Jump to content

Colonel Tomb

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by WikiCleanerBot (talk | contribs) at 04:53, 24 May 2022 (v2.04b - Bot T19 CW#83 - Fix errors for CW project (Heading start with three "=" and later with level two)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with Nguyễn Tuân.
The MIG-21 N. 4324 of the Vietnam People's Air Force. This fighter aircraft (flown by various pilots) alone was credited with 14 kills during the Vietnam War.

Colonel Tomb, also "Nguyen Toon" (Nguyễn Tuân) or "Colonel Toon" is a nickname for a North Vietnamese fighter pilot and flying ace who allegedly shot down 13 American aircraft during the Vietnam War. According to legend, he was killed in action on May 10, 1972, by the U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom crew of pilot Lt. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and radar operator Lt.(jg) William "Irish" Driscoll.[1][2][3]

The name "Colonel Tomb" rose to prominence among U.S. Navy aviators during the latter part of the war. Photos of a North Vietnamese MiG-17 with the tail number 3020 bearing numerous red victory stars contributed to the rumor, and was occasionally identified as the Colonel's aircraft. However, it was normal practice in the Vietnamese People's Air Force to add victory stars to an aircraft for all claims in the aircraft, regardless of the pilot flying it. A photo of a MiG-21, with tail number 4326, was reported in a Vietnamese official magazine to have been flown by at least nine different airmen. This aircraft also had numerous red victory stars. Six of its pilots received the title "Hero of the People's Armed Forces".[1] Information on Toon/Tomb's life and career was never published by the North Vietnamese, nor did they release a photo of him. MiG-17 number 3020 was confirmed shot down and destroyed, on May 10, 1972, by Cunningham and Driscoll following a protracted air fight.

Much of the information the U.S. obtained about the North Vietnamese air force came from radio signals intelligence or "SigInt", which monitored enemy radio transmissions. Though Tuân is a Vietnamese name, Toon and Tomb are not. It is likely that a name similar in sound to Tomb was used as a radio callsign, and was responsible for the creation of the story of a Colonel Tomb.[1]

May 10, 1972, by VPAF records

The 'MiG-17F' no. 3020 was a license-made Shenyang J-5 attached to the VPAF's 923rd Fighter Regiment, and was flown by at least one of the six VPAF's MiG-17 fighter aces, including Lê Hải who survived the war, retiring as a Senior Colonel.[4] Like all combat-ready VPAF MiG-17s, these were painted a green and brown camouflage by 1967, and were affectionately called con rắn (snakes) by their ground crew.[5] The beginning of the Operation Linebacker air interdiction campaign against North Vietnam in May of 1972 proved to be especially bloody for both sides of the air war; four of the 923rd FR's MiG-17s were dispatched against a large strike-force of A-6 Intruders, A-7 Corsairs IIs and F-4 Phantom IIs targeting the bridges around Hải Dương on 10 May 1972. Although outnumbered, the VPAF pilots attacked the strike-force, and in the ensuing melee, MiG-17 pilot Do Hang was shot down by AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles fired from Lt. Duke Cunningham/Lt.jg Willy Driscoll's F-4, and although the MiG-17 pilot Do Hang was able to eject, he was then killed by 20mm gunfire from the American fighter aircraft making strafing passes at him while descending underneath his parachute; two more MiG-17s were shot-down by the F-4s of Lt. Cunningham and Lt. Connelly, and pilots Nguyen Van Tho and Tra Van Kiem both KIA, while the MiG-17 piloted by Ta Dong Trung, who pursued the A-7s out to sea without scoring any hits, was able to return to base, the only survivor of the 923rd FR this battle.[6]

The F-4s however, now flying about 10km north of Hải Dương, were intercepted by a pair of MiG-21MFs piloted by Vu Duc Hop and Le Thanh Dao of the new 927th FR whom were effectively vectored by GCI against the Phantoms; Vu Duc Hop and Le Thanh Dao each firing R-3S "Atoll" missiles at their selected targets, had found their marks respectively against the F-4s of Lt. Cunningham/Lt.jg Driscoll and Cdr. Blackburn/Lt. Rudloff, and while Cunningham/Driscoll were able eject out at sea where they rescued, Blackburn/Rudloff were seen to have successfully ejected from their stricken Phantom, and while their parachutes were observed to have gone down over land, only Lt. Rudloff was ever on the POW manifest by North Vietnamese records.[7][8][9][10][11] The remains of Cdr. Harry L. Blackburn were returned to the Americans on 10 April 1986.[12]

Notable USAF/USN and VPAF losses/victories on 10 May 1972

List of notable kills/losses of the air battles of this day in the Vietnam War.[13][14][15]

