Colonel Tomb

Colonel Tomb, also Nguyen Toon (Nguyễn Tuân) or Colonel Toon was a mythical North Vietnam Air Force fighter ace loosely based on a North Vietnamese pilot from the 921st Fighter Regiment named Nguyen Van Coc.

According to legend, he was killed in action on May 10, 1972, by the U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom crew of pilot Lt. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and radar operator Lt.(jg) William "Irish" Driscoll.

Photos of a North Vietnamese MiG-17 with the tail number 3020 bearing numerous red victory stars contributed to the rumor, and was occasionally identified as the Colonel's aircraft.

[2] Complex psychological factors have also contributed to the creation of the story of the epic aerial duel against the alleged high-ranking Vietnamese fighter ace and his demise.

[6] Like all combat-ready VPAF MiG-17s, these were painted a green and brown camouflage by 1967, and were affectionately called con rắn (snakes) by their ground crew.

(jg) Willy Driscoll's F-4, and although the MiG-17 pilot Do Hang was able to eject, he was then killed by 20mm gunfire from American fighter/attack aircraft making strafing passes at him while descending underneath his parachute; two more MiG-17s were shot-down by the F-4s of Lt.

[8][9] The F-4s however, now flying about 10 km north of Hải Dương, were intercepted by a pair of MiG-21MFs piloted by Vu Duc Hop and Le Thanh Dao of the new 927th FR whom were effectively vectored by GCI against the Phantoms; Vu Duc Hop and Le Thanh Dao each firing R-3S "Atoll" missiles at their selected targets, had found their marks respectively against the F-4s of Lt. Cunningham/Lt.jg Driscoll and Cdr.

[16][17][10][18][19] The story of the epic aerial combat duel between North Vietnamese MiG-17 pilot Colonel Tomb and the American F-4 crew of Lt. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Lt.(jg) William P. Driscoll was popularly featured with CGI-based reenactment of the battle scenes on The History Channel in the premiere episode of the 2006 television series Dogfights.