On 4th April 1965 the USAF tried to take down the Thanh Hóa bridge, this time with a force composed of 48 Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs belonging to the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, loaded with bombs. The Thunderchiefs were escorted by a flight of F-100 Super Sabres belonging to the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron. The Thunderchiefs were ambushed by four MiG-17Fs of the 921st Fighter Regiment, which came from above, bypassed the F-100s and dove into the Thunderchiefs themselves shooting two of them down. One F-105D was shot down by the group leader Tran Hanh of Maj. F.E. Bennett. His element leader Le Minh shot down another F-105D piloted by Cpt. J.A. Magnusson. When the F-100 engaged them, one MiG-17F piloted by Pham Giay (Tran Hanh's wingman) was shot down and killed with the guns after a Sidewinder missile failed. After that action, Tran Hanh stated that at least three of his pilots were shot down by USAF fighters.
Of the four MiGs that attacked, only Tran Hanh survived and those three aircraft shot down were the first American aerial victories of the Vietnam War.
In 1965 the North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF) had just 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of pilots which were increased to 180 MiGs and 72 pilots by 1968. This contrasts with the American numbers of at least 200 F-4 Phantoms and 140 F-105s just from the USAF, plus at least 100 US Navy aircraft (F-8, A-4 and F-4s) which operated from various aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
The MiG-17F was the main interceptor of the weak NVAF in 1965, which was responsible for the first aerial victories of the war and saw extensive use during the Vietnam War. Some Vietnamese pilots preferred the MiG-17 over the MiG-21 given its agility although being slower. In fact, three of the NVAF's aces of the war, flew the MiG-17. Those were Nguyen Van Bay (seven victories), Luu Huy Chao and Le Hai (both of them with six victories each) and the rest of their aces gained the ace status flying the MiG-21.
The MiG-17F flew their interceptor with ground controller's guidance who directed the MiGs to ambush American formations. The MiGs made fast attacks from many directions, while the MiG-21 attacked usually from behind. After shooting down some American aircraft and forcing the F-105Ds to drop their bombs prematurely, the MiGs didn't wait for retaliation but disengaged quickly, performing some sort of "guerrilla warfare" in the air, which proved very successful.
Although the MiG-17 wasn't designed as a fighter bomber, the NVAF stated in 1971 that American warships were to be attacked, requiring some MiG-17s to be fitted with bomb mounting and releasing mechanisms. Two MiGs were modified for this role and, after three months of works, they were ready. They belonged to the 923rd Fighter Regiment and, on 19th April 1972 they attacked the destroyer USS Higbee (DDR-806) and the light cruiser USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5), destroying destroyer's main aft 5" gun, inflicting no fatalities, as the crew had already evacuated the turret due to a malfunction.
From 1965 until 1971 the MiG-17s belonging to either the 921st or 923rd Fighter Regiments would claim 71 aerial victories, while losing 63 MiG-17s in combat.
Overall, thanks to its agility, the MiG-17 was feared and it shocked American fighter pilots in 1965 to the point that some exercises were performed by the USAF to simulate dogfights between an F-86H and either a F-100 or a F-105 and they reached to the conclusion that, in a dogfight, the more modern fighters were very vulnerable to a subsonic one like the MiG-17 was.
The MiG-17 continued serving until the end of the Vietnam War and they were phased out almost immediately after when they were replaced by more types like the Sukhoi Su-22.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17#Vietnam_War
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Osprey Publishing- Aircraft of the Aces 130 - MiG-17-19 Aces of the Vietnam War
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