Showtime 100 by Philip West

Flying their Phantom F-4J in a strike against the Haiphong railyards on May 10, 1972, Lt Randy Cunningham and his RIO Willie Driscoll were attacked by a pair of MiG-17s as they left the target. Within seconds Cunningham despatched one with a Sidewinder, and went looking for more. With the F-4s outnumbered by MiG-17s and 21s, it was only moments before two more MiGs fell to his missiles, chalking up three victories on the mission. With two previous kills to their credit, when Cunningham and Driscoll made it back to the USS Constellation they had become the first Aces of the Vietnam War, and the US Navy's only Aces of the conflict.