A New Era in Aerial Warfare Began During the Korean War

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That measure of success had not been achieved without sacrifice. Even without air opposition, the Allied squadrons were taking heavy losses to ground fire. By the middle of October, the 8th Fighter Group had lost 26 pilots, including the commanders of all three of the squadrons–the Mustang-equipped 35th and 36th and the F-80-equipped 80th.

On October 9th, HMS Theseus relieved HMS Triumph and commenced operations with her two squadrons of Fireflies and, in place of the Seafires, Hawker Sea Fury FB-11 fighters.

Late October 1950 found U.N. forces at the Yalu River and American squadrons able to operate out of Pyongyang, less than 250 miles from the Yalu. The Mustang outfits of the 18th Wing were being joined by South African unit, No. 2 Squadron, SAAF. But ominous reports were coming in of scattered but growing numbers of Chinese troops massing along the border. The Chinese government declared them to be "volunteers" sent to assist their North Korean comrades; be that as it may, Peking had no intention of tolerating a hostile American army on her border.

On November 1, Yak-3 fighters–nimble, wooden lightweight relatives of the Yak-9–flew over the Yalu to have a go at the Mustangs of the 67th Squadron, only to lose two of their number to Captains Robert D. Thresher and A.R. Flake.

On that same day, four Mustangs from the 18th Wing were working with a T-6 that was engaged in forward air control duties a few miles north of Sinanju when, without warning, they were jumped by six swept-wing jet fighters. It was immediately apparent that the Mustangs would have no chance of outrunning such aircraft, so they wisely limited their response to evasive action. The enemy aircraft soon concluded that they could not turn inside the Mustangs, broke off, and returned to their Manchurian air base.

The bloodless encounter near Sinanju was the harbinger of a turning point in aerial combat. The Communist aircraft were Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s, the latest addition to the Soviet arsenal. If such modern fighters were being committed to the fighting in Korea, they represented a threat to U.N. air superiority that could not be ignored. Certainly the four Mustang pilots, fortunate though they had been to emerge unscathed from their first encounter with the MiGs, were not about to dismiss the potential of the new enemy jets.

Over the next few days, Communist piston-engined fighters began to cross the Yalu with greater aggressiveness. The arrival of the MiGs may have inspired their pilots to such a renewed effort, but they could not give them greater skill. On November 2, Captain Flake of the 67th downed a Yak-9–his second kill in as many days–as did 1st Lt. James L. Glessner of the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. On November 6, Mustangs of the 67th had yet another run-in with Yak-9s, during which Captain Howard Price downed one and teamed up with 1st Lt. Harry S. Reynolds to get another.

In the days that followed, reports of massive Chinese infiltration across the Yalu River became cause for concern. MacArthur ordered bombing attacks against the Yalu bridges.

Those operations brought the MiGs out in force. On November 7, five different flights of Mustangs flying close to the Yalu were attacked. As one 4-plane flight from the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron was on routine patrol, four MiGs were seen to take off from their base at Antung and bank south. Almost before the Americans knew it the MiGs were upon them, shooting at them in a series of looping passes. Maneuvering for their lives, the Mustang pilots instinctively tried to catch the jets at the bottom of their loops and begin scoring hits. Major Ken Carlson scored several hits on a MiG, and his men reported an explosion on the ground during the wild dogfight, after which only three MiGs were seen retiring over the Yalu. No one had been able to witness an actual crash, so Carlson was given a "probable." Despite the ineffectiveness of their fighting passes, Lieutenant Lee Gomes noted ominously that the flying skills of the MiG pilots were much better than those of the Yaks encountered earlier.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Airborne Operations, Historical Conflicts, Korean War

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