This 'Top Gun' shot down 4 soviet jets in 30 minutes and kept it a secret for 50 years. He was just awarded the Navy Cross.
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- 10 years before Tom Cruise was born, America had a real-life 'Top Gun."
- In 1952, Royce Williams took on seven soviet jets alone and shot down four of them.
- The operation was classified for 50 years, but on Friday Royce was awarded the Navy Cross.
Royce Williams was awarded one of the highest awards for combat valor in the United States military on Friday for a mission that had been classified for more than 50 years, several outlets reported.
In 1952, Williams was a lieutenant Navy Pilot during the Korean war, NBC 7 reported. Operating an F9F Panther – the Navy's first jet fighter, Williams and three other aviators were sent on a combat air patrol in the Sea of Japan, about 100 miles off the North Korean coast, CNN reported.
The group came across seven Soviet jets heading toward them.
"They just didn't come out of Russia and engage us in any way before," Williams said in a 2021 interview with the American Veterans Center.
The group began to shoot at the soviet jets but after a while, Williams noticed that he was the only American left and he took on the soviet jets alone. Despite being outnumbered, shot down four of the jets before returning to safety, CNN reported.
"I was just like a machine," Williams now 97-year-old told NBC 7.
Williams told the American Veterans Center that he knew that the soviet jets were the best fighter jets at the time and that his jet was not meant for "aerial dogfights," but he was in one and did what he was trained to do. The incident lasted about half an hour.
The "top gun" was then sworn to secrecy about what happened because the US government decided to classify the operation, NBC 7 reported. Those records were eventually declassified about 20 years ago.
"I was on automatic, I was doing as trained," he said.
—KUSI News (@KUSINews) January 21, 2023
On Friday, he was awarded the Navy Cross. NBC 7 reported that Rep. Darrell Issa alongside several naval officers has petitioned the Pentagon to upgrade Williams Silver Star for the mission.
"Williams is … a Top Gun pilot like no other, and an American hero for all time," Issa said, according to KUSI.
In a video message posted by KUSI, actor Tom Cruise, who played the pilot fighter Maverick in the Top Gun series congratulated Williams. Williams's dogfight with the soviets took place 10 years before Cruise was born.
"You are a true American hero and I offer you my most sincere thanks and congratulations," Cruise said.
During the ceremony, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said William's application "stood out above all others. It was very clear to me that his actions were truly extraordinary and more closely aligned with the criteria describing a higher medal," CNN reported.
"Freedom does not come cheap," Del Toro said. "It comes through the sacrifice of all those who have and continue to serve in today's military. Your actions that day kept you free. They kept your shipmates free in Task Force 77. Indeed, they kept all of us free."