KOREAN AIR WAR

THE STORY FROM THE OTHER SIDE

PART I
Sašo Knez, Slovenia
Diego Fernando Zampini, Argentina

In the sky above Northern Korea U.N. pilots encountered a vast array of piloting skills with the enemy
pilots. They believed that the good pilots were Soviet. They named them Honchos.

This article mostly focuses on the deeds of the Soviet pilots and their commanding officers. It is not an
attempt to recount all the victories and losses of U.N. or United Air Army, while in turn it only gives a
much more accurate overview of the aerial warfare. But to fully understand Korea in first place we must
pick up things in the immediate post war Soviet Union.

THE PAINS OF THE POST WAR VVS AND THE BIRTH OF THE SOVIET JET FLIGHT

24th April 1946 was a great day for Soviet Aviation. The MiG-9, the first domestic jet fighter powered
with two British jet engines took-off and successfully completed its maiden flight. A. N. Grinchik piloted
the MiG. Only few hours later M. I. Ivanov lifted the second jet fighter-the Yak-15 of the Zhukovsky
tarmac. With this day the Soviet jet aviation was born.
The basic test flight programme was successfully completed but not without accidents. One MiG-9 was
lost killing test pilot "Lyosha" Grinchik. The aircraft and the pilot were quickly replaced and a new
informal world record was set with the MiG-9 achieving M 0.79.
The first trio of Soviet jet fighters compromising of the MiG-9, Yak-15 and the La-150 were ready. The
concept of jet flight was then accepted into the VVS1. But there was a certain clandestine around the
testing of these examples and later on the pre-production series of the type. This was broken only with an
article in the VVS bulletin titled "The particularities of jet pilotage". In this article Mark Gallay soothed
the fighter community with the assurance that there is really no great effort needed to master the first
generation of Soviet jets.
But these very first generation jets were
rather experiments then true fighting
machines. Test pilot Stepan A. Mikoyan
explains:
"To start the engine of those early jets,
the mechanic would first pull the cord
(like in an ordinary motorboat) of the
small auxiliary engine, which acted as a
starter for the main power plant. The
service life of those engines did not
exceed twenty-five hours before
overhaul. Their fuel consumption was
much larger then that of the piston
MiG-9 developed as a stop gap, but the MiG-15 lines are already evident.
(Stepan Mikoyan) engines, while the fuel tank capacity of
these jet, particularly the Yaks, was not
so large. To prolong the engine’s service life and to save on fuel we would glide down the final with
engine shut out (something hard to believe today) – we would cut it off on the final when sure that the
aircraft would touch down at, or close to the landing ‘T’. After that there was no way back; another circle
was out of the question. In the MiG, which had two engines, one of them was shut down even earlier, on
the base leg. At the end of the landing run we would turn off the runway to where a towing truck was
waiting to take the aircraft back to the departure end of the strip, where the engine would be restarted for
another flight. Another peculiarity of the MiG-9 was its tendency to ‘rear’ if you abruptly released the
brakes at maximum power at take-off (because the jetwash that ran under the fuselage rarefied the air
under the tail). To avoid its sinking on its tail, the brakes had to be released gradually."
Soon after the student of Frunze Academy, but otherwise triple Hero of the Soviet Union and the second
ranking allied ace Aleksandr I. Pokryshkin visited the jet flight test unit.
The chief test pilot for the MiG-9 Mark Gallay was his guide around the new aircraft:
"He carefully examined the exterior of the MiG-9, then he climbed into the cockpit and sat there for a
long time. Then he started asking me questions very slowly. I wasn’t able to answer many of them from
the top of my head. The purely technical aspects of jet flight had occupied me in such an extent that I
didn’t even start contemplating the tactical and tactical-exploitative aspects.
Time will come when we will have to deal with them too"
And this time indeed came, but unfortunately the resulting problems were not optimally resolved. But
there was another more important leap that the West enjoyed over the Soviet Union. While the Soviet
scientist and engineers could base their aircraft on captured Jumo or Nene turbines, the license for which
was won over a snooker game, they couldn’t exploit the greatest asset of the now dead Luftwaffe, namely
tactical expertise. Among the group of pilots and leaders that survived probably the greatest war in the air
there was a distinct aptitude towards the West. When confronted by an intelligence officer the statement
Generalleutnant Galland is the epitome of this very reasonable inclination:
"I am of the opinion that Germany has lost the war but the future of all Europe lies in the hands of the
Allies. I have no place to go and no desire to go anywhere. I will be at your wishes at all times."
The few pilots who weren't able to reach the western front to surrender were submitted to bogus trails that
included charges for killing non-combatants with stray bullets from their fighter aircraft and were all
found guilty. With the prospect of a decade in labor camps ran by NKVD2 forces the VVS to say the least
didn’t profit much from their knowledge and experience.
In the post war years training wasn’t a priority for the VVS. There was a distinctive lack of training
sorties in the soviet operational regiments since they were mostly "ironing air" with constant patrols along
the vast SSSR borders. Many of the veterans and other younger instinctive fighter pilots opted for the task
of a flying instructor where there was enough flying time there to keep oneself in flying trim. The
transition from piston to jet engine aircraft took its toll in operational readiness of the VVS. The Soviet
Aircraft industry was then struggling to replace the aircraft of the Great Patriotic War3 with their
redesigned counterparts. The aircraft built in wartime had very low lifetime expectancy and many of their
parts were built of cheap and readily available materials like wood. The all-metal Il-10 replaced the
wooden Il-2, the same thing happened with the La-7 being replaced by the La-9. Soviet Strategic aviation
made a huge leap forward with the fleet of carbon copied B-29s named the Tu-4.
But even the prides of the Soviet aircraft industry, the MiG-9 and the Yak-15 were both only stopgaps
anticipating a new and true jet propelled fighter that could climb higher then 10.000m and could stay in
the air for at least an hour. This fighter resulted from the competition by Yakovljev, Lavockin and MiG
OKB when the prototype of the MiG-15 flew for the first time on December 30, 1947.
In the west a myth was born that the MiG-
15 was built from the plans of the Ta-183.
While it is true that some preliminary
sketches were inspired by that design the
credit for the success of the aircraft goes
only to the MiG OKB. Namely the Ta-183
was indeed further developed by Kurt
Tank into Polqui II, but that aircraft
Polqui II, Argentinean MiG-15 (FAA) turned out to be nothing special and far
from the MiG-15.
In those years the Air Force Academies across the Soviet Union had a unique group of students sitting in
their classrooms, since the vast majority of most successful Soviet pilot attended the academies at this
time. The three most successful aces; I. N. Kozedub finished the Air Force Academy in 1948, Pokryshkin
finished the Frunze Academy in 1948 and Rechkalov the Air Force academy in 1951 respectively. While
these academies were of the chalk and blackboard variety experience was not lacking since the students
had themselves survived as many as one hundred and fifty aerial combats were not considered as "yes"
men.
Moreover during the bitter battles of the Eastern Front the higher-ranking VVS officers didn’t put too
much effort in subscribing the tactics that were to be used. Each fighter pilot that had his own ideas about
aerial warfare was welcome to try them out. Whatever eventually worked was allowed as Aleksandr I.
Pokryshkin notes:
"Innovations, for instance new forms of attack, almost invariably encountered obstacles one way or the
other. The air division commanders much too often demanded strict observance of service regulations,
which were also prescribing, forms of attack. Veteran pilots thus were unable to convey their combat
experience to the beginners. This, however, did not prevent them from utilizing their personal formula in
air combat!!!"
Therefore at the end of the war the VVS had almost diametrically different fighter pilots within its rank.
When these pilots meet in the academies their views were analysed and a unified tactics manual was
issued.
Such a surprising evolution persuaded even the old hand Grigorij A. Rechkalov. The third best Allied Ace
was exceptionally talented; he is often compared with Hans Joachim Marseille of the "Star of Africa"
fame. He scored most of his victories on his trusty and fiercely agile lend-lease P-39 Aircobra during the
bitter fighting above Kuban river. He was a solitary fighter with almost no regard to mutual support. But
his mastery of his aircraft and the incredible deflection angles at which he could clinically bring down his
opponent made him a deadly man - unfortunately many times for the formation he was leading. The pilots
that flew with him were not as good as him and were not able to follow Rechkalov and often they paid the
ultimate price. For this at one time he came into a conflict with the founder of modern day fighter tactics,
incidentally the second scoring ace of the war- "Sasha" Pokryshkin
But a few years later even Rechkalov recognised the lone wolf days are over in air combat. When he was
asked what did he think new types of aircraft should posses in terms of agility, climbing performance,
speed or ceiling he simply replied: "Above all they should have a good, reliable radio". In air combat the
"para" or the pair was accepted as the basic formation while two "paras" made up a "zveno".
Pokryshkin’s "vysota-skorost-manevr-ogon"4 rule was made sacred.
With the end of the war the doors of the academies were wide opened. Despite many failures of the
Stalinistic regime, Soviet war heroes were treated far better then their counterparts in Europe and
America. As the 41 kill ace Vitalij I. Popkov remembers:
"In many respects our postwar fates were probably similar. Most combat pilots remained in the ranks.
They became familiar with new technologies and studied at military academies. For us, simple youths
from families of modest means, a broad road into the future opened itself."

