Aces, Front and Rear
 
 
The F-4 Phantom was designed as a two-seat aircraft to permit the
full use of its complex electronic equipment.  This created a
problem in tallying dogfight victories.  In World War I, both the
pilot and his gunner were given credit for kills scored by
two-seat aircraft; after the war, this was changed to a shared
victory, which meant that each was credited with only a portion
of the kill.  During Vietnam, Air Force Chief of Staff General
John J. Ryan declared that both the pilot and the "GIB"
("Guy-in-the-back-seat") would be awarded full credit for each
aerial victory. 
 
When the two-seater F-4 entered combat, there arose the awful
specter that a "Wizzo" (Weapons System Officer), not a pilot,
might become the leading ace.  That's exactly what happened. 
Captain Charles de Bellevue (top), an exceptionally talented
Weapon Systems Officer,  scored six victories.   At the time,
Captain Steve Ritchie was the leading Air Force pilot ace with
five victories.  De Bellevue was in the  back seat on four of
Ritchie's victories, even though it was not standard practice to
repeatedly crew the same pilot and WSO together. 
 
The upshot of the controversy was a fervent request by the pilots
that the next generation of fighters be single-seaters.  In the
McDonnell Douglas F-15 and General Dynamics F-16, the work of the
WSO is now done by computers.