The only confirmed supersonic air-to-air gun kill is credited to a hotshot U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom II pilot named Maj. Phil “Hands” Handley.
Some airpower pundits consider guns—more specifically cannons—to be an outmoded weapon for a fighter plane, especially with the fifth-generation jets fighters’ combination of stealth and supersonic speed. Indeed, China’s entry into the fifth-generation fighter arms race, the Chengdu J-20 Weilong (“Mighty Dragon”), omits the cannon altogether.
However, the philosophy of “better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it” explains why the fifth-generation fighters of the United States (the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II) and Russia still retain their guns. Meanwhile, as we at The National Interest reported back on February 13, 2025, a Ukrainian Air Force F-16 scored two out of its six Russian cruise missile shootdowns with its cannon.
That said, to find the world’s only confirmed supersonic air-to-air gun kill in history, one has to go all the way back to the Vietnam War and a hotshot U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom II pilot named Maj. Phil “Hands” Handley.
(As an aside, Israeli F-4 Phantom drivers also scored their fair share of gun kills, and against supersonic-capable MiG-21 “Fishbed” fighters to boot. However, it’s unclear if any of those Fishbeds were traveling past Mach 1 speed at the time of their cannon-induced demises.)
A Historic Engagement in the F-4 Phantom
The initial inspiration for this story came from the Showtime 112 channel on MSN, specifically a video posted on or about April 9, 2023, titled “Supersonic Gun Kill – Historic Audio (Vietnam, 02 June 1972).” For further detail, I turned to the U.S. Air Force’s Veterans In Blue info page:
“While leading a four-ship of F-4Es in a combat air patrol on June 2, 1972, northeast of Hanoi, Vietnam, [Maj. Handley’s] element was attacked by two MiG-19s [NATO reporting name “Farmer”]. After firing all of his AIM-7 and AIM-4 missiles, which failed to guide, he destroyed a MiG-19 with a three-second burst from his 20mm M-61 Gatling gun. His aircraft was traveling at Mach 1.2, or almost 4.5 football fields per second, while only 500 feet above the ground.”
A July 7, 2023, article in We Are the Mighty adds that “300 rounds from the Phantom lit up the MiG-19, which exploded into a flying ball of fire.” Making an already-impressive feat even more impressive, it was a high-deflection shot, which is difficult enough to do in a subsonic dogfight, let alone a supersonic one. In the process, “Hands” was credited with the highest-speed air-to-air gun kill in the history of aerial combat. In his own words:
“I’m just a representative of all the men and women of the Air Force. I’ve been face-to-face with the hunter and I’m honored to still be here and a part of the Air Force today.”
Gun Success Necessitated by Missile Failures
One of the ironies of then-Maj. Handley’s gun kill being scored at the controls of an F-4 Phantom is the fact that the initial versions of the Phantom lacked a gun (bringing us back to the “better to have it than not need it” truism)! Meanwhile, his need to resort to guns as a fallback plan after his missiles missed served as a damning implication of the poor accuracy and reliability of the AIM-4 Super Falcon heat-seeking missile and AIM-7 Sparrow semi-active radar-guided missiles alike; the AIM-7 had a measly 10 percent probability-of-kill (PK) during the Vietnam War, and the AIM-4 was even worse, with a 5 percent PK.
(In fairness, the Sparrow would be much improved by the 1991 Persian Gulf War, aka Operation Desert Storm, but still left much to be desired compared with the success of the AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared missile and, later on, the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, aka the “Slammer”).
Col. Handley In Memoriam
Phil Handley ended up logging an aggregate total of 275 combat flight hours in two tours of duty in the deadly skies over Vietnam. He retired from the U.S. Air Force on June 1, 1984, with the rank of full-bird colonel after twenty-six years of faithful service, with an impressive array of awards and decorations that included twenty-one Air Medals, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Silver Star.
Sadly, Col. Handley passed away on March 1, 2019, at the age of eighty-three. His body was cremated, and his ashes were laid to rest with full military honors at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
R.I.P. in fighter pilots’ Heaven and God bless, Col. Philip Winston “Hands” Handley, ‘til Valhalla.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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