10 July 1965 -“The first USAF aerial victory of the Vietnam War was on July 10, 1965, when F-4Cs, flying from Ubon Air Base in Thailand, shot down two MiG-17s.”(2)
“The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II[N 1] is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.
Proving highly adaptable, it first entered service with the Navy in 1961 before it was adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force. By the mid-1960s it had become a major part of their air arms. Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981 with a total of 5,195 aircraft built, making it the most produced American supersonic military aircraft in history, and cementing its position as an iconic combat aircraft of the Cold War.
“Speed is life” was F-4 pilots’ slogan.””
Source: Wikipedia; Air Force Magazine – Against the MiGs in Vietnam By John T. Correll, Oct. 1, 2019