MiG Pilots Didn't Expect a Propeller Plane to Shoot Them Down

On June 20, 1965, two propeller-driven A-1 Skyraider pilots - Charlie Hartman and Clint Johnson - shot down a MiG-17 jet fighter over North Vietnam in one of the most extraordinary aerial engagements of the Vietnam War. This Cold War documentary explores how a World War II-era attack aircraft designed by Ed Heinemann at Douglas Aircraft defeated a supersonic Soviet-built jet, examining the training gaps in North Vietnamese MiG pilot doctrine, the Skyraider's remarkable durability and low-speed maneuverability, and why the USAF kept flying propeller planes in a jet war. From the Sandy combat search and rescue missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail to Major Bernard Fisher's Medal of Honor rescue at A Shau Valley, the A-1 Skyraider proved that speed isn't everything in aerial combat. This video covers the full history of the Skyraider in Vietnam - its Wright R-3350 engine, its unmatched ordnance capacity, the close air support role no jet could fill, and the MiG kill that changed North Vietnamese intercept tactics. Sources and further reading in the bibliography below. Bibliography: 1. Drendel, L. "A-1 Skyraider in Action" (Squadron/Signal, 1982) 2. Burgess, R. "Douglas A-1 Skyraider" (Specialty Press, 2009) 3. Heinemann, E. & Rausa, R. "Ed Heinemann: Combat Aircraft Designer" (Naval Institute Press, 1980) 4. Tillman, B. "The Douglas Skyraider" (Zenith Press, 2012) 5. Hobson, C. "Vietnam Air Losses" (2001) 6. Toperczer, I. "MiG-17 and MiG-19 Units of the Vietnam War" (Osprey, 2001) 7. Toperczer, I. "Air War over North Viet Nam" (Squadron/Signal, 2015) 8. Fisher, B. Medal of Honor citation and Air Force oral history 9. Michel, M. "Clashes: Air Combat Over North Vietnam 1965-1972" (1997) 10. Thompson, W. "To Hanoi and Back" (2000) #VietnamWar #A1Skyraider #MiG17 #MilitaryHistory #SandyMission #CloseAirSupport #AerialCombat #MedalOfHonor #PropVsJet #ColdWar