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Clinton Johnson and Charles Hartman shot down a MiG-17 with propeller-driven A-1 Skyraiders armed with 20-mm cannons in June 1965.

I think a P51 shot down a MIG15 in 1950.

David vs Goliath

Interesting read --- looks like this occurred twice. As Keith said David vs Goliath

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-last-piston-engine-plane-to-shoot-down-a-fighter-jet-2015-

I can't find any record of that action.

However I did find this.

The Douglas Skyraider has been the last piston engine propelled aircraft to shoot down a jet fighter.


The last propeller U.S. Navy attack aircraft to disappear from the decks of the flattops was the Douglas AD Skyraider.

This airplane had a unique capability: even when it carried its full internal fuel of 2,280 pounds, a 2,200-lb torpedo, two 2,000-lb bombs, 12,5 inch rockets, two 20 mm guns and 240 pounds of ammunition, the Skyraider was still under its maximum gross weight of 25,000 pounds.

Entered in service just in time to take part in the Korean War, the Skyraiders in the improved A-1H version were quite slow; nevertheless in spite of performance not even comparable to those of the other assets in the air wing’s strike group, the propeller-driven attack aircraft managed to shoot down two MiG-17s during the early part of the Vietnam War.

In fact, some of the most unusual kills of the conflict did not come from the F-4s, F-105s, or F-8s, but from the Korean War-era piston-engine Skyraiders, thanks to the four M3 20 mm fixed forward-firing cannons capable of firing 800 rounds per minute, that fitted the A-1Hs.

The first of these victorious engagements took place on Jun. 20, 1965, when a flight of Skyraiders from the Strike Squadron 25 (VA-25) Fist of the Fleet, took off from the USS Midway (CVA-41) supporting the rescue of a downed USAF pilot in the northwest corner of North Vietnam were attacked by a flight of MiG-17s.

The two enemy jets launched missiles and fired with their cannons against the two A-1Hs, but both Skyraiders’ pilots, Lt. Charles W. Hartman III, flying A-1H BuNo 137523, radio callsign “Canasta 573,” and Lt. Clinton B. Johnson, flying A-1H BuNo 139768, callsign “Canasta 577,” evaded them before and maneuvered to shoot down one of the MiGs with their 20 mm cannons.

Lt. Johnson described this engagement in Donald J. McCarthy, Jr. book “MiG Killers A Chronology of U.S. Air Victories in Vietnam 1965-1973” as follows: “I fired a short burst at the MiG and missed, but got the MiG pilot’s attention. He turned into us, making a head-on pass. Charlie and I fired simultaneously as he passed so close that Charlie thought I had hit his vertical stabilizer with the tip of my tail hook. Both of us fired all four guns. Charlie’s rounds appeared to go down the intake and into the wing root, and mine along the top of the fuselage and through the canopy. He never returned our fire, rolled, inverted, and hit a small hill, exploding and burning in a farm field.”

The subsequent MiG kill of this engagement was shared by both Hartmann III and Johnson.

The second victory of the propeller-driven Skyraider against a North Vietnamese MiG-17 jet fighter, took place on Oct. 9, 1966 and involved four A-1Hs launched from the deck of the USS Intrepid (CV-11) in the Gulf of Tonkin flying as “Papoose flight.”

The flight was from the Strike Squadron 176 (VA-176) Thunderbolts and it was led by Lt. Cdr. Leo Cook, with Lt. Wiley as wingman, while the second section was led by Lt. Peter Russell with Lt. William T. Patton as wingman.

It was during the RESCAP (the REScue Combat Air Patrol, a mission flown to protect the downed pilots from ground threats) flight, that the “Spads” (as the Skyraiders were dubbed by their pilots) were attacked by four MiG-17s. This engagement ended with one Fresco confirmed as being shot down, a second as probably shot down and a third heavily damaged.

According to McCarthy, the MiG-17 kill was awarded to “Papoose 409,” the A-1H BuNo 137543, flown by Lt. Patton who, after having gained a position of advantage on one of the MiGs, opened fire with his four guns, hitting the tail section of the enemy jet. Patton followed the MiG which descended through the cloud deck and when Papoose 409 emerged from the clouds he spotted the enemy pilot’s parachute.

The U.S. Navy Skyraiders last combat tour took place from July 1967 to 1968 onboard USS Coral Sea (CV-43), but this versatile propeller aircraft continued to fly with the U.S. Air Force and with the Vietnamese Air Force until the end of the conflict thanks to its unparalleled capabilities in close air support.

https://theaviationist.com/2015/01/...r-victories-on-north-vietnamese-mig-17s/

I'm watching the same show.

I just found this article.



The Hawker Sea Fury was the Royal Navy’s last carrier based piston-engine fighter aircraft. With a top speed of 460 mph (740 km/h), the plane also enjoys the distinction of being the fastest propeller-driven fighter to serve in combat. While the Sea Fury was introduced to the Fleet Air Arm just weeks after Japan’s surrender in 1945, hundreds went on to see action in Korea where they performed both combat air patrols and ground attack missions. On Aug. 8, 1952, a Sea Fury from the carrier HMS Ocean engaged and destroyed a North Korean MiG-15. A naval lieutenant named Peter Carmichael scored the kill after his flight of four Sea Furies from 802 Squadron fell prey to eight MiGs over Nampo, North Korea. The Royal Navy fighters were returning to their carrier following a strike on an enemy rail yard. Carmichael, 29 at the time, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for the action. Yet according to one reader (see comments below), the famous dogfight and who exactly scored a victory remains mired in controversy. Sea Furies were also widely exported and eventually served in the navies and air forces of Canada, Australia, Burma, Holland, Pakistan and even Cuba. The plane last saw combat during the Bay of Pigs Invasion when a pair of Cuban Sea Furies attacked and sank the vessels Houston and Rio Escondido as the ships attempted to put anti-Castro ground troops ashore. Later that day, the same two fighters along with one more intercepted and destroyed a pair of CIA B-26 bombers.

I checked my P51 story. Actually, what happened is that F82s (twin mustangs with two fuselages) successfully emerged victorious from the first air combat in Korea. However, the commie planes were prop planes, not MIGs.

Worked with Skyraiders in Nam...my favorite by far. They carried lots of bad news and were pinpoint precise with delivery.

Americans have been shooting down jets with props since WW Twice.

We are just that good.

As Dan said, they were spectacularly accurate, and carried enough to bomb all week. Some of the very best were Vietnamese pilots who had flown thousands of combat sorties in it. We FACs soon learned to demand they drop one bomb at a time not in the usual pairs, because that one was always within a yard or two of the target.

(If you think that's a "So what?" you have never tried bombing.)

Chuck Yaeger wrote about that. P51s shot down ME262s by attacking them as they were returning to base and landing. At least Yaeger did.

Chuck Yeager shot down an ME-262 (Nazi jet) during WWII.

http://www.chuckyeager.org/me-262-shootdown/

One of the episodes of Dogfights covered the story of one of the Skyraider/ Mig fights.