THE SHANGHAI GRADUATION

Transforming the VVS from piston to jet force, unifying the training and maintaining combat readiness
along the borders that stretched literary from Port Arthur to Berlin was no small task. And in that time in
history the Soviet-Sino negotiations took place in late 1949.
In these negotiations a decision was
reached to send a group of Soviet
advisors to provide air defence of
Shanghai protecting it from the
Kuomintang raids. The other part of
these negotiations was to send a group
of Soviet naval officers to raise a
modern Chinese Navy and to make all
the necessary strategic and operational
planning for the invasion of this island
Formosa, nowadays known as Taiwan.
These Soviets advisors were actually
complete combat formations from the
Starshij Lejtenant Karelin in the cockpit of his La-11 in China summer 1950. ranks of the newly formed PVO5
Karelin will later see service with the jet MiG-15. (Perov-Jakubovich)
forces. The cores of the two divisions sent were three aviation regiments. One was equipped with MiG-15
and assigned for bomber interception, the second equipped with La-11 fighters for night fighting and the
last one was the mixed ground attack regiment with Tu-2s and Il-10s.
Since the loss and kill claims for the Kuomintang forces for that period are unavailable we can only
submit the Soviet advisors kill tally which finals at no losses in combat, admitting one Tu-2 was lost to
friendly fire5 while a MiG-15 and a La-11 were lost in accidents. The La-11 scored over two B-25s and
shot down a pair of Mustangs. The first victory for the MiG-15 came when Kapitan Kalinikov shot down
a P-38 Lightning on the 28th April 1950. Another Liberator fell to the MiG’s cannon in the night of 11/12
May, this time the victorious pilot was Kapitan Schinkarenko who was awarded the Order of Lenin for
his feat.
Apart from seriously hampering the Kuomintang operations the Soviet personnel logged close to 2600
hours spent in training the members of the Chinese Air Defence members.
At the beginning of August 1950 the Soviet advisors started to decrease their role in Shanghai’s defence.
Everything that the Soviets brought with them including the first model MiG-15 with red and white-
stripped rudder was transferred into the Chinese PLA ranks on 19th October 1950. This ended the active
participation of the Soviet airmen in the Chinese civil war. For detailed information regarding the
beginning of the conflict we now know as China versus Taiwan see the appropriate section here. But we
are back in the summer of 1950.

