Who is Captain E Royce Williams? Tom Cruise congratulates REAL LIFE Top Gun on Navy Cross
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: Tom Cruise thanked Captain E Royce Williams for the bravery that he depicted to fight against seven enemy aircraft in 1952 as a solo fighter. "You are a true American hero and I offer you my most sincere thanks and congratulations," said Cruise as the captain gets awarded Navy Cross.
According to KUSI, Captain fought seven Soviet MiG-15 fighter jets during one 35-minute battle over North Korea on November 18, 1952. The solo fighter fought against four jets before escaping to land his heavily damaged F9F-5 Panther jet on a US aircraft carrier. However, the pictures of the encounter are not stored in any US archives.
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Tom Cruise congratulated and thanked Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams for his bravery in 1952 when he faced seven enemy aircraft and was the sole survivor.
— KUSI News (@KUSINews) January 21, 2023
Today, E. Royce Williams was awarded the Navy Cross, the highest Navy award for valor. https://t.co/nlId2pMIcx pic.twitter.com/IEr9sW73OR
Who is Captain E Royce Williams?
Williams grew up in Roberts County and also in South Dakota. His father was a grocer and a veteran of the First World War. According to SDPB, he said in an interview, "I didn’t realize the fortunate life I had. The openness … everybody friendly – looking after one another … go out and learn to swim, learn to shoot. We used to play a lot of cowboy and Indian games and run around all over as long as you came back before the lights came on in the summer before dinner. It was wonderful."
He further added, "Well I have chaps and kind of a cowboy outfit. I was very interested in being a cowboy at one point. We had Whipple Ranch quite nearby. They were famous for putting on rodeos and county fairs throughout North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. And I had a cousin that worked at the ranch. But, I got pretty good with the lasso and I’d lasso kids in the summer. And my oldest son – I taught him too – and by age eight he’d have kids running by and give ‘em rope burn…hahaha!"
In 1943, he forayed his career into the US navy. Later on, Williams was qualified on Corsairs, however, he had a great desire to fly the F9F Panther jet. He was also gifted with opportunities to experiment and fly high with several types of fighter aircraft. He stated, "I actually have some models and pictures around my house. I have an affection for it because I went through some severe times with it and it was like a dress-heeled horse. It got me through. Grumman made a great dependable product and where it was great at delivering weaponry it was also very good at surviving."
Williams stated that he was asked not to talk about the fight that happened in 1952. He stated, "I was told not to talk about it and I just accepted it. Matter of fact, other things came along and since it wasn’t going to be mentioned I more or less put it out of my mind."
However, in an interview with Aviation Geek Club, he explained the situation during the 1952 encounter. “We were just going through 26,000 feet when the Russians split up and dove out of the contrail layer,” Williams remembered, adding, “The first ones came at us from the right side in a four-plane formation and opened fire. I pulled into a hard-climbing left turn and came around on the Number Four MiG. I fired a burst and hit him solidly in the rear fuselage. He went down smoking, and my wingman then followed him, leaving me alone.”
The captain also added, “They had me cold on maneuverability and acceleration – the MiG was vastly superior on those counts to the F9F. The only thing I could do was out-turn them.”
Later, he stated, “Finally, the leader and his wingman went off to the right and I went after the section leader of the plane I’d shot down. He pulled up into the sun and I lost him, then I saw the leader and his wingman come around for a diving attack. I turned into them and fired at the leader. He turned away and the wingman rolled down on me and we went past belly-to-belly as I raked him with a long burst. He caught fire and went down. The section leader then came around and I turned into him and fired at him practically point-blank and he went down. The leader then came around again and I fired and parts came off him as he dove away.”
Williams also noted, “As I maneuvered to avoid the wreckage, I porpoised to try and clear my tail. I was tracking another wounded MIG when I suddenly spotted one of the other two as he slid in on my six. He fired a burst with his 37mm cannon and hit me in the wing. The shell went into the engine area and messed up the hydraulic unit in the accessory section. I suddenly lost the rudder and flaps and only had partial aileron control. The only thing that really worked were the elevators. I dove toward the cloud deck below at 13,000 feet, and he was 500 feet behind me and still shooting all the way down. It seemed like it was taking forever to drop that 10,000 feet! My wingman finally got back in the fight and came in on the MiG and he pulled away as I went into the clouds.”
Further, he stated, “They counted 263 holes in the airplane, mostly from 23mm hits and some 37mm hits, including the one in the wing that went into the engine accessory section. If it had been six inches forward, it would have hit the spar and blown my wing off. Eight inches to the rear and it would have blown up the engine. I had fired off all 760 rounds of 20mm I had aboard. I wouldn’t have had a chance if I hadn’t been armed with those cannons.” He currently lives in a mountainside home in Escondido’s Hidden Meadows community.