Col. 'Toon' or 'Tomb' was a myth, a composite of three or more VPAF pilots, and exagerrated by many after Cunningham/Driscoll.
Yes I tried as hard as I could to kill them, just as they tried to kill me. Some of them were indeed good. Some may have been ringers. Today I find myself a bit interested about them and their tactics. Objectively comparing notes long after a life and death struggle - a professional debrief, if you will.
This article below article gives an interesting perspective:
Nguyen Van Bay and the Aces From the North
"As an F-4 Phantom pilot, I had tried to kill these men. And they had tried to kill me. I thought it was time we had a talk."
By Ralph Wetterhahn
I have no idea how many aces they had, nor do I really care. I do know we lost a lot of guys to some of them that we should not have.
The Global Security organization weighs in:
"...Flying Soviet fighters like the MiG-17, and -19, the VPAF produced over a dozen aces, while the Americans managed just two pilots and three navigators (sic)...."
There are reasons for this discrepancy of the opposing number of aces, but it was not because of the dedication, talent, or training after TOPGUN of our fighter pilots.