 1952, during the Korean War<\/li><li><strong>Pilot:<\/strong> Lt. (later Capt.) E. Royce Williams, VF-781<\/li><li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Grumman F9F-5 Panther, flown from USS Oriskany (Task Force 77)<\/li><li><strong>The fight:<\/strong> One Panther vs. seven Soviet MiG-15s, roughly 35 minutes<\/li><li><strong>Result:<\/strong> Williams credited with downing four MiGs; his Panther took 263 holes<\/li><li><strong>Secrecy:<\/strong> Classified for ~50 years; records declassified in 2002<\/li><li><strong>Recognition:<\/strong> Silver Star (1953) &rarr; Navy Cross (2022\/23) &rarr; Medal of Honor (24 Feb 2026)<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A Scramble Into a Blizzard<\/h2>\n<p>Williams was no novice. By late 1952 he had already flown dozens of combat missions over Korea with Fighter Squadron 781, hammering bridges, trains and supply lines in the Panther &mdash; a sturdy straight-wing jet built more for hauling bombs than for turning with enemy fighters. On that second sortie of the day, his division of four launched into appalling weather.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img data-opt-id=351629516  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"E. Royce Williams\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;We took off in terrible weather, a blizzard. While climbing we got information from controllers on the ship that there were inbound enemy aircraft.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>E. Royce Williams<\/strong> &mdash; U.S. Navy fighter pilot, recalling the launch (CalMatters interview, 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The contacts were not the North Korean aircraft the Americans had expected. They were MiG-15s &mdash; and the men flying them were Soviet. Listeners aboard the task force, monitoring enemy radio traffic, heard Russian commanders order their pilots to engage. This was the Cold War turning briefly, terrifyingly hot.<\/p>\n<p>As Williams\u2019 flight bored up toward the seven MiGs, fate began thinning his odds. The division leader and his wingman were forced to turn back toward the carrier with a fuel-pump malfunction. Williams pressed on.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=1359816925  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/f9f-5-panther-vf-51-us-navy-korea.jpg\" alt=\"Grumman F9F-5 Panther of VF-51 in flight over Korea\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A U.S. Navy Grumman F9F-5 Panther in flight, c1953 &mdash; the same straight-wing jet Williams flew off the Oriskany. Photo: U.S. Navy \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Alone Against Seven<\/h2>\n<p>The first pass settled the matter. Williams hauled his Panther into a tight turn, slid onto the tail of a trailing MiG and fired. The Soviet jet went down. And then, as he later recalled, the last of his cover peeled away.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img data-opt-id=351629516  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"E. Royce Williams\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;Four of them came in, firing at me. And surprise &mdash; they weren\u2019t supposed to be there. But the fight was on. And I made a sharp turn and got on the tail of their number four guy and shot him down. And as he was going down, my wingman left me. I was now alone with six of them.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>E. Royce Williams<\/strong> &mdash; U.S. Navy fighter pilot, on the opening of the fight (CalMatters, 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>What followed was, by the reckoning of the U.S. Navy, the longest dogfight it has ever recorded: roughly 35 minutes of one man against many. The MiG-15 was faster, climbed harder and turned tighter than the Panther. By every measure on paper, Williams should have died in the first few minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Instead he fought. The Soviet pilots stopped attacking in formation and began rolling in one at a time, taking turns &mdash; and that, paradoxically, gave Williams his chance. Each time a MiG committed to a firing pass, he met it head-on or twisted away and snapped back, his four 20mm cannon hammering whenever a target crossed his nose.<\/p>\n<p>Seventy-four years later, the U.S. Navy itself would mark the moment publicly &mdash; recognition that, in 1952, was unthinkable:<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=2026508684503724117&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:520px;border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Williams said he felt no terror, only an eerie composure as the fight stretched on and his fuel and ammunition drained away.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img data-opt-id=351629516  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"E. Royce Williams\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;God was in control. I was calm.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>E. Royce Williams<\/strong> &mdash; U.S. Navy fighter pilot (CalMatters, 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">263 Holes and a Landing on the Edge<\/h2>\n<p>The MiGs did not leave him untouched. A 37mm cannon shell tore into the Panther, savaging its hydraulics and control response. When Williams finally counted the cost, his ground crew tallied 263 holes in the airframe. He thought about ejecting &mdash; and then thought about the freezing winter sea below, where a parachute would have meant a slow death by hypothermia. He decided to ride the wreck home.<\/p>\n<p>Nursing a barely controllable jet, he circled the Oriskany for some ten minutes while the deck was cleared, then lined up far faster than any safe approach allowed. The landing signal officer\u2019s warning carried over the wind: \u201cHe\u2019s coming in hot.\u201d He caught a wire. The aircraft was so badly mauled that, by some accounts, it never flew again and was pushed over the side.<\/p>\n<p>The animation studio Yarnhub reconstructed the entire engagement &mdash; a useful way to grasp just how lopsided the geometry of this fight was:<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TBYIRvVKSoE\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>A MiG-15 streaming smoke as it falls &mdash; the fate Williams dealt four times that morning &mdash; was an almost mythical sight for U.S. Navy pilots in 1952, when official records insisted the Navy had downed nothing at all:<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=141417341  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/mig-15-shot-down-by-us-navy-korea-1952.jpg\" alt=\"A MiG-15 shot down by US Navy fighters over Korea\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Soviet-built MiG-15 trailing smoke after being hit by U.S. Navy fighters over Korea. Photo: U.S. Navy \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Order of Silence<\/h2>\n<p>Back aboard, Williams expected a debrief. He got an interrogation. Admirals questioned him. So did the Secretary of Defense. Weeks later, the newly inaugurated President Dwight Eisenhower wanted to hear it firsthand. Their conclusion was stark: this could not become public.