![]() Royce Williams’ road to naval aviation started out rather inauspiciously. He received it in a ceremony at the San Diego Air & Space Museum on January 20, 2023. But that’s the problem: it’s his account and you can’t be your own witness at an upgrade review.” Finally, in December 2022, Williams was approved for an upgrade to the Navy Cross. “I’m convinced that his account is accurate. “If I get a say in the matter, I would recommend an upgrade,” said Samuel Cox, a retired admiral and current director of Naval History and Heritage Command for the Navy. A bipartisan effort in Congress tried to upgrade the award to the Medal of Honor. Williams earned the Silver Star for his bravery that day, but some believed that wasn’t enough. The Soviet-flown MiGs lack national markings, reflecting what Williams stated in his after-action report. For years, the United States kept the encounter secret. “She was very surprised.” Jack Fellows’ illustration, “One Down, Three to Go,” depicts Lieutenant Royce Williams’ encounter with Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s on November 18, 1952, an action that stretched the limits of the Korean War. “When I finally told my wife, Camilla said, ‘Oh, Royce!’” Williams, 97 and a veteran of three wars, recalled recently. concerns over broadening the Korean conflict, the details of Williams’ combat success remained secret for four decades and the veteran Navy pilot was not allowed to talk about what he had done. However, because of military secrecy and U.S. Instead of flying a routine patrol, Williams made history by tangling with seven Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s and, according to his account, downing four of them. This mission turned out to be different than he expected, though. Williams was preparing to fly a combat air patrol to cover the naval task force to which the carrier belonged. Snow was not uncommon at that time of year along the upper coast of North Korea, not far from the Soviet Union’s easternmost seaport of Vladivostok. Royce Williams watched the blizzard while waiting for the signal to take off from the Essex-class carrier as it plowed through the Sea of Japan. Inside the cockpit of his Grumman F9F-5 Panther, Lt. Navy aircraft carrier Oriskany on November 18, 1952. This Panther Pilot's Combat Mission Was So Secret He Couldn't Talk About it For 40 Years Closeĭriving winds blew blinding snow across the deck of the U.S.
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