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Signatures on this item | |
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
Name | Info |
Brigadier General Richard Steve Ritchie *Signature Value : £25 | Born in June 1942 during World War Two, Steve Ritchie graduated and was commissioned from the USAF Academy in June 1964. He flew his first combat tour in Vietnam in 1968 on Fast FAC operations, before transferring to the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing for his second tour. It was with the 555th TFS - the famed 'Triple Nickel' Squadron, that he achieved Ace status. His first kill came on 10th May 1972 when he downed a MiG-21 forty miles south west of Hanoi, with his second a few weeks later just thirty miles south of the Chinese border. At the beginning of July he downed two MiG-21s west of Hanoi. It must have been his lucky area for on 28th August he scored his fifth and final victory in the same spot, thus becoming the only pilot Ace of the Vietnam War in the USAF, and the last US pilot to achieve Ace status. |
Captain John Madden *Signature Value : £20 | Flying his first combat mission on 5th October 1965, leading fighter pilot John Madden flew three combat tours in Vietnam, notching up an impressive record of 3 kills and 1 damaged, flying F-4 Phantoms. On 28th August 1972 he was part of the same mission when Steve Ritchie made Ace status. That same year Madden led over 50 combat flights and he never lost a wingman. Flights under his leadership accounted for 5 enemy aircraft downed, and 1 damaged. He left Vietnam in 1975, and retired from the USAF in 1984. On Sept. 9, DeBellevue was flying with Capt. John Madden Jr. when they were making a turn to withdraw following an encounter with a lone MiG. That's when two MiG-19s swarmed in for an attack. 'We acquired the MiGs on radar and positioned as we picked up on them visually,' DeBellevue recalled later. 'We used a slicing low-speed yo-yo to position behind the MiG-19s and started turning hard with them. We fired one AIM-9 missile, which detonated 25 feet from one of the MiG-19s. We then switched the attack to the other MiG-19 and one turn later we fired an AIM-9 at him. I observed the missile impact the tail of the MiG. The MiG continued normally for the next few seconds, then began a slow roll and spiraled downward, impacting the ground with a large fireball. Our altitude was approximately 1,500 feet at the moment of the MiG's impact.' Madden and DeBellevue returned to their base thinking they had destroyed only the second MiG-19. An investigation, aided by the testimony of another aircrew, revealed that they were the only aircrew to shoot another MiG-19 which crashed and burned on the runway at Phuc Yen that day. DeBellevue was asked how he felt about becoming an ace. 'I feel pretty good about it. It's the high point of my career,' he said at the time. 'There's no other job that you have to put out as much for. It's frustrating, and yet when you do shoot down a MiG, it's so rewarding.' |
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