JANUARY 19- Lieutenants Randall Cunningham and William Driscoll in an F-4 of VF-96 off Constellation shot down a MiG-21, the first enemy aircraft downed since 28 March 1970, when Lieutenants Jerome Beaulier and Steven Barkley in an F-4  of VF-142 off Constellation downed a MiG-21.

The 19January action occurred during a protective reaction strike in response to earlier AAA and SAM firings from the area which had menaced an RA-5C reconnaissance plane and its escorts. This accounted for the Navy's 33rd MiG shot down in the Vietnam war since the first on 17 June 1965, downed by Commanders Louis Page and John Smith in an F-4 of VF-21 off Midway.