A STRICTLY NORTH KOREAN AIR FORCE

On June 25 1950, as a lone American C-54 cargo plane was set on fire at Seoul international airport by
several strafing Yak-9s, the Army of the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) crossed the 38th
Parallel and entered the territory of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in an attempt to unify the
Korean peninsula under one rule. With the initial stamped over the weak South Korean resistance the
Korean War had begun.
Initially it seemed that the North Korean forces would obtain a rapid victory due to its evident superiority
in men, armored vehicles and the sheer quantity of firepower. Such superiority also extended to the aerial
element of warfare.
According to US intelligence, at that time the North had 132 combat aircraft, 70 of them were the
Yakovlev Yak-9P, which enjoyed immense popularity with the pilots in the Great patriotic war. Quite
interestingly they were noted as heavy fighters most probably in the comparison to the earlier wooden
Yaks. Of course the term heavy fighter would fade when pitted against the P-47 Thunderbolt or Hawker
Tempest.
The remaining 62 airframes were the
Ilyushin Il-10 and Lavockin La-9.
Again metalizing and somewhat
improving their wooden ancestors, the
Il-2M3 and the La-7, derived these two
aircraft.
While the fact is that the late fifties
were already deep jet age and on paper
these types were obsolete, but still they
had no trouble gaining air superiority
over the South Koreans. The South
Korean arsenal consisted of 3 unarmed
T-6 Texan trainers and 13 liaison
aircraft. That is a total of sixteen
School under the wings of their mount. North Korean pilots and a NKAF La-9 aircraft none of which were combat
(Perov-Jakubovich)
ready.
However it had soon become clear that the North Korean Air Force (NKAF) would face a very different
enemy. During an U.N. council it was decided that the U.N. forces would intervene in the Korean
peninsula.
The United States FEAF (Far East Air Force) was composed of the 5th, 13th and 20th Air Forces, which
were based in Japan, Philippines and Okinawa respectively. The World War Two veteran of the China-
India-Burma theatre Lt. Gen. George A. Stratemeyer commanded the whole FEAF. The 5th AF
commanded by Maj. Gen. Earle E. Partridge received the responsibility of taking on the NKAF in an
effort to help the South Korean war effort.
The FEAF as a whole had more then enough assets to accomplish the mission at hand. 1172 aircraft,
almost half of which were the jet F-80 Shooting Stars, while the other aircraft were 47 F-51s, 42 F-82s,
73 B-26s, 27 B-29s, 179 transports, 48 reconnaissance aircraft, and 252 miscellaneous types (T-6, SB-17,
T-33, etc.). However, of these 1,172 aircraft only 657 of the 5th AF were spoken for the use in Korea and
moreover not all of these were combat types and the FEAF at large was geared for air defense of Japan,
Okinawa and Philippines and far from optimally prepared both in technology and in doctrine to provide
valuable ground support.

HIGH NOON AT KIMPO AND THE NKAF AIRFIELD ATTACKS

The opening round of the NKAF against the USAF battle was fought over the airfields of Suwon and
Kimpo where the USAF Mustangs, Twin Mustangs and Shooting Stars were flying defensive patrols
against the North Korean strafers. Initially the NKAF piston driven fighters showed very aggressive
flying and on 25th of June 1950 two Yaks engaged the Twin Mustang patrol over Kimpo. This combat
ended with a draw, but the tone had been set.
The first decisive clash of the 5th AF fighters and the NKAF planes took place just two days later when
eleven Twin Mustangs of the 4th, 68th and 339th FIS and a high cover of 8th FBW Shooting Stars were
covering the evacuation of Kimpo airbase. Suddenly the F-82G piloted by 1st Lt. Charles Moran was
bounced by a group of Yak-9s. The Yaks didn’t profit much from the bounce only damaging Moran’s
Twin Mustang they were immediately engaged by a Twin Mustang crewed by 1st Lt. William Hudson
with 1st Lt. Carl Fraser as the radar operator. Despite the use of the clouds by the NKAF fighter the first
USAF victory in Korea had been recorded. The Twin Mustangs piloted by Charles Moran and Major
James W. Little also claimed one Yak each.
Despite losing three fighters for a shot up tail the NKAF later that same day sent eight Ilyushin Il-10s,
which attacked Kimpo airfield and destroyed seven South Korean aircraft on the ground. When heading
back north they were intercepted by a four-ship formation of F-80C of 35th FBS, 8th FBW. The Shooting
Star pilots claimed four destroyed Il-10s two of which by 1st Lt. Robert E. Wayne. Despite these losses to
the American fighters the North Koreans were not about to stop their offensive against the airfields in the
south.
The strikes against Suwon on June 28th were most successful. During the first effort two pairs of Yak-9s
destroyed a Twin Mustang and a B-26 in a strafing run. Three pairs of Yak-9s revisited Suwon the same
day destroying another two C-54s. Yet a third strafing trip to Suwon the next day proved largely
unsuccessful since a mixed formation of Yaks, Lavockins and Iljushins were intercepted by several F-
51D Mustangs of the 35th, 36th and Shooting Stars of the 80th FBS whish gave them a 'hot' welcome: three
Il-10s, one La-9 and two Yak-9s were claimed as shot down by the USAF pilots. A few days later on 3rd
July US Navy opened its score in Korea when two F9F Panther pilots of VF-51 claimed a Yak kill each.