<\/p>\n<p>The reason was the calendar of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was not officially a combatant in Korea. An air battle in which an American shot down four Soviet pilots &mdash; and in which U.S. forces had been reading Soviet communications &mdash; risked dragging Moscow openly into the war, or worse. The engagement was scrubbed from Navy and National Security Agency records. Williams\u2019 own citation credited him with a single kill against an unnamed enemy.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img data-opt-id=351629516  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"E. Royce Williams\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;Russia didn\u2019t want to let it be known, and America didn\u2019t want to let it be known. We didn\u2019t want World War III.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>E. Royce Williams<\/strong> &mdash; U.S. Navy fighter pilot, on the cover-up (CalMatters, 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>He kept the vow completely. He told no one &mdash; not his pilot brother, not his wife &mdash; for the better part of fifty years. The story survived only in two places: the memory of one man, and the archives of his enemy.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Truth Comes Home<\/h2>\n<p>After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russian records began to surface. A Russian account eventually named the Soviet Naval Aviation pilots involved and confirmed the staggering arithmetic: of the MiGs sent up that day, only one returned. In 2002, U.S. Korean War records were declassified, and Williams\u2019 secret slowly became sayable.<\/p>\n<p>Even then, he assumed the world had moved on.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img data-opt-id=351629516  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"E. Royce Williams\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;At that point, nobody\u2019s interested. It\u2019s history &mdash; but at that point, I never figured I\u2019d get a medal.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>E. Royce Williams<\/strong> &mdash; U.S. Navy fighter pilot (CalMatters, 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>His friends disagreed. A small group of retired officers spent years pressing the Navy to recognise what he had done. The historian Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, in his account of Task Force 77\u2019s air war, did not hedge: he wrote that on that day Williams \u201cbecame the top-scoring carrier-based naval aviator&hellip; of the \u2018forgotten war,\u2019\u201d having \u201caccomplished what no other American fighter pilot would ever accomplish: shoot down four MiG-15s in one fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among those who lobbied and celebrated were fellow naval aviators, including Senator Mark Kelly, himself a former Navy combat pilot:<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=2026379922302722340&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:520px;border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The Navy upgraded his Silver Star to the Navy Cross in late 2022, presented in San Diego in January 2023. But his champions were not finished.<\/p>\n<p>For the wider arc of the battle and its decades of secrecy, The History Guy tells it well:<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x03gRnZBJhc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A Medal, Seventy-Four Years Late<\/h2>\n<p>On 24 February 2026, in front of a joint session of Congress at the State of the Union address, the silence ended for good. First Lady Melania Trump fastened the Medal of Honor &mdash; the nation\u2019s highest decoration &mdash; around the neck of a 100-year-old retired captain. With it, Williams became the last living Korean War recipient of the medal.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img data-opt-id=351629516  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/royce-williams-navy-cross-2023-portrait.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Capt. Kent Ewing, USN (Ret.)\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:center;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;It\u2019s the longest Navy dogfight of any we know of, and it was one versus many. A single American guy stayed in the fight for 35 minutes, came home with bullet holes in his ship. He almost died landing on the aircraft carrier. He\u2019s a real hero.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Capt. Kent Ewing, USN (Ret.)<\/strong> &mdash; who campaigned for Williams\u2019 recognition (CalMatters, 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>It is worth being precise about the numbers, because Williams\u2019 own story always has been. At the time, U.S. records credited him with just one kill. Today the Navy and his Medal of Honor narrative credit him with multiple MiGs destroyed in the engagement; the widely cited figure &mdash; supported by the Soviet records showing only one of the attacking MiGs returned &mdash; is four. Whatever the exact tally, the essential fact is unchallenged: one man, one Panther, against a flight of Soviet jets, and he came home.<\/p>\n<p>For half a century, the U.S. Navy\u2019s greatest solo air battle was a ghost &mdash; unrecorded, unrewarded, unspoken. Royce Williams carried it alone, the way he flew it. The remarkable thing is not only that he survived 18 November 1952. It is that he kept his word about it for fifty years, and lived long enough to finally hear his country say it out loud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style:italic;color:#666;font-size:14px;margin-top:28px\">Sources: Wikipedia (\u201cRoyce Williams\u201d); CalMatters (Deborah Brennan, March 2026); CNN (Brad Lendon, Jan 2023); Task &amp; Purpose (Max Hauptman, 2022); U.S. Navy press release (Dec 2022); Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, <em>Holding the Line: The Naval Air Campaign in Korea<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The blizzard came in off the Sea of Japan in sheets, and the flight deck of the USS Oriskany pitched in the grey November swell. It was 18 November 1952, and Lieutenant Royce Williams climbed into the cockpit of his Grumman F9F-5 Panther for his second mission of the day. He had no idea he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2548666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2548950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Royce Williams: The Secret Korean War Dogfight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1952 Navy pilot Royce Williams downed four Soviet MiG-15s alone in his F9F Panther \u2014 then kept it secret for 50 years. 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