Who was the only ace from the U.S. Navy in the Korean War?

Guy Bordelon was the only ace from the U.S. Navy in the Korean War. He achieved ace status by shooting down five enemy aircraft, the standard threshold for an aerial ace.

Bordelon flew the F4U-5NL Corsair, a propeller-driven night fighter, with Composite Squadron 3. Operating from USS Princeton and nearby bases, he specialized in intercepting North Korean aircraft that attacked United Nations positions after dark.

His fifth victory came during the night of July 16–17, 1953, when he shot down a North Korean Lavochkin fighter near Seoul. All five of his victories were scored at night, making him the Korean War’s only American night ace and the only U.S. ace of the conflict to achieve that distinction in a piston-engine aircraft.

A common mix-up is confusing Navy and Marine Corps aces: the Korean War also produced notable Marine and Air Force aces, but Bordelon was the sole U.S. Navy aviator to reach ace status during the war. He later continued his naval career and retired after more than two decades of service.