During the same day strafing attacks were directed against the HMS Black Swan and two ROK vessels
while four Yaks dropped anti-personnel bombs on ROK troops south of Kimpo, killing 68 ROK soldiers.
On 4 July aircraft knocked out a communications repeater station near Osan. Four planes also strafed and
bombed Chonju on 11 July. Despite the losses inflicted on the NKAF and hampering their airfield
offensive to some extent the South Koreans were losing the ground war. Seoul fell and the North Korean
offensive seemed unstoppable. Since July USAF and USN fighters and fighter-bombers began a series of
ground attacks on North Korean troops and materiel to stem the tide from the north. And still on July 20
Taejon fell but by early August the first signs of the losses inflicted by the US ground support efforts of
the US were evident. The North Koreans were finally stopped in the ''Pusan Perimeter'' in the battle of
Naktong, where close air support had a very important role in the final outcome, which halted the North
Koreans on the brink of complete victory. Probably the best fighter leader of all times, the 38 kill Spitfire
ace Group Captain J. E. Johnson was at that time doing another spell of active duty with the FEAF and
gives a fair account of those days:
"At the beginning of the Korean War the Far East Air Forces were in poor shape to stop the enemy’s
advance, because for years its main responsibility was had been the air defence of Japan, and there was
little know-how, material and communications for air-ground operations. Fortunately for the Americans
the few obsolete Yak fighters of the North Korean Air Force were poorly flown and were soon driven
from the sky by far superior F-80s Shooting Stars, who then tried to help the U.S. 24th Division, which
had moved to Korea from Japan.
During these highly critical days when the North Koreans advanced south with the intention of driving
the Americans into the sea, two Shooting Stars were sent from airfields in Japan every fifteen minutes, but
their long flight meant they could spend only a short time over the battlefield. Sometimes they landed at
one of the few airfields remaining to the Americans, but the best of these Taegu, had to be evacuated
twice because of the nearby enemy troops. Fighter pilots were rarely briefed over the battlefield because
of the air-ground communications, and even when the tactical reconnaissance pilots reported important
targets, the ground situation often changed before the information filtered to the fighter squadrons.
Consequently little could be done from the air to stop the Communists, and the 24th Division, together
with some South Korean troops, found themselves driven toward the bottom of the peninsula, where they
set up a defensive perimeter based on the port of Pusan. But they were still in grave danger of being
pushed into the sea.
By this time, however, the Americans had formed and elementary joint-operations centre, consisting of
some communications and radio-equipped jeeps called tactical air-control parties, the equivalent of our5
contact cars. These jeeps patrolled the perimeter calling down fighter-bombers flying from Korean and
Japan, but the high mountains gravely reduced the range of radio sets, and so the Americans filled this
dangerous gaps with light aeroplanes, called 'Mosquitoes' whose pilots would talk both to the operations
centre and the fighter bombers. These 'Mosquito' crews did a great job searching for and finding the
enemy, and co-pilots often helped the circling fighter-bombers by throwing smoke grenades from the rear
cockpit. Sometimes when fighter-bombers were absent they took the matters into their own hands and, in
the fashion of the old timers, hurled hand grenades at the enemy-sometimes with fatal consequences to
themselves. Later the U.S. Army commander told me that without the fighter-bombers his men would have
been driven into the sea. But the situation was still highly dangerous, so dangerous that strategic
bombers had to take part in the land battle."

THE B-29 GO NORTH

Twenty-two B-29s of the 19th Bomber Wing belonging the FEAF 20th AF stationed at Anderson Field on
Guam moved to Kadena AFB in Okinawa and begun participating in tactical attacks against advancing
North Korean troops on 29th June 1950. As Group Captain J. E. Johnson notes:

"The first the controller in the operations centre knew of this was when the bomber leader asked for
target information; the controller, thinking they were fighter-bombers, asked for details of their
armament and was amazed to hear that each aeroplane was carrying forty-eight bombs."

The 19th Bomber Wing was the only B-29 wing not included in the Strategic Air Command and therefore
it was under the direct command of an Army staff group in the General Headquarters. Being the black
sheep in the bomber wings also meant it had limited radar and no high altitude capability.

On July 8 a special FEAF Bomber Command was set up in Yokota under the command of Major General
Emmett "Rossie" O'Donnell, the famed pacific B-17 pilot and the bomber leader who was at the head of
the B-29 force on the first strike to Tokyo. Five days later FEAF Bomber Command was reinforced with
the 22nd and 92nd BWs, which had been transferred from their SAC bases in the USA. The day before the
19th Wing suffered one of the few losses that occurred in those first stages of the war. B-29A BuNo 44-
69866 was downed by a North Korean Yak-9P near Seul, while another two shot down an L-4 'Mosquito'
and a third formation attacked a formation of F-80’s near Chochiwon. On 15 July two Yaks attacked four
B-26s damaging one so badly that it had to land at Taejon.
 Most of the early B-29 attacks
were against tactical targets such
as tank, troop and soft skinned
vehicle concentrations and supply
dumps. There was little flak or air
opposition but the raids were not
very effective since the strategic
bomber was not well suited for the
tactical role and also due to
inaccurate maps showing rail and
road lines not built yet.

