Top Gun Meets Top Secret Codeword

A living naval aviation legend finally gets the recognition he deserves – along with an explanation of why his remarkable deed was kept secret for over a half-century

This week, Royce Williams became the most famous U.S. Navy fighter pilot since Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Both men are Navy captains, but two things set them apart. First, Williams is entirely real, unlike the fictional Mav. On top of that, Williams is preparing to turn 98 years old in a couple months.

Nevertheless, in a remarkable turn of events, on Friday he was awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest decoration for valor in the naval service, in San Diego by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. Retired Captain Williams got his Navy Cross seven decades after the event which made him quietly famous in naval aviation circles – yet which was suppressed for decades. Until after the Cold War ended, the public knew nothing about what Williams did.

His story began modestly enough. Born in South Dakota in 1925, Elmer Royce Williams enlisted in the Navy to fight the Second World War and wound up in schools. He got his coveted “wings of gold” designating him as a naval aviator the month the war ended. Williams, who stayed in the Navy, would have to wait for the Korean War to see action.

In the autumn of 1952, as that conflict dragged on, then-Lieutenant Williams was a fighter pilot flying the F9F Panther off the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. As part of Task Force 77, the Oriskany’s air squadrons supported United Nations (in practice, mostly American) air strikes on North Korea, with jet fighters like the F9F providing escort for bombers. Their missions frequently encountered Communist fighters, especially the feared MiG-15, a Soviet jet fighter that was a match for any Western fighter of the day.

On November 18, 1952, Williams took off the Oriskany on his second mission that day, headed for the northeastern corner of North Korea, near the Yalu River, close to both Red China and the easternmost Soviet Union. They were flying straight into the hornet’s nest. Before long, Williams heard from American air controllers that a group of bogies – MiGs – was headed their way. Williams vectored his group of four Panthers directly towards the enemy, and soon they spotted seven MiG-15s flying thousands of feet above them. Williams climbed, heading towards the fight, but soon the other three Navy pilots dropped out due to mechanical issues. Williams chose to take on seven MiGs alone – a recipe for a fast and certain death.