Crew member(s) Service/Unit Kills/Total Status
Lt. R.H. Cunningham / Lt.(jg) Randy Driscoll, F-4 USN 2 kills (Do and Nguyen or Tra)/5 total Shot down/rescued
Cdr. H.L. Blackburn / Lt. S. Rudloff, F-4 USN Cdr. Blackburn (KIA)/Lt. Rudloff (POW)
Do Hang, MiG-17 VPAF KIA (strafed to death under parachute)
Le Thanh Dao, MiG-21 VPAF 1 kill (Blackburn/Rudloff)/6 total
Vu Duc Hop, MiG-21 VPAF 1 kill (Cunningham/Driscoll)
Maj. R. Lodge / Capt. R. Locher, F-4 USAF 3 kills/3 total Maj. Lodge (KIA)/Capt. Locher (rescued)
Dang Ngoc Ngu, MiG-21 VPAF 1 kill/7 total (KIA, 8 July 1972)
Nguyen Van Phuc, MiG-19 VPAF 1 kill (Lodge/Locher)
Cao Son Khao, MiG-19 VPAF 1 kill KIA

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Ethell and Price 1990, pp.189–190.
  2. ^ Air Power History 1995 -- Volumes 42-43 - Page 60 "Tactical number 4326 supposedly belonged to the infamous Col. Nguyen Toon (also known as Col. Tomb), and wore thirteen red stars on its nose. At times, Toon's existence has been questioned, for while he led the NVAF in kills, he trailed all ..."
  3. ^ Peter B. Mersky F-8 Crusader Units of the Vietnam War 1998 - Page 60 "The long-running discussion about whether the VPAF's top ace, 'Colonel Tomb', actually existed may at last have been resolved to an extent. There were several skilled VPAF pilots, and there appears to have been at least a dozen aces ..."
  4. ^ Toperczer, 2015, pp. 146-147.
  5. ^ http://wio.ru/korea/dz-v2en.htm
  6. ^ Toperczer, 2015, pp. 174-175.
  7. ^ "Name That Toon - Was North Vietnam's Most Feared Flying Ace A Myth?". MilitaryHistoryNow.com. 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2022-05-10. Some sources have argued that the famous North Vietnamese flier was a complete fabrication. Hanoi propagandists supposedly conjured up the deadly ace to bolster morale on the home front or possibly to scare American pilots. Others claim that the mythical pilot wasn't a concoction of enemy publicists at all, but rather a figment of American pilots' imaginations.
  8. ^ Hankins, Dr. Michael (2018-05-29). "Inventing the Enemy: Colonel Toon and the Memory of Fighter Combat in Vietnam". From Balloons to Drones. Retrieved 2022-05-10. The existence of Colonel Toon in the mind of an American pilot may have provided a psychological comfort zone if a North Vietnamese pilot should out-fly him or, even worse, shoot him down... Why does this controversy – and others like it – continue to plague the memory of the Vietnam War? Possibly because losing a war is psychologically devastating... Toon may not exist, but what he represents as a way of dealing with the psychological trauma of warfare, is all too real.
  9. ^ Toperczer, 2015, pp. 175, 240.
  10. ^ "Vietnamese Aces - MiG-17 and MiG-21 pilots". acepilots.com. Retrieved 2022-05-10. Readers familiar with American military aviation may have heard of the legendary Vietnamese ace, Col. Toon (or Col. Tomb). Why is he not listed here? Because, he was precisely that, "legendary"... he was a figment of the American fighter pilots' imagination and ready room chatter. (In fairness to the Americans, "Col. Toon" may have been shorthand for any good Vietnamese pilot, like any solo nighttime nuisance bomber in WW2 was called "Washing Machine Charlie.")
  11. ^ "Bio, Rudloff, Stephen A." www.pownetwork.org. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  12. ^ "Vietnam Air Losses Search Results". www.vietnamairlosses.com. Retrieved 2022-05-01. Both crew were seen to eject and to land only about 100 yards apart. Lt Rudloff was temporarily blinded during the incident and was taken to the Hanoi Hilton but he had no further direct contact with his pilot... A report that Cdr Blackburn committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill circulated after the prisoners returned from Hanoi, but this seems fanciful and cannot be substantiated. His remains were handed over by the Vietnamese government on 10 April 1986 and positively identified in November of that year.
  13. ^ Toperczer, 2015, pp. 240.
  14. ^ "Phantom Over North Vietnam". Defense Media Network. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  15. ^ "Name That Toon - Was North Vietnam's Most Feared Flying Ace A Myth?". MilitaryHistoryNow.com. 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2022-05-10. Some sources have argued that the famous North Vietnamese flier was a complete fabrication. Hanoi propagandists supposedly conjured up the deadly ace to bolster morale on the home front or possibly to scare American pilots. Others claim that the mythical pilot wasn't a concoction of enemy publicists at all, but rather a figment of American pilots' imaginations.
  16. ^ Beachum, Lateshia (2 May 2022). "The 'Ghost of Kyiv' was never alive, Ukrainian air force says". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  17. ^ Laurence, Peter (2 May 2022). "How Ukraine's 'Ghost of Kyiv' legendary pilot was born". BBC. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  18. ^ Lajka, Arijeta (2 May 2022). "'A super-hero legend': Ukraine admits 'Ghost of Kyiv' fighter pilot is a myth". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 May 2022.

References

  • Ethell, Jeffrey and Alfred Price. One Day in a Long War. London:Guild Publishing, 1990.

Further reading

  • Toperczer, István, "MiG-17 and MiG-19 Units of the Vietnam War", Osprey Publishing Limited, Botley, Oxford, UK, 2001, ISBN 1-84176-162-1.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Colonel_Tomb&oldid=1089499112"