With the results obtained and the

A B-29 Superfortress delivering its cargo on a marshalling yard. (USAF)
pressure from O’Donell to unleash
his forces on the targets behind the battlefield the agreement was reached where two wings would attack
communication lines behind the battlefield while one would still provide close support. On 4th August
approval was given for B-29 attacks against strategic targets in North Korea the only snag being that the
three units that were within the FEAF Bomber Command were already overwhelmed and simply couldn’t
mount a separate effort against targets of strategic value. Later in that same month two more bomber
wings, the 98th and 307th were also sent to Japan to join the FEAF to remedy the material deficiency in the
strategic bombardment effort while the 31st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron completed the FEAF
bomber command. Namely while the 22nd and 92nd Bomber Wings were attacking a series of road and rail
targets plus an occasional Nitrogen Explosive or Chemical plant planes were being drafted for a
comprehensive strategic offensive. As Major Emmet O’ Donnell later remarked:

"It was my intention and hope that we would be able to got out there and to cash in on our psychological
advantage in having gotten into the theater and into the war so fast, by putting a very severe blow on the
North Koreans, with an advanced warning, perhaps, telling them that they had gone too far in what we
all recognized as being a case of aggression ... and go to work burning five major cities in North Korea
to the ground, and to destroy every one of about 18 major strategic targets.... Tell them to either stop the
aggression and get back over the thirty-eighth parallel or they had better have their wives and children
and bedrolls to go down with them because there is not going to be anything left up in Korea to return
to."

But this was not as easy as planned. Namely the prewar FEAF Intelligence had prepared some 900 target
folders within its area of interest, a region loosely defined as "within 1.000 miles of Tokyo". Again the
snag was that these folders were primarily for the targets in the Soviet Siberia and not the Korean
peninsula. This was remedied by the efforts of the Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons in theatre
providing both radarscope and ordinary photographs of the earmarked targets. While there were some
difficulties with heavy steel bridges the road and rail communications in the area between the now
stabilizing Pusan perimeter and the 38th parallel were destroyed. By the end of August, thirty-seven of the
forty-four bridges targeted had been destroyed with the remaining seven being so badly damaged that
they were unusable and all attention was now fixed towards the targets of strategic value. By early
September, all known industrial facilities in North Korea had been destroyed except for some oil storage
facilities at Rashin, which were considered too close to the Soviet border to risk an attack. By mid
September the Pusan perimeter was definitely stable and MacArthur begun planning the Inchon landing.
With such lack of trade the B-29 force was engaged in the futile carpet bombing of the Naktong area. In
the middle of October the 22nd and 92nd Bomber Wings returned to the continental USA.
 FEAF BOMBER COMMAND (provisional)
Commanding officer Major General Emmett O'Donnell
th
19 BW 22nd BW 92nd BW
22 B-29s B-29 B-29
Kadena AFB Kadena AFB Yokota AFB
(Okinawa) (Okinawa) (Japan) PERIOD
29 June 1950 13 July-25 October 1950 13 July-25 October 1950 LOCATION
th th st
98 BW 307 BW 31 SRS
B-29s B-29 RB-29
Yokota AFB Kadena AFB Yokota AFB
(Japan) (Okinawa) (Japan)
PERIOD
29 June 1950 mid July 1950 mid July 1950 LOCATION

THE U.N. PUSHES UP NORTH

On 15th September 1950 the successful landing in Inchon took place, and as McArthur expected, this
assault in the already week rear area broke North Korean back. After a bitter infantry battle in the streets
of Seoul in which the USN F4Us, F9Fs and AD-4s played an valuable role, the Marines conquered it, as
the 8th Army broke the North Koreans lines in the Pusan perimeter and began to move north, towards
Seoul. After that the North Koreans began a withdrawal in complete disorder. The USMC and the US
Army crossed the 38th Parallel on the 7th of October, a week after the South Koreans, and occupied
Pyongyang.
By that time USAF intelligence believed all but twenty-two out of one hundred and thirty original NKAF
aircraft had been destroyed, either in the air or in the ground, and the U.N. air forces enjoyed total air
superiority. But at the same time that the U.N. troops got closer to the shore of the Yalu which is a natural
boundary between North Korea and China. There were some resulting incidents where US planes
attacked Chinese and Soviet airbases apparently by mistake: on September 22 an B-29 raid against
Sinuiju actually bombed the marshalling yards of Antung which is north of Yalu…in China. On October
8 1950 four F-80s of 49th FBW attacked a Soviet airfield near to Vladivostok because they made a
navigational mistake and thought that they were attacking Chongjin airfield. Historians speculate that
these attacks convinced Mao-Tse-Tung and Josif Stalin two men already not pleased seeing a Communist
nation at the brink of a complete downfall in American hands of the fact that the UN would not stop on
the shores of the Yalu so they decided to intervene in the war. Despite the presence of Chinese soldiers in
North Korean soil already since October US intelligence analysts thought and hoped that China nor the
SSSR would intervene in the war. What actually happened later proved how wrong they were.

