Mugs McKeown 1st Top Gun Commander Passes

[tbarlow]

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/new ... commander/

Former Navy Capt. Ronald E. "Mugs" McKeown, a decorated fighter pilot who was the first commanding officer of the elite Top Gun academy, died Nov. 21 in a Hillcrest care facility. The cause was complications associated with Parkinson’s disease. He was 76.

Mr. McKeown, whose boxing prowess earned him the nickname "Mugs," was chosen to command the newly commissioned Navy Fighter Weapons School, popularly known as Top Gun, in 1972. The training school began informally just two years earlier in a converted trailer at the former Naval Air Station Miramar to teach Vietnam War pilots air-to-air combat tactics necessary to defeat MIG attacks. He was one of the program’s first instructors.

Taking command of the program allowed him to teach jet pilots the tactics he had been honing for years.

He took part in the first air strikes against North Vietnam in 1964, flying F-8U Crusader and F-4B Phantom aircraft. While on deployment, he was chosen for test pilot and astronaut training and went on to serve as chief test pilot and tactics manager of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four. There, he was in charge of engineering changes to the radar-homing Sparrow missile, developed tactical maneuvers for the F-4 Phantom, and gained invaluable cockpit knowledge flying Soviet-built MIG fighter planes.

The experience would serve him well. While leading a patrol north of Hanoi in 1972, he and his wingmen were attacked by six enemy aircraft. A lengthy battle saw Mr. McKeown and his radar interception officer Lt. John Ensch use a defensive tactic that tumbled their jet end-over-end. During the fight, they shot down two MIG-17s.

The men were awarded the Navy Cross for their actions, though Mr. McKeown would not accept the medal until Ensch, who was shot down and captured during another mission, was released from being a prisoner of war and the two could be honored together.

Ronald E. McKeown was born June 17, 1939, in Pipe Stone, Minn., the only child to Roy and Ella McKeown, and grew up in west Texas.

Mr. McKeown was a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who was accepted to three Ivy League schools. At the Naval Academy he excelled in football as a running back alongside Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino in the 1961 Orange Bowl, and in boxing as the undefeated light-heavyweight Champion of the Brigade of Midshipman for three years. He was a 1960 Olympic boxing team hopeful.

He commanded Top Gun for three years before being assigned to other leadership stations, including F-14 Tomcat Project Officer at Naval Air Systems Command, chief of staff for operations with Commander Carrier Group Eight, the battle group that developed electronic warfare tactics and procedures used in Desert Shield, Desert Storm and other conflicts in the Middle East, and chief of staff and executive assistant to the Chief of Naval Material. In addition to the Navy Cross, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and Distinguished Flying Cross.

Following his Navy career, in which he flew 440 combat missions over Southeast Asia and logged nearly 1,000 carrier landings, Mr. McKeown worked in the defense industry for McDonnell Douglas and served as Mayor Susan Golding’s military affairs adviser.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Lauree of Chula Vista; two daughters, Laura Hill of Jamul and Rhonda Hasley of Del Mar; and two granddaughters.

A memorial service was held at Miramar National Cemetery. The family suggested donations to the San Diego Parkinson’s Association’s singing group the Tremble Clefs or the Tailhook Education Foundation.

christine.huard@sduniontribune.com

[35_aoa]

Fair winds and following seas!

Those guys were larger than life. Have had the honor of meeting a couple others from that initial cadre of instructors, and they certainly lived up to the legend. Not to mention that many were bonafide MIG killers, guys who also flew right into some of the most heavily defended territory imaginable, and lived to tell (and teach) the lessons. Our success in the air in Desert Storm, Allied Force, and Iraqi Freedom owes a lot to their legacy and what they put together in that little trailer in 1969.