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Author
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Topic: Astronaut Kills
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Rodina
Member Posts: 836
From: Lafayette, CA
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 06-12-2007 02:31 AM
  
I recall reading that John Glenn scored three kills at the tail end of the Korean War, and Schirra had one. I was wondering if anyone knew which astronaut (or, for that matter, cosmonaut) has the most air-to-air victories.(Not a trivia question, a research project!) |
karlitko
Member Posts: 87
From: Czech Republic
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 07-12-2007 04:48 AM
A brief but quite good article for starting the research was published recently in Museum of Flight magazine.
Several Russians cosmonauts flew in WWII and I assume some might have Korean war experience as well.Cosmonaut Beregovoi had many air-to-ground victories in WWII and was sturmovik squadron leader at the end of the war. Yevgeny Savitsky, not cosmonaut but father of Svetlana Savitskaya, was an WWII ace with 22+ victories. Vietnam cosmonaut Phạm Tuân shot down B-52 over Hanoi (but I don't know if it was confirmed by USAF losses list). Ilan Ramon flew many combat missions including Peace for Galilee operation and famous Osiraq reactor raid. Karel |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-12-2007 05:39 AM
Aldrin flew in the Korean war? |
capoetc
Member Posts: 2169
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 07-12-2007 05:48 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Aldrin flew in the Korean war?
Yes -- he had two confirmed kills. ------------------
John Capobianco
Camden DE |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-12-2007 08:30 AM
quote:
Originally posted by capoetc:
Yes -- he had two confirmed kills.
Aldrin was also the first to capture on film the ejection of a MiG pilot. From the records of the U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities and Organizations: quote:
This unusual sequence of photos, taken by gun camera film of a U.S. Air Force F-86 "Sabre" jet fighter-interceptor, shows a Communist MIG-15 pilot abandoning his aircraft after it has been hit by the "Sabres" gunfire. The MIG-kill went to 2nd Lt. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., 180 WalnutSt., Montclair, N.J., on May 14, during a six day period which saw the Air Force "Sabre" pilots destroy 36 Red MIG jets. In the upper left photo, the MIG has been hit, and is about to be abandoned. In the center picture, the pilot has hit his ejection charge which has gone off. At right, the MIG flier has just left his aircraft. The bottom panel's three sequences show the enemy pilot as he and his crippled plane separate.
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AmirBer
Member Posts: 24
From: Be'er Sheva, Israel
Registered: Dec 2006
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posted 07-12-2007 04:00 PM
About the records of Ilan Ramon, I was unable to find records of him shooting down other air plains, although he did bale out twice, once without an ejection seat (from a Fouga Magister). He has over 3,000 fling hours on the A-4, Mirage and the F-4, and over 1,000 fling hours on the F-16 - he always "missed out" on war time. During 73 (Yom Kippur) he was recovering from an illness during his training, in 1982 (Shlom Hagalil) he was after a collision between tow F-16's. also - since 1967 thankfully - we don't have that many dog fights.  A bonus picture - look at the mark next to the drop sign... this is one of the F-16's who bombed the Iraqi reactor. |
Danno
Member Posts: 572
From: Ridgecrest, CA - USA
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 07-13-2007 10:21 AM
I remember reading that Gus Grissom shot down a fighter in Korea on his first mission. |
capoetc
Member Posts: 2169
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 07-13-2007 03:06 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Danno:
I remember reading that Gus Grissom shot down a fighter in Korea on his first mission.
Actually, if memory serves, the requirement for pilots to get a seat on the bus was to engage with an enemy pilot -- until you had done so, you had to stand. This was because some pilots would find a reason not to do so (engine problems, bad weather, bingo fuel, etc). Gus only had to stand on the bus once because he engaged an enemy pilot on his very first combat sortie. Perhaps others will have a more definitive source than my memory ... ------------------
John Capobianco
Camden DE | |
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