Vietnam War: Did the North use fighter jets much?

My brother was stationed on an ammunition supply ship during his time in the navy. One time he mentioned that “MiGs almost got them” one one occasion.

Likely? (I was just kid at the time, so it never occurred that it might not be true.)

The MiG 17, MiG 19 and MiG 21 were all used in the war. So your brother’s story is certainly possible.

It seems as if the NV air force got a lot of help in the form of Soviet and North Korean pilots.

It seems as if most of the planes which scored air-to-air victories were MiG-21s, but there was also a smattering of MiG-17s and even a few Chinese MiG-19 knockoffs (J-6) which saw successful action.

This article gives a sense of the number and tactics involved, regarding Migs, in Vietnam:
http://www.acepilots.com/vietnam/viet_aces.html

Check also the American side regarding American ace Richard “Steve” Ritchie:
http://www.acepilots.com/vietnam/ritchie.html

Other attacks (none by Migs?) to US military merchant shipping during the war:
http://www.usmm.org/vietnam.html

This Russian site has more info on attacks to American ships, but it does not sound impartial at all:
http://dzampini.boom.ru/Vietnam/GreenSnakes.htm

I also think your brother’s story is likely to be true.

…I seem to recall that the Vietcong themeselves (not the NVA) only made one air strike themselves…in three captured AT-37s, around the time of the fall of the south.

At the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, there is a B-52 bomber on display which shot down a Mig in Vietnam.
http://airwarvietnam.com/migkills.htm

If I recall correctly, the early NV successes in dogfighting were partly responsible for the formation of the Top Gun dog fighting school in the Navy and the Red Flag dogfighting school in the Air Force.

There is an article in the most recent issue of Flight Journal about a C-130 refueling plane that managed to evade and destroy a MiG 21 in Vietnam.

Great magazine, and they have a web site too:

[Nitpick]

The USS Oklahoma City was not a destroyer. It was a guided-missile cruiser, CLG-5.

My dad was the communications officer on the Oklahoma City in the 1960s. CLG-5 was the flagship of the 7th Fleet at the time, and traded those duties with USS Providence (CLG-6). Both ships were, IIRC, Boston-class light cruisers that were upgraded to fire surface-to-air missiles. Oklahoma City carried Talos missiles, while Boston carried Terrier missiles.

[/Nitpick]