Mike wrote:

Did United States air and naval air forces actually engage in that
many Dogfights with North Vietamese aircraft during the Vietnam war ?

Several hundred. Just in the Dec. 1971 - January 1973 period, Red Baron
lists 127 combat incidents.

Where did these planes take off from ? Bases in China ?

Bases in the DRVN, although there may have been some combat missions
launched from Chinese bases. U.S. sources claim that Chinese bases were
used as dispersion fields and emergency recovery fields.

Guy