Dan Hampton has flown 151 combat missions in his career (Image: Dan Hampton Facebook)
A former top US fighter pilot has told the Express that he and many of his retired colleagues are ready to take to the skies again to help Ukraine defeat Vladimir Putin‘s Russia.
Dan Hampton has been described as the “best F-16 pilot in American history” and has 151 combat missions to his credit.
The 61-year-old retired lieutenant colonel graduated from Fighter Weapon School, which he described as being like “Navy Top Gun School on steroids”.
He has fought in every major campaign the US Air Force has taken part in since 1991, including both Gulf Wars.
The former Top Gun pilot described the current conflict in Ukraine as the most significant since World War II and said he and his colleagues were ready to do their bit to stop Putin.
“There’s a group of us, very highly experienced combat veteran F-16 pilots, that if our government ever decides to clarify its policy regarding Americans fighting in Ukraine then we will certainly go do what we can,” he said.
The first batch of F-16s were delivered to Ukraine in August (Image: Getty)
He continued: “I have never sat on the sidelines during any war during my life, so it’s a bit frustrating for this one, because it really matters.
“The ones I fought in were debatable, but this is a true black-and-white struggle. The last one I can think of that was this black and white was World War II.
“And if Putin isn’t stopped now, then, you know, you can figure out any number of nasty scenarios that could occur. So this is worth fighting for, and I’m willing to do it.”
The major obstacle for Dan and his veterans is a legal one, which could see them being prosecuted and potentially facing a jail term.
The Neutrality Act dating from 1794 prohibits US citizens from making war against foreign governments at peace with Washington and carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
The law, which could technically apply to volunteer military action against Russia, was used to prosecute Americans involved in an attempted coup in Gambia in 2014.
Dan said that he and his colleagues needed guarantees from the White House that they would not face any legal prosecution if they went to Ukraine.
“We’re still under quasi government authority, so they could prosecute us,” he explained.
“They could stop pensions and they could harass our families. They could do all kinds of things. I don’t think they would because it’d be really bad press but they could still do it.
Putin has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons (Image: Getty)
“So until that policy gets clarified, then we really can’t do much more than advise from a distance, which is frustrating for most of us.”
Russia has continually accused the West of escalating the war in Ukraine through its supply of modern weapon systems such as the F-16.
Moscow noted that the fighter jets could potentially be armed with nuclear weapons and said they would view the delivery of the planes as a “purposeful provocation”.
Putin also recently updated Russia‘s nuclear doctrine, giving the Kremlin greater scope to deploy its atomic arsenal as it ratches up pressure on the West over its support for Ukraine.
Dan, however, dismissed Russian threats to deploy its nuclear weapons as pure propaganda, insisting the West needed to “man up”.
“Oh to hell with the Russians,” he said. “You know they rely on propaganda so I think they believe their own propaganda.
“When Putin comes out and he says stuff like ‘nuclear this and nuclear that’, we just kind of chuckle here because he wouldn’t even get off the ground against us in a nuclear war.
“Nor do I think is he crazy enough to do that. Or if he was, I don’t think the people that are standing in the shadows behind him would let him do that because they realise the consequences.
“So the nuclear rhetoric, I think you can dismiss the threats about retaliation for us supplying them. That’s just blatant hypocrisy.
“The West needs to basically man up a little bit and ignore whatever it is he’s threatening and just do the right thing where Ukraine is concerned. When you give somebody a weapon, they can use it however they wish.”