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Gibson was Korea ace, combat hero, and leader

When retired Col. Ralph D. “Hoot” Gibson died Jan. 2 in Tucson, Ariz., the nation lost a combat leader and air ace who was universally liked and admired.

Gibson died suddenly while conducting his Arizona real estate business. He fell while showing a buyer a piece of property and struck his head, The Associated Press reported Friday.

In an October interview with the one of authors of “History in Blue,” Gibson talked about how he loved flying the P-47N Thunderbolt — the ultimate long-range World War II fighter. He expected to be part of an Allied invasion of Japan. But when the war ended before he saw combat, he made the difficult decision to remain in uniform during the lean postwar years.

Gibson was born in 1924. He graduated from flight school in 1944 as a flight officer and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1946 while participating in the occupation of Japan.

Gibson moved from props to jets, beginning with the F-80 Shooting Star. When the Korean War began in 1950, he requested combat duty. He flew the F-86 Sabre with the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Kimpo Air Base, Korea.

From December 1950 to July 1953, the Sabre fought the Soviet-designed MiG-15 in history’s only purely air-to-air campaign between fighters. For the first year, the MiG pilots were Russians, some of them World War II aces. Initially, at least, the MiG enjoyed slightly better performance while Sabre pilots had slightly more experience. As a first lieutenant, Gibson entered battle with 1,792 hours of pilot-in-command fighter time, an extraordinarily high total.

Gibson and his buddies racked up the most lopsided score in air combat history, downing nine MiGs for every Sabre lost in action. One reason, experts believe, is that the Americans stayed on combat duty longer while the Soviets rotated pilots quickly.

Gibson was credited with a probable kill and with damaging a MiG-15 before being credited with shooting down two MiG-15s on June 17, 1951 — the second after his gunsight failed and his flight element was greatly outnumbered.

He then embarked on what Air Force magazine called “the hottest streak in jet fighting history”: He was credited with shooting down one MiG-15 each July 11, Sept. 2 and Sept. 9. That last aerial victory earned him the coveted status of ace — a pilot with five kills. By then, Gibson also had been awarded the Silver Star twice.

In recent years, as Soviet records have become more accessible, some historians have claimed the U.S. exaggerated its aerial victories. Other experts say the Soviet version, not the U.S. one, is wrong. The Air Force and the American Fighter Aces Association recognize Gibson as the third American to become an ace in Korea.

After flying the F-100 Super Sabre, Gibson transitioned to the F-4 Phantom II. As a lieutenant colonel, he commanded the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Ubon, Thailand, in 1967 and 1968, and he flew 105 combat missions over Vietnam. He became a colonel in 1968 and retired in 1974.