SELECTION OF VOLUNTEERS

The Soviet pilots and technicians that were already in China relocated from Shanghai to northeast China.
The crack jet regiment: 29th GvIAP formed the core of the unit, which would become and later gain fame
in the sky of Northern Korea - the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps (64th IAK). As it seems some pilots from
the Night Fighting 351st IAP decided to stay on. Such is the case with Senior Lieutenant Karelin who
would later emerge as the top scoring jet night fighter pilot with six victories to his credit.
Back in the Motherland the fall preceded a cold and snowy winter and the orders for the deployment of
certain units made up from Soviet pilots were already being drafted. The newspapers showed vivid
images of the horror suffered by their North Korean comrades. In the Soviet Union O’Donnell’s strategy
of bombing the North Korean nation in submission raised defiance reminiscent of the British during the
worst days of the Battle of Britain. There also seems to have been a special campaign among the ranks of
the VVS, which portrayed the effects of the incendiary carrying FEAF Bomber Command’s B-29s on the
North Korean cities. The comparison with Hamburg was often recalled. There were rumours that there are
some 3500 bombers thrown against the helpless North Korea. Of course there was immediately a huge
numbers of volunteers for the "government sponsored trip". Interestingly enough a very small number of
fighter pilots that participated in World War Two clung on to units that still flew piston engine
machinery. The theory was that if you learn to fly jets they would send you to Korea for them five years
of combat was enough. The volunteers for Korea had to be younger then 27 years and priority was given
to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Nevertheless the option of choice was never given to the
ground crew members. They were ordered to go.
The aircraft and the supporting crew were sent to China by the Trans-Siberian railway in one train and the
pilots in another. Of course all of them were dressed up in civilian clothes. Unfortunately there was a
distinctive lack of different sets of clothes and Soviet personnel were easily recognised by the leather
jacket sporting a sailor stripped shirt underneath. The MiG-15bis were also submitted to de-Sovietisation.
The Krasnaya Zvezda insignias and Cyrillic maintenance stencils were removed.
The carnival arrived in a very cold and windy Port Arthur in October 1950. With the border crossing the
pilots changed trains. For the rest of the trip they would travel in an ex-Japanese train. The pilots were
also given an extraordinary treat for that time-a sausage and white bread as a welcome gift!!
In Manchuria the newly arrived pilots and the Shanghai veterans meet on a former Japanese fighter strip
Mukden7. After the aircraft arrived by rail the regiments started intensive training in elements that they
haven’t practiced for years: air combat manoeuvring and aerial gunnery.

MISSION AND RESTRICTIONS

Long before the volunteers left the Soviet soil their mission was determined.
To protect political-administrative and economic centres from air strikes and American aerial
reconnaissance, as well as industrial objects, railroad junctions, bridges, force concentrations, and other
important objects in the areas of Mukden, Antung, Tsian, Dungfeng, and pay close attention to covering
the bridges over the Yalu River and electrical power stations in the Antung area.
At the time the newly arrived Soviet pilots made up the 151st and 28th Air Divisions with two regiments
each. After the units were deemed operationally ready there were redeployed on their assigned air bases,
which were chosen as the "best suited" for jet operations and were most appropriate for the defined
mission. The headquarters were set up at Mukden and the Anshan and Andun.
USAF complained about the lack and the overall bad state in which the airfields were in Korea, the Soviet
corps found this even worse since they operated practically from the former Japanese fighter strips. One
mayor drawback in operations was the long time it took to scramble substantial numbers of fighters. A
bright exception to this was Andun since the runway there was wide and long enough for jet operations.
But the unsuitability of runways for mass jet operations coupled with the late radar picture due to the
mountains sometimes prevented Soviet pilots from gathering the altitude or quantity needed for air
combat. The radar or the radio-locator as the Soviet pilots knew it then was the P-3 type. At all times the
Soviet Korpus in Korea also had two AAA divisions armed with 85 and 57mm guns in its strength. All of
the gathered information about the enemy activities was then forwarded to the "komandni punkt" or the
command point simply known as the KP, which was at the airfield. In this KP usually the Division
commander and a few pilots who weren’t flying that day processed the obtained information and
forwarded tactical instructions to the pilots in the air.
But bad logistics on certain airfields was not the only obstacle. Stalin was very concerned because of the
consequences that would follow if the U.N. would realize the Soviet involvement in the Korean conflict.
Therefore the Soviet corps went to great lengths to assure the clandestine around the Soviet pilots…at
their cost.
Apart from the measures during transport that we had mentioned before the Soviet pilots wore Chinese
uniforms and were given Chinese nicknames. Due to the fear they would be captured they weren’t
allowed to cross an imaginary line drawn from Wosan to Pyonyang, and never to fly over sea. Perhaps the
greatest stupidity came in the form of an order saying that the Soviet pilots must communicate in North
Korean over the radio during flights. That in practice meant that the pilot attached a table of phrases on
his left arm and another table of the appropriate answers on his right arm. This was not resolved till the
arrival of Kozedub’s regiment that will be described later. Soon they started flying operational mission.
On 14th October Chinese ground troops started crossing the Yalu. The prays and the hopes of the U.N.
Generals went by unheard.
"FIRSTS" AND AIR SUPERIORITY

