Brigadier General Richard Stephen Ritchie

Image: TVR Photography - Tyson Rininger

Richard Stephen Ritchie was born June 25, 1942, in Reidsville, North Carolina. He was a star quarterback for Reidsville High School and graduated in 1960. In 1964, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science from the United States Air Force Academy.

Following his graduation, Ritchie was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and in August of 1964, entered Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Laredo Air Force Base, Texas, and finished first in his class. His first operational assignment was with Flight Test Operations at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where he flew the F-104 Starfighter, and two years later transitioned into the F-4 Phantom II at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, in preparation for his first tour overseas.

Ritchie was assigned to the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing at Da Nang Air Base in 1968, where he flew the first "Fast FAC" mission in the F-4 forward air controller program, completing 195 combat missions.

In 1969, Richie was selected to attend the Fighter Weapons Course at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, becoming the Air Force Fighter Weapons School's youngest-ever instructor at 26 years of age. Richie taught air-to-air tactics from 1970 to 1972 to the very best of USAF pilots.

In 1972, Ritchie volunteered for a second combat tour in Vietnam and was assigned to the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. Flying F-4s with the famed 555th ("Triple Nickel") Tactical Fighter Squadron where he shot down his first Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 on 10 May 1972, then a second MiG-21 on May 31, then a third and fourth on July 8, and a fifth on August 28, making Richie the USAF's first and only pilot ace of the Vietnam War.

First and Second Kill -

On May 10, 1972, the first major day of air combat in Operation Linebacker, Richie 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. 

Triple Nickel pilots had an advantage over other US aircrews due to some of their F-4Ds being equipped with the top-secret APX-80 electronic set, known as Combat Tree, which possessed the ability to read the IFF signals of the MiGs' transponders, which were displayed on a scope in the WSO's cockpit. Combat Tree gave the Triple Nickel Phantoms the ability to identify and locate MiGs while they were still beyond visual range.

09:42, armed with info provided by the EC-121 "Disco" over Laos and then by "Red Crown", the US Navy radar picket ship, the guided missile cruiser USS Chicago, Oyster flight engaged a number of MiG-21s head-on, scattering them. Oyster flight shot down three and nearly got the fourth. Sadly, Lodge was shot down and killed after falling victim to a trailing formation MiG strategy dubbed "Kuban tactics"  Almost simultaneously, Ritchie and Capt Chuck DeBellevue, his WSO, rolled into a firing position behind the remaining MiG-21 with a radar lock, launched two Sparrows and scored a kill with the second.

On May 31, Ritchie scored his second kill involving a clever tactical strategy where the MiGCAP flights used the radio call signs of another wing's chaff-deploying flights on a mission northeast of Hanoi. As the fighters crossed into North Vietnam from over the Gulf of Tonkin, they received a warning by Red Crown of inbound MiG-21s 40 miles southwest of their position. Red Crown continued their enemy aircraft advisories. When the MiGs were within 15 miles, Ritchie began a descending turn to engage the enemy MiGs 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. One missed, then the next two AIM-7s detonated early, but the last one struck true, splitting its fuselage in two.

3rd Kill

On July 8 Ritchie and Capt DeBellevue were leading "Paula" flight, in gun-equipped F-4Es instead of the Combat Tree F-4Ds they usually flew, on a MiGCAP to cover the exit of the strike force. Now just west of Phu Tho and south of Yen Bai, the EC-121 vectored them to intercept enemy MiG-21s attempting to return to base after damaging one of the US chaff escorts. Disco warned them that the MiG return had "merged" with the Paula flight's return on his screen. Ritchie reversed his course, observing the first MiG at his 10 o'clock position and turned left to meet it head-on.

Ritchie passed the first, recalling the events that cost Lodge to be brought down, waited to see if there was a trailing MiG attempting once again to utilize the "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. His suspisions were confirmed when he observed the second MiG, which he also passed head-on, then reversed hard left to engage. The MiG turned to its right to evade the attack, and Ritchie used a vertical separation move to gain position on its rear quarter. DeBellevue obtained a solid boresight (dogfighting radar lock) while at the MiG's 5 o'clock; and although fired from the very edge of their flight envelopes, both AIM-7s struck home.

