{"id":72040,"date":"2025-01-25T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/01\/25\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:28:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:28:53","slug":"the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2025\/01\/25\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\/","title":{"rendered":"The real \u2018Viper\u2019: This Top Gun instructor notched a rare combat feat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Randall H. Cunningham, the sole U.S. Navy ace pilot of the Vietnam War, called him \u201cthe greatest guy I trained under,\u201d and subsequently flew practically alongside him during Operation Linebacker. In the 1986 film \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2020\/12\/01\/7-little-known-facts-about-top-gun\/\" target=\"_blank\">Top Gun<\/a>,\u2019 he served as a consultant and made an appearance, although his call sign, \u201cViper,\u201d was sported by another actor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time of his death at age 82 on June 23, 2024, Rear Adm. Kenneth W. \u201cPete\u201d Pettigrew had reserved himself a special spot in Navy legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pettigrew was born on Feb. 3, 1942, in Glencoe, Illinois. In 1960, he entered Stamford University in Connecticut, where he excelled in swimming and water polo. Graduating with a degree in biological science, he also studied in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program, which set him on his life\u2019s calling at Naval Air Station Pensacola as an ensign in October 1964. He began flight training in December, moving up from the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor turboprop to the turbojet North American T-2A Buckeye.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/12\/28\/at-103-this-p-51-mustang-pilot-could-soon-become-wwiis-last-ace\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/342-FH_001717.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">At 103, this P-51 Mustang pilot could soon become WWII\u2019s last ace<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">James McCubbin, 103, is under consideration for recognition as a WWII ace for shooting down enemy aircraft in his P-51 Mustang.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Qualifying as a jet pilot in June 1966, Lt. j.g. Pettigrew was assigned to the replacement fighter squadron VF-121 \u201cPacemakers\u201d at Naval Air Station Miramar, California. From there, he transferred from the Pacific Fleet Replacement Center for McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs bound for the Pacific, before moving to VF-151 Vigilantes\u201d aboard the aircraft carrier Coral Sea for the first deployment in the Tonkin Gulf, from April 1967 to February 1968. He followed that with a second tour from July 1968 to February 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pettigrew then returned to VF-121 at Miramar as an instructor pilot and senior landing signal officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During that time, he also served as an instructor in air-to-ground and air-to-air combat in the newly formed U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School at Miramar \u2014 a training outfit soon to be more widely known as Top Gun. It was during this time Pettigrew acquired his \u201cViper\u201d call sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December 1971, Pettigrew transferred to Carrier Air Wing 11 aboard the carrier <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2022\/01\/18\/uss-kitty-hawk-headed-for-the-scrapyard\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kitty Hawk<\/a>, where he was promoted to lieutenant commander in March 1972 and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for leading a strike on a North Vietnamese petroleum, oil and lubricant facility near Quang Nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Pettigrew\u2019s apogee of fame came on May 6, 1972, as he piloted an F-4J Phantom of VF-114 \u201cAardvarks\u201d with Lt. j.g. Michael McCabe as his radar intercept officer, or RIO, and Lt. Robert Hughes and RIO Lt. j.g. Adolph Cruz on a barrier combat air patrol over North Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soon after a rendezvous above their control ship, the missile cruiser Chicago, an accompanying F-4J\u2019s radar malfunctioned and its wingman escorted it back. The two remaining Phantoms carried on with Hughes in the lead, since Pettigrew discovered neither of his radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles and only two of his four AIM-9G Sidewinder heat-seekers were functioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite those handicaps, when Cruz reported unidentified radar bearing 330 degrees at 35 miles distance they went after what proved to be four North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s in a tight \u201cwelded wing\u201d formation at a lower 4,000-foot altitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019re shooter, I\u2019m cover,\u201d Pettigrew radioed, \u201cLet\u2019s engage!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hughes launched an AIM-9G Sidewinder heat-seeking missile at the \u201ctail-end Charlie,\u201d which blew off wing and tail sections and left a hole in the fuselage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGood shot! Good shot!