On the first day of November 1950 two F-51 pilots reported that several unknown jet aircraft, which
appeared from beyond the Chinese border, had performed a shy firing pass and as fast as they appeared
they returned to China. However, the great speed of the jet aircraft caused considerable surprise among
the FEAF high commanders who realized that something never seen before had appeared over the Korean
skies. That day five MiG-15s of the 72nd GvIAP, 151st IAD found a formation of ten F-80s above them at
4.500m Starshij Lejtenant Khominich performed a left climbing turn and fired against one of the F-80Cs
shooting it down with that claiming the first jet-versus-jet air victory in history. The remaining F-80
formation was scattered by similar attacks by the Soviet flight leader Major Bordun and his wingman
Starshij Lejtenant Sukhov. As far as the confirmation of the first jet-versus-jet kill goes the USAF admits
the loss of one F-80C of 16th FIS with the pilot F. Van Sickle missing in action on that day but credits this
loss to the North Korean flak, which according to the American version shot down the jet during a raid
against Sinuiju airfield.
To counter the Chinese volunteers General MacArthur ordered two weeks of a maximum effort bombing
campaign focusing on the immediate vicinity of the southern bank of the Yalu. As once in history
Barabas created a wasteland of what had used to been the coast and the immediate vicinity of Yaffa just
to deny the invading European armies a foothold MacArthur did the same with on the southern bank of
Yalu. Everything that might provide shelter and be used as communication lines by the Chinese
volunteers was torn down.
The following days saw inconclusive encounters between US fighters and Soviet MiGs; on November 7
two F-51 pilots claimed to have shot down a MiG each and so did the F-80C pilot 1st Lt. Russell Brown
of the 16th FIS on 8th November. This claim had been considered the first jet-versus-jet kill for more than
forty years. But none of those shot downs really happened as no Soviet MiGs were lost during those days.
On that day 1st Lt. Brown bounced a MiG-15 of the 72nd GvIAP piloted by Starshij Lejtenant Kharitonov
who still had the external fuel tanks on. Kharitonov entered a steep dive and punched off the fuel tanks
trying to avoid Russell’s bullets, who interpreted the dive as an uncontrolled fall and the explosion of the
fuel tanks on the ground was misidentified as a MiG crashing. The first MiG kill only happened the next
day when several F9F Panthers of VF-111 were escorting AD-4s and F4U Corsairs, which were attacking
the Yalu bridges. Lt. Cdr. William T. Amen surprised a MiG when those were trying to get the Skyraiders
and Corsairs shooting it down with 20 mm fire.
His victim was Kapetan Grachev of 139th GvIAP, 151st IAD. But that same day two MiG-15s of 72nd
GvIAP intercepted an RB-29A of the 31st SRS over Sinuiju, where the Soviet flight leader Major Bordun
riddled the recce plane with 37 mm shells. The RB-29 BuNo 44-61813 almost reached Johnson AFB
crashing during the final approach. Five crewmembers died in the crash. Bordun had scored the first
victory in a MiG-15 that was fully admitted by US sources.
Little by little Soviet MiG-15 pilots rapidly gained air superiority over the southern shore of the Yalu. It
became blatantly obvious that the MiG-15 could easily out-climb, out-dive and out-turn the F-80C thus in
every element of air combat besting the type which was tasked for securing air superiority over the
Korean peninsula. Moreover the fact that worried the FEAF commanders the most is that the B-29
formations didn’t have the self-escort capability based on sheer firepower as over Japan during World
War Two. The 37 and 23mm cannons of the MiG-15 were devastators when used against the B-29s,
because the range of these weapons was greater then the outside range of the 0,5 inch (12,7 mm)
defensive machineguns of the Superfortress. In light of this conclusions the decision was made by Maj.
Gen. Partridge to deploy the F-84E Thunderjets of 27th Fighter Escort Wing (FEW) and the F-86A Sabres
of the 4th FIW to Korea.
In this winter the term Mig was born.
"On my reconnaissance and fighter-bomber mission I never saw a Mig" explains the Spitfire leader now
turned B-26 pilot "Group Captain J. E. Johnson: "but in the evenings, when the day’s work was over and
we had showered, changed and supped well, the veterans got together and talked about the Migs. What
bothered us most was not their high performance, but the people who flew them. Who were these chaps?
They flew and fought too well to be North Koreans. So they had to be Chinese or Russian. And even if
they were Russians they had come a long, long way in the last five years. For in their use of the sun, their
finger-four patterns and their line astern defensive maneuvers they were strangely reminiscent of the
Luftwaffe."
In the two weeks of the intensive FEAF aerial campaign the southern spans of the international North
Korean-Chinese bridges over the Yalu were targeted. Not only were all of these of the heavy steel
construction designed to withstand adverse natural elements and the bomber mission were constantly
hampered by the cloudy weather that forecasted a cold winter, now there was the red swept winged factor
to consider. On 10th November a formation of five MiG-15 belonging to the 67th IAP of the 28th IAD
intercepted a B-29 formation belonging to the 307th Bomber Wing attacking Sinuiju and in the ensuing
combat Starshij Lejtenant Kharpovsky blasted a B-29A BuNo 45-21814 of 371st BS out of the sky.
That same day other MiG-15 pilots of the same unit shot down two Mustangs which are both admitted by
USAF, but credited to the anti-air-defense. The third victim for the 67th IAP came the next day in the
form of a F-80C. Two B-29s of 372nd Bomber Squadron were severely damaged by MiG-15s on 14th
November and were written off after their landings in Kadena, Okinawa. In only two weeks the MiG-15s
shot down or damaged beyond repair two F-80s, two F-51s, three B-29s and one RB-29; all that against
only one MiG loss shot down by the Navy aviator. FEAF combat aircraft simply disappeared for two
weeks from above the southern shores of the Yalu river which was now known as "MiG Alley" among
the US pilots.
At the end of November the Soviet forces were reorganized. The 151st and 28th Air Divisions plus the
veteran 50th Air Division were joined and renamed into the 64th IAK (Air Fighter Corps). In December
elements of the 28th IAD were relocated to Chindao where they set up a course for the training of the
future Chinese jet pilots. The 151st GvIAP was also involved in training therefore the burden of combat
activities rested on the shoulder of the newly arrived 50th IAD compromising the 29th GvIAP and 177th
IAP fighter regiments. These were the first units to operate the MiG-15bis in Korea. The basic model
MiG-15 was powered by the copied Nene jet engine named the RD-45. The Soviet scientist then
developed the Nene for operating at increased temperatures, which gave a slight thrust improvement. The
experience gained with the Nene/RD-45 and BMW jet engines gave birth to the VK-1. With some 2700kg
of thrust the engine offered a significant advantage of some 600kg in thrust over the RD-45 series of
engines. When the engine was fitted to the MiG-15 the aircraft was initially named the MiG-17, but later
changed to the MiG-15bis. The MiG-17 became the 45 degrees swept back variant. The VK-1 series of
engines enjoyed great success as it saw the use in the MiG-15bis, the true MiG-17 and the Il-28 medium
bomber.
By the end of very cold November the waters of the wide Yalu were beginning to freeze over. Pontoon
bridges were lay across the river to increase the somewhat diminished capacity of the damaged steel
bridges. Unable to do anything about this the B-29 missions were halted on 5th of December. The B-29
formations will again appear over the Yalu come thaw.
These events in November in which the Soviet flown MiG-15s played a substantial part allowed the
Chinese Army to launch a major ground offensive against the U.N. troops who were also ill prepared for
winter warfare. Pyongyang was rapidly retaken on 3rd December by the Communist forces as the US 8th
Army and the 10th USMC Brigade withdrew out of their positions in North Korea. With the ground troops
on the defensive the FEAF initiated a program of cutting railway connections in the southern banks of
Yalu in the hope of stemming the red tide.
The 50th IAD at the time encountered a serious design flaw of the MiG-15bis. During high speeds and
loads regularly encountered in combat a weak element in the T tail of the MiG-15bis deformated or in
two occasions even failed completely. Quickly a filed "dorabotnaja" program was initiated in which the
defective parts were replaced on all MiGs in Korea. Furthermore five vertical stabilizers and 15 vertical
elevators were found deformed and therefore were replaced.
But with the arrival of the newcomers nothing had changed in the "MiG" Alley. The MiG-15bis of the
newcomer 50th IAD still tackled the bombers, fighter-bombers and reconnaissance platform that entered
the area they were defending. 4th December 1950 was another crucial day for jet aviation. Four MiG-15s
of the 29th GvIAP which was actually now partly assigned the training role performed the first successful
interception of a jet bomber when they caught up with an RB-45 Tornado of the Recce Detachment "A"
of 84th BS deep over Manchuria at 11:35 hrs9 70 km north of Antung which is deep in China. After a few
passes, the MiG-15 of Starshij Lejtenant Aleksandr F. Andrianov riddled the recce bomber till a fire
erupted, the aircraft spun and crashed. This was one of only three RB-45C aircraft then in theatre. The
reconnaissance versions powered by four uprated General Electric engines, reached a maximum speed of
570 mph and were armed with two 0,5 inch. M-7 machineguns in a tail turret. As the first USAF jet
bomber this type delivered several atomic warheads in various tests and was also earmarked for this
mission in the sectors where the enemy defenses were most dense. The shot down of the reconnaissance
version of the bomber, which was even faster, told a vivid tale of how these missions would fare. Only
Capt. Charles McDonough of the unfortunate crew could bail out and became POW. He later perished in
captivity. Col. John R. Lovell, a Pentagon intelligence officer who perished in the crash remained the
highest-ranking intelligence officer lost in the war.
That same day at 13:18 four MiG-15s of the same unit engaged two F-80Cs and the leader Kapetan
Stepan I. Naumenko claimed to shot down both Shooting Stars. Naumenko wrongly claimed them as 'F-
84s', but there were no Thunderjets yet in Korea at that date, additionally none of those claims are
confirmed within the US sources. But during this battle Starshij Lejtenant Rumyantsev accidentally
crashed. The next day four MiG-15s of 29th GvIAP engaged eight F-80s over Kaisen and claimed to shot
down two of them. Actually only Major Yuri Keleinikov scored when he shot-up the F-80C BuNo 49-
478. The Shooting Star did return to its base but was immediately written off because it had...250
shrapnel holes in it! And yet the next day six MiGs intercepted five B-29s and claimed to shot down three
of them. US records confirm only one, most likely the Superfortress claimed by Stepan Naumenko. Other
two F-80Cs fell under the shells fired by Soviet MiG-15s on December 9 and 12. The losses of all the
Soviet units together now counted three MiG-15s: one fell under the guns of a Navy F9F Panther, the
other crashing during the dogfights and a third one which was hit by two F-80C of 7th FBS which pilot (P.
A. Pavlenko) could land safe and sound but was written off later. For three losses the MiG-15 pilots
destroyed twelve USAF aircraft. It was high time for something to be changed.

