Jeffrey Feinstein

Jeffrey Feinstein

Lieutenant Colonel (USAF Retired) Jeffrey S. Feinstein was a career officer in the United States Air Force. In 1972 during the Vietnam War, while flying as a weapon systems officer (WSO) aboard F-4 Phantom IIs, Feinstein downed five enemy aircraft, thereby becoming a flying ace, the last ace produced by the USAF in the Vietnam War.

Born in Chicago, Illinois on January 29, 1945, Feinstein enlisted in the Air Force in 1963 to attend the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School. He subsequently entered the United States Air Force Academy in 1964 and graduated in 1968. His actions, for which he received multiple awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross and Silver Star for his first four kills and the Air Force Cross for his fifth kill, took place prior to and during Operation Linebacker in 1972 while Feinstein, assigned to the 80th TFS, was detached to the 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron, part of the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, based at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.

His nickname/tactical callsign was "Fang." Having originally been designated as an Air Force Navigator, he was given a vision waiver after Vietnam (Feinstein wore glasses to correct mild nearsightedness to 20/20), sent to Undergraduate Pilot Training and redesignated as an Air Force pilot in the fighter community.

Feinstein subsequently served as an F-4 pilot with the 526th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ramstein Air Base, West Germany in the mid-1970s. From 1977 to 1978, he was assigned to Maxwell AFB, Alabama as a student at the Air Command and Staff College, followed by another flying assignment with the 31st Tactical Training Wing at Homestead AFB, Florida. Reassigned to the 9th Air Force staff at Shaw AFB, South Carolina in the 1990s, Feinstein also flew as Airborne Command Element Director aboard E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from August 1990 to February 1991.

Lt Col Feinstein retired from the U.S. Air Force on 1 Jul 1996. In addition to his Command Pilot wings, Navigator wings, and Parachutist wings, Lt Col Feinstein is also entitled to wear the Air Force Cross, Silver Star (4 awards), Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat "V" (5 awards), Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal (4 awards), Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and numerous unit, expeditionary and service awards.