\u201d Pettigrew exclaimed, following the MiG down until satisfied it was going nowhere else, before rejoining Hughes, who launched two more Sidewinders at a remaining MiG, neither of which guided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Encouraged by McCabe\u2019s assurance that the other two retiring MiGs were in no position to present a threat, Pettigrew launched one of his AIM-9s, saw one of Hughes\u2019 missiles explode next to the fleeing MiG, then saw his own go up its tailpipe a fraction of a second later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evading fragments, Pettigrew saw the enemy pilot eject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At that point, left with missiles of questionable reliability, Pettigrew and Hughes decided to quit while they were ahead and make their way to Kitty Hawk. The two were awarded Silver Stars for their double victory. Hughes, who survived the war, died in a fatal collision with another aircraft on Jan. 30, 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2024\/01\/12\/a-third-top-gun-movie-is-in-the-works\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-30-at-10.43.00-AM.png.png?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">A third \u2018Top Gun\u2019 movie is in the works<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Paramount recently announced it reached a deal for \u201cTop Gun 3.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pettigrew\u2019s success marked him as the only Top Gun instructor to put his training to practical use against an enemy plane. Just two days later, on May 8, one of his earlier pupils, Lt. Randy \u201cDuke\u201d Cunningham, was credited with a MiG-17, which he shared with his RIO, Lt. j.g. Willie Driscoll Jr. as their second of an eventual five victories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In November 1972, Kitty Hawk steamed homeward. By then, Pettigrew had flown 325 combat missions in three deployments, earning the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, 30 Strike\/Flight Air Medals and two Navy Commendation Medals with \u201cV\u201d devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He resigned his regular Navy commission in August 1973, but continued in the Naval Reserve, commanding VF-302 at NAS Miramar from January 1980 to January 1982, and advancing in quick succession to captain and rear admiral. He served as a reserve deputy in the Atlantic Fleet before resigning from the service entirely in January 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the civilian world, Pettigrew served as a technical consultant for Paramount Pictures from 1983 to 1986 during the filming of \u2018Top Gun.\u2019 Although he played a short role in it, his call sign was lent to Tom Skerritt\u2019s character, Mike \u201cViper\u201d Metcalf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pettigrew also worked at Pacific Southwest Airlines (later U.S. Airlines) until 2002 and frequently worked as a San Diego Air and Space Museum docent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pettigrew died June 23, 2024. His family ceremoniously delivered his cremated ashes to their final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He left behind a significant contribution to a wartime statistic: Of 58 MiGs downed by U.S. Navy aircraft over Vietnam, 25 were vanquished by graduates \u2014 and one instructor \u2014 of the Top Gun school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rear Adm. Kenneth W. \u201cPete\u201d Pettigrew\u2019s Vietnam success made him the only Top Gun instructor to put his training to practical use against an enemy plane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,91,12,25,19,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3228],"class_list":["post-72040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SI27XD4WQNBLDGZNS5FWO4YIAY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2025\/01\/25\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The real \u2018Viper\u2019: This Top Gun instructor notched a rare combat feat - Marine Corps Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rear Adm. 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Kenneth W. \u201cPete\u201d Pettigrew\u2019s Vietnam success made him the only Top Gun instructor to put his training to practical use against an enemy plane.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2025\/01\/25\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Marine Corps Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-25T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T16:28:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon Guttman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon Guttman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"The real \u2018Viper\u2019: This Top Gun instructor notched a rare combat feat\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-01-25T14:00:00+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T16:28:53+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 956,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/L36-03.10.03.tif_.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Military History\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Veterans\",\n\t                \"Your Marine Corps\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/marinecorpstimes\\\/news\\\/your-marine-corps\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/25\\\/the-real-viper-this-top-gun-instructor-notched-a-rare-combat-feat\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"The real \u2018Viper\u2019: This Top Gun instructor notched a rare combat feat - 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