Ричард Стивен Ритчи: Вьетнам соғысының асы және әуе күштерінің батыры

United States general

Brigadier General Richard Stephen Ritchie (born June 25, 1942) served as an officer in the United States Air Force and the Colorado Air National Guard, and a general officer in the Air Force Reserve. Ritchie joined Navy Commander Randy Cunningham as the only two pilots (along with three airborne weapon systems officers) among the five American aces during the Vietnam War. Ritchie is a recipient of the Air Force Cross, the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Air Force.

Ritchie was born June 25, 1942, in Reidsville, North Carolina, the son of an American Tobacco Company executive. He was a star quarterback for Reidsville High School, despite breaking his leg twice, graduating in 1960. In 1964, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science from the United States Air Force Academy, where, as a "walk on", he became the starting halfback for the Falcons varsity football team in 1962 and 1963, playing his final game in the 1963 Gator Bowl. Ritchie was described by his peers as being a jock, and by General Robin Olds, who admired him greatly, as being "brilliant" but thinking himself "God's gift" (cocky and egotistical). According to one of the intelligence officers of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ritchie was often lacking in self discipline, with a personal trademark of using too much Old Spice cologne. (Ritchie's retort was that the pilots' locker room was too odoriferous.) Professionally, Ritchie was a gifted and dedicated flyer who constantly maintained his skills by flying every two or three days. With consistently high performance evaluations, high scores in undergraduate pilot training and replacement training courses, and achieving a thorough understanding of the weapons systems he used, he earned opportunities to place himself in the forefront of USAF fighter pilots, where he became known for his "intelligent aggression".

Following his graduation from the U. S. Air Force Academy, Ritchie was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Air Force. In August 1964, he entered Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Laredo Air Force Base, Texas, and finished first in his class in 1965. His first operational assignment was with Flight Test Operations at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where he flew the F 104 Starfighter (he was one of the few Second Lieutenants selected to fly it). Two years later he transitioned into the F 4 Phantom II at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, in preparation for his first tour in Southeast Asia. Assigned to the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam in 1968, Ritchie flew the first "Fast FAC" mission in the F 4 forward air controller program and was instrumental in the spread and success of the program. He completed 195 combat missions. In 1969, he was selected to attend the Fighter Weapons Course at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, becoming, up to that point, the Air Force Fighter Weapons School's youngest ever instructor at age 26. He taught air to air tactics from 1970 to 1972 to the best USAF pilots, including Major Robert Lodge, who later became his flight leader in Thailand and himself shot down three MiGs. Ritchie volunteered for a second combat tour in 1972 and was assigned to the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. Flying F 4 Phantom IIs with the famed 555th ("Triple Nickel") Tactical Fighter Squadron he shot down his first Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 21 on 10 May 1972, scored a second victory on May 31, a third and fourth on July 8, and a fifth on August 28. All of the aircraft he shot down were MiG 21s, and all were shot down by the much maligned AIM 7 Sparrow radar guided air to air missile. Ritchie became the United States Air Force's first and only pilot ace of the Vietnam War. An advantage that the Triple Nickel pilots had over other US aircrews was that eight of their F 4D Phantoms had the top secret APX 80 electronic set installed, known by its code name Combat Tree. Combat Tree could read the IFF signals of the transponders built into the MiGs so that North Vietnamese GCI radar could discriminate its aircraft from that of the Americans. Displayed on a scope in the WSO's cockpit, Combat Tree gave the Phantoms the ability to identify and locate MiGs when they were still beyond visual range.

Ritchie's assignment on May 10, the first major day of air combat in Operation Linebacker, was as element leader (Oyster 3) of one of two flights of the F 4D MiGCap for the morning strike force. Oyster flight had three of its Phantoms equipped with Combat Tree IFF interrogators, and two days previously its flight lead, Major Robert Lodge, and his WSO Capt. Roger Locher had scored their third MiG kill to lead all USAF crews then flying in Southeast Asia. At 09:42, forewarned 19 minutes earlier by the EC 121 "Disco" over Laos and then by "Red Crown", the US Navy radar picket ship, the guided missile cruiser Chicago, Oyster flight engaged an equal number of MiG 21s head on, scattering them. Oyster flight shot down three and nearly got the fourth, but fell victim to a MiG tactic dubbed "Kuban tactics" after those of the Soviet World War II ace Pokryshkin, in which a GCI controlled flight of MiG 19s trailed so that they could be steered behind the American fighters maneuvering to attack the MiG 21s. Lodge was shot down and killed, despite clumsy flying by the MiG 19's. (He might have been able to eject, but had previously told his flightmates that he would not be captured because of his extensive knowledge of classified and sensitive information.) Almost simultaneously Ritchie and Capt Chuck DeBellevue, his WSO, rolled into a firing position behind the remaining MiG 21 of the original 4 with a radar lock, launched two Sparrows and scored a kill with the second. On May 31, Ritchie's second kill involved a tactical ruse in which the MiGCAP flights used the radio call signs of another wing's chaff deploying flights on a mission northeast of Hanoi. The fighters crossed into North Vietnam from over the Gulf of Tonkin north of Haiphong, and were warned by Red Crown of MiG 21s 40 mile (64 km) southwest of their position and headed towards them. Red Crown continued to call warnings, and when the MiGs were within 15 mile (24 km) and to their rear, Ritchie began a descending turn towards them. He observed them above him to his left front and continued his left turn until he was behind and below the trailing MiG. His WSO, Capt. Lawrence Pettit, acquired a "full system lock on" and Ritchie ripple fired all four AIM 7s the aircraft was carrying. The first went out of control to the right, the next two detonated early, but the last one struck the MiG in the cockpit and split its fuselage in two.