As an F-4 pilot during Vietnam I had studied and trained extensively on how to fight a MiG-17. Unfortunately I never actually got the chance to fight one in real life in that war.
Ironically in later years during the constant-peg-secret-migs-in-the-desert program I finally got to fly against a MiG-17, now with an F-14 instead of an F-4 that I flew in Vietnam.
Although the F-14 was a quantum jump over the F-4 in Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM), the little MiG could still out-turn even the F-14.
Therefore, when fighting the MiG-17 with the F-14, one needed to use the same tactics against it as with the venerable F-4. This meant relying on the much greater thrust and speed of your fighter, and using vertical rather than horizontal maneuvering against the limited but tight-turning MiG.
Source: John Chesire (Quora)
