Major General Mai Văn Cường (born 1941) was a

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, De ...

pilot of the

Vietnam People's Air Force The Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF, ), formally refers itself as the Air Defence - Air Force (ADAF, ) or the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF, ), is the Air force, aerial warfare service branch of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North V ...

, he flew with the 921st fighter regiment and tied for second place amongst

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

fighter aces with eight kills. 20-year-old Mai Van Cuong began training as a

MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...

pilot in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

from 1961-64, advancing to the MiG-21 from 1965-66, and has acquired a unique distinction of being the 'top drone-killing pilot of the Vietnam War', achieving no less than six kills over US Ryan 147 Firebee/Lightning Bug drone; his victory-claims list including the kills officially acknowledged by the VPAF is as follows:Toperczer, 2015, pp. 67, 145. * 08 October 1966,

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

F-105 Thunderchief The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American supersonic fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Viet ...

, US-side does not confirm; * 28 April 1967, USAF F-105D Thunderchief, pilot Caras (

KIA Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

); * 16 May 1967, Firebee/Lightning Bug UAV drone; * 30 September 1967, USAF F-105 Thunderchief, US-side does not confirm; * 07 October 1967,

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

, damaged; * 19 June 1968, Firebee/Lightning Bug UAV drone; * 03 September 1968, Firebee/Lightning Bug UAV drone; * 20 September 1968, Firebee/Lightning Bug UAV drone; * 09 February 1969, Firebee/Lightning Bug UAV drone; * 24 June 1969, Firebee/Lightning Bug UAV drone.

References

Bibliography

* North Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War Living people North Vietnamese Vietnam War flying aces Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 1941 births {{Vietnam-mil-bio-stub

See also

References

Bibliography