As I noted in my recent story on the passing of Col. Perry Dahl (USAF, ret.) at the ripe old age of 101, American fighter aces—i.e., combat aviators who destroyed five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat—are a dying breed.

Part of the reason this is the case is that the United States Armed Forces hasn’t produced any air aces since the Vietnam War—and that conflict ended fifty years ago this coming April. Yes, the U.S. allies attained a 40:1 air-to-air kill ratio during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, aka Operation Desert Storm, but the coalition forces’ fighter pilots “spread the wealth” (so to speak) too much to allow any individual fighter jock to attain ace status. And the last war in which American combat aviators scored any aerial kills (at least against manned enemy aircraft that is) was Operation Allied Force, the 1999 Kosovo campaign.

As already noted, you need to score five aerial kills to become an ace, so there’s something numerically poetic about the fact that there were indeed a total of five American aces from the last war to produce such high achievers. The National Interest now takes a look at those “Fab Final Five” (to speak) fighter jocks of the Vietnam War.

A Note About Vietnam War Kill Tally Tracking Stats

Before we delve into the American air aces’ individual bios, a note about the number-crunching methods for the Vietnam air war is in order: all of these American aces flew as members of two-man crews on F-4 Phantom IIs, reflecting the emergence of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) over guns (whether machine guns or cannons) as the primary weapons of aerial combat; both crewmen were awarded a kill for each Vietnamese People’s Air Force (VPAF, i.e., the communist North Vietnamese Air Force) aircraft shot down.

Therefore, the number of U.S. aces in Vietnam is higher than the actual number of planes that they downed, a statistical oddity that some may find confusing at first. Contrast this with, say, World War II, where two fighter pilots would converge with their gunfire upon a single enemy warbird and thus end up sharing credit for half of a kill.

To elaborate further, the Phantom crews consisted of a pilot and a radar intercept officer (RIO) in the U.S. Navy or a weapon systems officer (WSO; nicknamed “Wizzo” or “GIB [Guy In Back”]) in the U.S. Air Force. So then, America’s Vietnam ace roster consists of one USAF pilot, one USN pilot (“Naval Aviator,” to use their official in-service lingo), two “Wizzos,” and one RIOs.

Capt. (later lt. col.) Jeffrey S. “Fang” Feinstein, USAF WSO

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last,” quote the one Scriptural passage, and ergo, we’ll start off by recognizing the last of the five U.S. aerial warriors to become an ace during the Vietnam War, and to date, he is still the most recent aviator to achieve ace status in the U.S. military. “Fang” Feinstein, born January 29, 1945, one of the “GIBs” on this list, shot down five MiG-21 (NATO reporting name: “Fishbed”) fighter planes between April and October 1972; his final kill earned him the Air Force Cross.

LT (later CDR and congressman) Randall Harold “Duke” Cunningham, USN Pilot, and LT (later CDR) William Patrick “Willy Irish” Driscoll, USN RIO

The only two Navy men on this list, “Duke” Cunningham (born December 8, 1941; yes, the day after Pearl Harbor Day) and “Willy Irish” Driscoll (born March 5, 1947) were a true dynamic duo among U.S. air aces, as all five of their kills—one MiG-21 and four MiG-17 “Frescoes“—were scored as a single tandem (as opposed to the USAF warriors who spread out their kills amongst different partners). Especially remarkable was their epic feat on May 10, 1972, when they killed three MiG-17s in a single day. Both “Duke” and “Willy Irish” were awarded the Navy Cross for this trifecta.

Capt. (later col.) Charles Barbin DeBellevue, USAF WSO

To paraphrase professional singer Vanessa Williams, consider this a case of “saving the best for second-to-last.” “Best,” in this case, meaning America’s highest-scoring ace of the Vietnam War: “Chuck” DeBellevue, born August 15, 1945, earned his place in history as the top “MiG Killer” of the bunch, with a total of six aerial victories: four MiG-21s and two MiG-19 “Farmers.” The two “Farmer” kills, both attained on September 9, 1972, in tandem with his pilot, Capt. John A. Madden, Jr. (not to be confused with the late great former NFL coach), whilst using AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared missiles, were the culmination of his kill record.

Chuck, along with the other two Air Force aces on this list, received the 1972 Mackay Trophy, the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Armed Forces Award, and the Eugene M. Zuckert Achievement Award.

Capt. (later brig. gen.) Richard Stephen “Rich” Ritchie, USAF pilot

Going back to the notion of “the last will be first, and the first will be last,” we wrap up this story with the story of the first USAF ace of the war, not to mention the only Air Force pilot ace. “Rich” Ritchie (born June 25, 1942) bagged a total of five MiG-21s; remarkably, two of those Fishbeds were shot down over a mere two-minute span, a feat accomplished on July 8, 1972, when “Rich” was flying with the aforementioned Charles D. Bellevue.

Ritchie is also the only American ace of Vietnam to attain general officer rank (the equivalent of flag officer rank in the USN).

About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.

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