Duels in the Sun

American warplanes have enjoyed virtually untrammeled freedom of the skies ever since regular bombing runs over North Viet Nam began. Only four times in 15 months did North Viet Nam's Russian-built MIGs rise to do battle, knocking down two U.S. fighter-bombers in their initial surprise appearance, then losing five MIG-175 in the next three encounters. But last week, as the U.S. continued to hack away at the vital transportation spokes feeding into Hanoi, the North Vietnamese air force suddenly scrambled into the skies--only to be cut down in a series of swirling dogfights. As the week drew to a close, the score stood 6-0 for the U.S. and 11-2 for the air war overall.

Suddenly a Sparrow. The first encounter took place just north of Hanoi as four Air Force F-4C Phantom II jetfighters, flying "CAP" (Combat Air Patrol) for a bombing strike on the Bac Giang bridge linking Hanoi with China, headed down to their orbit area. At 18,000 feet they picked up "bogies" on their radar, and wheeled to intercept them. Within minutes they spotted six MIG-175 flying level in close formation below them. The MIGs jettisoned their external gas tanks, split up, and with cannons winking, climbed to meet the Phantoms' attack.

Armed with heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles and Sparrow radar-guided missiles, the U.S. flight leader dove out of the sun but overshot on his first pass. Three MIGs cut between the Phantoms, separating them into pairs, and went after the two U.S. lead planes. The second brace of F-4Cs, sweeping into the classic 6 o'clock target position that the Sidewinders require for homing, closed in, dropped one MIG with a missile right up the tailpipe. When a fourth MIG tried to pull in behind, the successful Phantom's wingman pounced, followed through in a diving roll, and brought the Communist craft down with a sudden Sparrow.

Later in the day U.S. planes again encountered MIGs, with no losses on either side. But two of the enemy planes were the advanced MIG-215 known to pilots as "Fishbeds"--the same generation of fighter as the Phantom and capable of flying twice the speed of sound. The U.S. had long wanted to measure the Fishbed in battle.

The chance came two days later when an Air Force Phantom commanded by Major Paul Gilmore, 33, of Alamogordo, N. Mex., spotted two jets diving in on him. Both were Fishbeds. Gilmore went into a tight diving turn of his own, whipped up behind one of the MIGs, fired off two Sidewinders.

Thinking both had missed, and muttering to himself in a cold rage, Gilmore followed the MIG through another wrenching, rolling loop of a brain-draining six gravities, then cut loose a third Sidewinder. The enemy's tail section came apart in a tumble of torn metal, and the plane pitched earthward. In fact, Gilmore's first Sidewinder had also scored, and the Red pilot had ejected. In getting the first MIG-21, Gilmore had killed it twice.

Close to Home. The sudden willingness of the Communists to do battle in the air raised several questions. Were the Communist planes North Vietnamese or Red Chinese? The markings of the two regimes are similar enough to be confused at the ranges and speeds of jet fighting,* but the official verdict seemed to be that they were North Vietnamese, if only because the radio chatter picked up during the dogfights was in that language.

But if Hanoi's own, why the decision to commit a fledgling force of some 60 MIG-15s and 17s and only 15 MIG-215 to combat with the vastly larger and more experienced American air armada? The most likely explanation: in severing Hanoi's rail links to China, the U.S. was hitting so uncomfortably close to home that every defense had to be employed. Under the high drama of last week's dogfights, the workhorse bombers were busy as ever. Guam-based B-52s unloaded 300 tons of high explosives on the Mu Gia Pass infiltration route into South Viet Nam; Navy jets hit a SAM site near Vinh and sank 248 junks moving men and arms south by convoy. Whether the MIG commitment could partially turn that aerial tide remained to be seen.

"A Good Bird." So far, the MIGs have been very tentative in their attacks. Though armed with Atoll missiles, a Communist version of the heat-seeking Sidewinder, none of the Red planes fired them in last week's dogfights. Even so the U.S. confirmed what it had suspected: that the MIG-21 is indeed, as Pentagon Air Operations Colonel Thomas D. ("Robbie") Robertson observed, "one hell of a good bird." The Phantom, at 1,584 m.p.h. on the straightaway, is swifter (by some 300 m.p.h.) and more powerful. But the lighter, single-seat MIG-21 has an advantage in maneuverability, and a 10% faster rate of climb.

The Russian fighter has another more atavistic advantage. It is equipped with a pair of 30-mm cannons built into the fuselage. The Phantoms can mount 20-mm. cannons, but only in external wing pods, which are not as stable and accurate as fuselage-mounted cannons. The Phantom was designed to stand off at some distance and zero in electronically. In the duels so far, the MIGs have been unwilling to play that game, are ducking in close where missiles are virtually useless. An advanced Phantom with integral cannons is under development; in the meantime, for all the U.S. success thus far, the Pentagon at week's end prudently dispatched a team to try to improve the U.S. pilots' tactical use of Sidewinders and Sparrows in the emergent war in the air.

* The markings on Red Chinese Air Force planes: The North Vietnamese air force markings are similar in shape and colors except for the absence of the small Chinese character located in the center of the red star: Hanoi's star is unadorned.

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