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* December 1969: A USAF ] ] (]). * December 1969: A USAF ] ] (]).


* 20 December 1969: A USAF ] ] (]). It is possible that due to Vietnamese pilots being unfamiliar with these drones this could have been a OV-10 Bronco whose both crewmembers perished which was shot down in the same area. * 20 December 1969: A USAF ] ] (]). It is possible that due to Vietnamese pilots being unfamiliar with these drones this could have been a ] whose both crewmembers perished which was shot down in the same area.



==References== ==References==

Revision as of 00:14, 30 March 2010

Template:Vietnamese name

File:Nguyenvancoc.jpg
Nguyen Van Coc and Ho Chi Minh

Nguyễn Văn Cốc (born 1943) was a North Vietnamese MiG-21PFL fighter ace of the VPAF's (also known as the NVAF-North Vietnamese Air Force) 921st Fighter Regiment.

Nguyen van Coc was born in the Viet Yen district, in Bac Giang province, north of Hanoi. When he was 5 years old his father, Nguyen Van Bay, who was Chairman of the Viet Minh in the district and his uncle who was also a member of the Viet Minh were killed by the French. Fearing further trouble with the French his mother relocated the family which lead to him spending the rest of his childhood near the Chu air base, which kindled an interest in aircraft.

He attended Ngo Si Lien school in Bac Giang and upon completion of his schooling he enlisted in the Quan Chung Khong Quan (Vietnamese People's Air Force, VPAF) in 1961 and underwent his initial training at Cat Bi Airbase in Hai Phong City. He subsequently undertook 4 years undergoing pilot training in Russia at the Batajsk and Krasnodov air force bases. Of the 120 trainees that had been dispatched in Nguyens’s draft to Russia he was one of the 7 that graduated as a MIG 17 pilot.

After a brief period back in Vietnam serving with the 921st Sao Do (Red Star) Fighter Regiment he returned to Russia and underwent conversion training to the MIG 21 in a two seat Mig-21U, before returning to the 921st Fighter Regiment in June 1965. He began operational flying in December 1965.

On 2 January 1967 he was among a group of pilots who fell into the trap set up by F-4 Phantoms of the 8th TFW. The American fighters flew to Hanoi using the same flight patterns and radio callsigns as F-105 fighter bomber formations. As a result the North Vietnamese fliers encountered interceptors armed with air-to-air missiles instead of fighter-bombers loaded with bombs. Coc was among the 5 Vietnamese pilots shot down, with all ejecting safely.

Flying a MIG-21PF, he normally served as a wingmen. He scored all his victories using the heat-seeking R-3S Atoll missile.

In 1969 he was awarded a Huy Hiew medal for each of his 9 claimed kills. The end of the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign on October 31 1968 removed the opportuntaries for further air combat. In that year was transferred from operational duties so that his valuable combat experience could be put to use in training new pilots. Among the pilots he trained was Nguyen Duc Soat who obtained five kills in during air combat in 1972.

After the war he remained with the Vietnamese National Air Force, retiring with the rank of Chief Inspector in 2002 after a period of bad health.


Air combat victories

Nine air to air combat kills of United States aircraft were credited to him during the Vietnam War. Of the nine aerial victories, seven of those losses have currently been acknowledged by the United States Air Force. While sometimes US forces may have attributed aircraft losses to surface-to-air missiles since it was considered "less embarrassing", in fact there was often doubt about cause of the loss. Coc also claimed an F-4 Phantom and F-105 Thunderchief in November and 17 December 1967 but there are no corresponding American losses.


The following air to air combat kills, while flying the MiG-21, have been credited to Van Coc by the VPAF (aka NVAF):

  • 30 April 1967: The USAF F-105D piloted by Robert A. Abbott of the USAF 355th TFW. This was his first air victory and occurred while he was acting as a wingman to Nguyun Ngoc Do, who also downed an aircraft.
  • 23 August 1967: The USAF F-4D (serial number 66-0238, of Major Charles R. Tyler (pilot) and Captain R. N. Sittner (WSO) of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Tyler was captured and Sittner was killed.
  • 9 October 1967: The USAF F-105D piloted by Clements.
  • 18 November 1967: The USAF F-105F of Oscar Dardeau (pilot) and Edward Leinhoff (WSO).
  • 20 November 1967: The USAF F-105D piloted by Butler.
  • 3 February 1968: The USAF F-102A piloted by 1st Lt. Wallace L. Wiggins of the 509th FIS/405th FIW.,
  • 23 February 1968: The F-4D of Guttersen (pilot) and Donald (WSO).
  • 7 May 1968: The USN F-4B of Lt. Cdr. Christiansen (pilot) and Lt Kramer (RIO) of the VF-92 flying from the USS Enterprise.
  • 20 December 1969: A USAF AQM-34 Firebee (unmanned aerial vehicles). It is possible that due to Vietnamese pilots being unfamiliar with these drones this could have been a OV-10 Bronco whose both crewmembers perished which was shot down in the same area.

References

  1. Davies, page 48.
  2. Davies, page 48.
  3. Davies, page 48.
  4. http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/PROJECT/VFAP.htm. VPAF Ejections during the SEA conflict to the present in chronological order. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  5. Davies, page 48.
  6. Gordon, Yefim "MiG-21" ISBN 978 1 85780 257 3
  7. Vietnamese Air-to-Air Victories, Part 1
  8. Vietnamese Air-to-Air Victories, Part 2
  9. http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_245.shtml. Air Combat Information Group - IndoChina Database. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  10. http://www.navoine.ru/en/rubrics/vietnam/2. Nguyen Van Coc: A Lurking Tiger over Vietnam’s Jungle. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  11. http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_245.shtml. Air Combat Information Group - IndoChina Database. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  12. http://www.navoine.ru/en/rubrics/vietnam/2. Nguyen Van Coc: A Lurking Tiger over Vietnam’s Jungle. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  13. http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_245.shtml. Air Combat Information Group - IndoChina Database. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  14. http://www.navoine.ru/en/rubrics/vietnam/2. Nguyen Van Coc: A Lurking Tiger over Vietnam’s Jungle. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  15. http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_245.shtml. Air Combat Information Group - IndoChina Database. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  16. http://www.navoine.ru/en/rubrics/vietnam/2. Nguyen Van Coc: A Lurking Tiger over Vietnam’s Jungle. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  17. Davies, page 48.
  18. http://www.navoine.ru/en/rubrics/vietnam/2. Nguyen Van Coc: A Lurking Tiger over Vietnam’s Jungle. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  19. http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_246.shtml. Air Combat Information Group - IndoChina Database. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  20. http://www.navoine.ru/en/rubrics/vietnam/2. Nguyen Van Coc: A Lurking Tiger over Vietnam’s Jungle. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  21. Davies, page 60.


Further Reading

  • Davies, Peter (2008). F-4Phantom II vs Mig-21 - USAF & VPAF in the Vietnam War. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978 1 84603 316 2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |Pages= ignored (|pages= suggested) (help)


External links


See also

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