GUNFIGHT!

Skyraiders down a MiG-17

- BY CAPT. CLINTON B. JOHNSON USNR (RET.) AS TOLD TO AND WRITTEN BY JAMES P. BUSHA

March 1965: in this VA25 photo taken aboard USS Midway, Lt. Clint Johnson stands fourth from the right. He wears full gear and a cap and is next to Lt. John Juan, who wears a light suit.

IT WAS CALLED EVERY NAME IN THE BOOK by the pilots who flew it. "Sandy," "Spad," "AbleDog," "Flying dump truck" and "Workhorse of the fleet" were just a few of the titles given to the single-engine behemoth that weighed more than 20,000 pounds when fully loaded. When Douglas Aircraft genius Ed Heinemann designed the big, lumbering square-wing, square-body attack aircraft in 1944, it was initially given the name Dauntless II in honor of its predecessor, which had gallantly fought against the Japanese during WW II's dark early days. The Dauntless II made its first flight on March 18, 1945, only nine months and two days from its initial conception. A short time later, it was given a new name and simply called, "Skyraider." But on a hot, humid day over the jungles of North Vietnam in June 1965, the Skyraider acquired a new reputation and added one more title to its growing list: gunfighter.

June 20, 1965

Yankee Station off the North Vietnam coast

As a U.S. Naval aviator assigned to VA-25, "The Fist of the Fleet," I had flown the Douglas Skyraider in combat from the decks of our carriers more than 120 times as we looked for targets and downed pilots in North Vietnam. Early on in the war, I felt that the combat flying was going to be similar to that of WW II and Korea, with one exception: the North Vietnamese had jets at their disposal, and I didn't give our Skyraiders much hope of surviving an encounter with one. By late June 1965, I personally hadn't had any contact with the MiGs over Vietnam, and I wanted to keep it that way. Unfortunately—for the MiGs, that is—I was in the right place at the right time on June 20.