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.its ranks, namely Lt Cdrs Jerry Houston and ChuckA US Navy Commendation medal was awarded to him after a Schroeder and Cdr Jack Finley.As an avowed single-seatsimilar RESCAP effort for VF-162 F-8 pilot Lt(jg) R.F.Adams, exponent, Tooter took time adapting to the two-seatwho had been downed by AAA on 12 July 1966.concept, but by mid-1972 he acknowledged that in VF-51 sFinally, in the fire that devastated Oriskany on 26 five successful MiG encounters all the bandits had beenOctober 1966, costing his CVW-16 25 pilots (44 officers sighted first by back-seaters so had four other MiGand men were killed in total), Teague guided ten shipmates threats.His own MiG kill on June 11, 1972 (after damagingthrough smoke and darkness to safety.another in a March 1972 fight) exemplified this teamwork,VF-111 embarked Detachment 11 in USS Intrepid and it made VF-51 an ace squadron the photograph above(CVS-11) from May to December 1967, with Tooter in shows Teague shortly after his MiG killing mission with thecharge.During this time he bent Pentagon rules by CO of CVA-63, Capt Bill Harris.destroying a MiG-17 parked on Noi Bai airfield and was shot Tooter had five US Navy commands in all, includingdown by AAA south of Haiphong on 12 August.Bailing out of CVW-11, the fleet oiler USS Kawishiwi (AO-146) and thehis F-8C just offshore, he and the rescue parajumper were supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63).He also served aspulled three miles out to sea by a rescue helicopter so as Chief of Staff for Operations for the Seventh Fleet andto avoid intense ground fire, before being winched aboard.Director of Current Operations and Crisis Management,Teague s next assignment saw him drafted into air testCommander US Pacific Forces.He was awarded two Silverdevelopment squadron VX-4 following his suggestions forStar medals, six Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Bronzetactics against the MiG-17.In a year s assignment as USStar medal (V), the Legion of Merit, 14 Air Medals, five NavyNavy team leader on the top-secret Project Have Drill,Commendation medals and the Purple Heart.He died onTeague extensively flew a captured MiG-17, exploring itsAugust 29, 1998.47 The first trainees had been in China and Russia since March 1956.Fifty aspiringfighter pilots in China, commanded by Pham Dung, were supported in NorthVietnam from 1956 onwards by the First Flying School at Cat Bi and the SecondFlying School at Gia Lam.Others were trained in Czechoslovakia as Ho Chi Minh sdream of an air force took shape.His recruits made up in enthusiasm for theirdeficiencies in basic technical education or physical fitness.Most came from far poorerbackgrounds than their American counterparts, and all had to be taught basic Russianso as to be able to understand both the aircraft manuals and their instructors.Theirpolitical motivation was invariably strong, but it was constantly tested by theirmentors, who regarded unswerving devotion to their patriotic cause as equal inimportance to aptitude as a pilot.Often, more than three-quarters of students failedto complete the flight-training courses and were relegated to ground duties.A shortage of aircraft and the lack of a suitable airfield in Vietnam meant that thefirst group of pilots remained in China after graduating on the MiG-17, flyingMiG-15s instead.Generally, the Vietnamese students felt more at home with Chinesetutors, and had fewer communications problems than those being trained in Russia,despite the presence of translators.MiG-17s were soon provided for them at SonDong, where the VPAF s first groundcrew were being instructed.In 1963 the entireoperation was moved to Mong Tu, close to the North Vietnamese border.This baseThe VPAF s first wingshift coincided with the arrival of 36 Soviet-supplied MiG-17Fs.commander, Dao Dinh Luyen,Three years earlier, on May 1, 1960, construction of Noi Bai airfield had begun, andwas involved in training VPAFthe base was ready for the VPAF s single squadron, the 921st Sao Do (Red Star)pilots from 1956 onwards.HeFighter Regiment, when it was led in by Dao Dinh Luyen on August 6, 1964.was made CO of the 921st FRon its formation, and led the Before venturing into combat, 921st FR pilots continued intensive training withunit to Noi Bai from China inincreased flying hours in their MiG-17 silver swallows and MiG-15UTI trainers,February 1964.In 1977 Dinhsupported by long sessions in primitive simulator cockpits.Aware that their fightersLuyen took command of thewere inferior in numbers and technology to the Americans equipment, they workedwhole VPAF.(Tran Dinh Kiemwith their Soviet and Chinese advisors for another four months on tactics to integratevia Dr István Toperczer)the obsolescent MiG-17 into North Vietnam s rapidly-developing network of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) andradar.Like American pilots, they studied the tactics ofWorld War II aces and worked on the assumption that whoever fires first, wins .Selection of suitable pilots for the first combat-readysections of the 921st was a rigorous process.Some of themore over-enthusiastic individuals, including a few whofavoured kamikaze ramming tactics, were restrainedwithin the rigid doctrines of GCI taught by Sovietinstructors.Some Vietnamese controllers, including LeThanh Chon, were ex-MiG-17 pilots.In action, pilotsbecame accustomed to sleeping under their jets when onalert duty, and scrambling before 0800 hrs.When American air attacks began in earnest in 1965,48the VPAF studied the predictable routes that the restrictive rules of engagement forced the US Navy and USAF to follow to theirtargets.Interception tracks were duly planned to minimise exposure to enemy fightersand to take advantage of proximity to home territory and defences
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