Lonnie Ortega Aviation Art

Frame Size: 19" x 25" ~ autographed in pencil by: Steve Ritchie & Charles DeBellevue. Comes with a COA.

McDonnell/Douglas F-4D "Phantom II"

Capt. Steve Ritchie born in Reidsville, NC on 25 June, 1942, Richard Steven (Steve) Ritchie entered the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1960. Upon graduation on 3 June 1964, he entered pilot training at Laredo AFB, TX. Initially assigned to flight test operations at Elgin AFB, FL, flying the F-4 Pantom II at Homestead AFB, FL. By then a captain, in 1968 Ritchie flew the first “Fast FAC” mission in the F-4 forward air controller program out of DaNang Air Base, South Vietnam. In 1969 he completed the F-4 Fighter Weapons School at Nellis AFB, NV and became one of the youngest instructors in the history of the school. Ritchie volunteers for a second combat tour in January 1972 and was assigned to the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron (“Triple Nickel”) of the 432nd Tactical Fighter/Reconnaissance Wing in Thailand. Flying with Capt. Charles D. DeBellevue as his “backseater,” he downed a MiG-21 40 miles northwest of Hanoi on 10 May and was credited with his second MiG-21 on 31 May. A low-altitude dogfight 30 miles west of Hanoi on 8 July gave him two more MiG-21s, and on 28 August he destroyed a fifth MiG-21 to become the Air Force’s only ace pilot of the Vietnam War and America’s only MiG-21 ace. Ritchie received the 1972 Mackay Trophy for the most significant Air Force mission of the year and the Colonel James Jabara Award from the Air Force Academy and in 1973 he was presented the VFW Armed Forces Award for outstanding Air Force professionalism and leadership. Leaving active duty in April 1974, Ritchie remained in the Air Force Reserves and became active in his own business as a speaker and consultant, advocating the free-market economy in all spheres of American life. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Reserves in April 1994.

Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue, flying as a weapon systems officer in a 555 TFS F-4, shot down his fifth and sixth enemy plane. He became the first non-pilot ace in the USAF. For this feat, DeBellevue shared the 1972 Mackay Trophy with Capts. Richard S. "Steve" Ritchie and Jeffrey S. Feinstein. During Linebacker strikes on September 9, 1972, a flight of four F-4Ds on MiGCAP west of Hanoi shot down three MiGs. Two were MiG-19s downed by Capt. John A. Madden, Jr. and his WSO Capt. DeBellevue. For Madden, the victories constituted his first and second MiG kills, but for DeBellevue they were numbers five and six, moving him up as the leading MiG destroyer of the war and elevating him to "Ace" status. When DeBellevue acquired the MiGs on radar, the flight maneuvered to attack. Madden and DeBellevue made the first move. They got a visual on the MiG about 5 miles out on final approach with his gear and flaps down. Getting a lock on him, they fired missiles but they missed. They were coming in from the side-rear and slipped up next to that MiG no more than 500 feet apart. He got a visual on us, snatched up his flaps and hit afterburner, accelerating out. It became obvious we weren't going to get another shot at the MiG. DeBellevue describes the next two engagements as follows: "We acquired the MiG's on radar and positioned as we picked them up visually. We used a slicing low-speed yo-yo to position behind the MiG-19's and started turning hard with them. We fired one AIM-9 missile which detonated 25 feet from one of the MiG-19's. We switched the attack to the other MiG-19 and one turn later we fired an AIM-9 at him. I observed the missile impact the tail of the MiG. The MiG continued normally for the next few seconds, then began a slow roll and spiraled downward, impacting the ground with a large fireball." Madden and DeBellevue returned to their base thinking they had destroyed only the second MiG-19. Only later did investigation reveal that they were the only aircrew to shoot at a MiG-19 which crashed and burned on the runway at Phuc Yen that day. That gave them two MiG-19 kills for the day and brought DeBellevue's total to six MiG kills, the most earned during the war. During his combat tour, DeBellevue logged 550 combat hours while flying 220 combat missions, 96 of which were over North Vietnam. His skill as a weapon systems officer was recognized when he and the other two Air Force "Aces", Ritchie and Feinstein, received the 1972 Mackay Trophy. He also received the Veterans of Foreign Wars' Armed Forces Award and the Eugene M. Zuckert Achievement Award.