4th kill

The first MiG turned back and attacked the last F-4 in Ritchie's flight from behind, an often fatal consequence to US aircraft employing the then-standard "fluid four" tactical formation. Ritchie turned hard across the curving intercept of the MiG, coming out at its 5 o’clock position, and the MiG, broke hard right and dove away. Ritchie quickly fired an AIM-7 from inside its minimum range and its capability to turn. Expecting a miss, Richie was too close for missiles and switched to guns was trying to switch to a guns when unexpectadly, the AIM-7 found its target destroying the MiG, in only 1 minute and 29 seconds after the first kill.

In July of 1972, after suffering the loss of 7 USAF F-4 Phantoms to enemy fighters, the Seventh Air Force added a second Disco EC-121 to its airborne radar coverage, positioning it over the Gulf of Tonkin.

Pictured: MiG-killers head for a pre-mission briefing at Udorn. Capts. DeBellevue and Ritchie (front row), and Col. Baily and Capt. Feinstein (back row). (U.S. Air Force photo)

Fifth Kill

 August 28, 1972, Richie was leading "Buick" flight, a MiGCAP for a strike north of Hanoi flying the very same F-4D, AF Ser. No. 66-7463, in which he had scored his first kill.

Red Crown, now the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS Long Beach, alerted the strike force to "Blue Bandits" (MiG-21s) 30 miles southwest of Hanoi, “Buick” flight approached the area of the reported contact at 15,000 feet, Ritchie recalled recent Linebacker Intel information that MiGs had returned to using high altitude tactics and suspected the MiGs were high. Buick and Vega flights, both of the MiGCAP, flew toward the reported location.

DeBellevue picked up the MiGs on the Phantom's onboard radar and, using Combat Tree, positioned the MiGs 10 miles behind Robin Olds' flight of MiGCAP fighters attempting to return to base. Ritchie called in the contact to give a warning to Old's flight. Ritchie, concerned that MiGs might be high above them, made multiple requests for altitude readings to both Disco and Red Crown.

Richie received location, heading, and speed data on the enemy MiGs who were now attempting to return north at high speed to their base. Buick flight closed to within 15 miles of the MiGs. Radar painted the MiGs dead ahead and high at 25,000 feet. Ritchie ordered the flight of Phantoms to light afterburners. DeBellevue warned Ritchie they were closing fast. About the same time, Ritchie saw the MiGs himself heading in the opposite direction

Richie commenced his attack in a climbing turn, bringing him behind the MiG-21s with his AIM-7 guidance radar locked on, as he received continual range updates from DeBellevue. With his Phantom attempting to make chase of the fast-moving homeward-bound enemy fighters, Ritchie launched two Sparrows from over 4 miles, out of the firing parameters and out of the missiles' performance envelope, in a last-ditch attempt to influence the MiGs to turn and shorten the range. Both shots missed and failed to get the MiGs to turn. Seconds later, tracking one MiG visually by its contrail, Ritchie fired his last remaining two Sparrows at long range. The first Sparrow missed. The MiG entered an evasive hard turn, shortening the range, and was struck by the second missile. Now low on fuel, Ritchie disengaged, electing not to pursue the second MiG-21.

"My fifth MiG kill was an exact duplicate of a syllabus mission (at Fighter Weapons School), so I had not only flown that as a student, but had taught it probably a dozen times prior to actually doing it in combat."

Described by his fellow peers as a jock, and by famed General Robin Olds, who admired Richie, as being "brilliant" but thinking himself "God's gift” to aviation. According to some at the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron was often lacking in self-discipline. Richie also carried the reputation of using far too much Old Spice cologne. (Ritchie claimed this was his response to the pilots' locker room was too odoriferous.)

Ritchie was a gifted combat pilot who constantly sharpened his skills by flying as often as possible, resulting in consistent high performance evaluations, high scores in undergraduate pilot training, accompanied by a thorough understanding of the weapons systems he utilized, Richie conspicuously managed to place himself in the forefront of USAF fighter pilots, where he became known for his "intelligent aggression"

Air Force Cross
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star
Distinguished Flying Cross
Meritorious Service Medal
Air Medal
Mackay Trophy
Jabara Award

Captain, U.S Air Force

555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

Date of Action: August 28, 1972