Skip to content. Quick links. Forgotten pilots or flights Re: Forgotten pilots or flights My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave. He is known for his solo dogfight with seven Soviet pilots during the Korean War, which, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune, has been called "one of the greatest feats in aviation history" by military experts. A retired admiral and multiple members of Congress have been campaigning for him to receive the Medal of Honor for his exploit.
On January 20, , he received the Navy Cross — the highest military decoration given by the U. He and his brother both aspired to fly, and both enlisted after the Pearl Harbor attack. He learned to fly the F9F-5 Panther jet and was assigned to active duty in the Korean War, where he flew 70 missions.
On 18 November , on his second mission of the day, while on combat air patrol near Hoeryong, North Korea, his group of four pilots spotted seven MiGs overhead.
The other three pilots had to return to the carrier and the MiGs began to fire on Williams, putting him into a one-man dogfight with seven MiGs that lasted 35 minutes. It is believed to be the longest dogfight in U. Navy history. Commanders on his carrier ordered him away, but Williams had to tell them that he was already fighting for his life. He shot down four of the MiGs and likely hit two others. By the end of the minute period, only one of the MiGs was still in the air with him, and he managed to escape back to his carrier, out of ammunition and having lost his hydraulics.
He was uninjured, but holes were counted in his Panther jet. He never saw the plane again; reportedly, it was pushed into the sea. The story of his battle with the Soviet-piloted MiGs led to Williams being debriefed at the time by admirals, the Secretary of Defence, and a few weeks later by newly inaugurated President Dwight D.