THE SABRE VERSUS THE MIG: THE TEST

On 13th December seven natural metal F-86A
Sabres with black and white stripes around the
rear fuselage landed at Kimpo. The FEAF knew
that the situation on the ground was grave and
Kimpo will have to be evacuated soon, so it
sent not even a full squadron worth of Sabres of
the 336th FIS, 4th FIW into Kimpo crewed with
old hands under the command of Lt. Col. Bruce
Hinton to have a scrap or two with the MiG and
gain some experience on which to base the
training of the rest of the Sabre pilots. These A pair of A model Sabres of the 4th FIW with the black and white
Sabre pilots were immensely experienced and identification stripes taking off in the early day of the Korean war.
as Group Captain J. E. Johnson notes: (USAF)
"In Korea, unlike previous wars, colonels in their twenties were no longer the vogue. Complicated
weapons systems like the Sabre were best flown by experienced flyers, and experienced flyers were best
led by the veterans of the Second War, many of whom added to their tally of German and Japanese
victories. Grey-haired, well-decorated, and often the fathers of many children – one resolute colonel had
eight - they were impressive not for their youth but their age. They were dedicated men; their motto – not
the boldest but the oldest!!"
Indeed Johnson’s observations are correct. The avarage age of Sabre pilots was 29½, while the avarage
age of sucesfull Sabre pilots was even one year higher. Per avarage the Sabre pilots had 1100 flying hours
when joining the 4th FIW.
On 15th December the Sabre formation performed a combat orientation flight. When they returned to
Kimpo the weather closed in. While the snow was covering the runway outside the 336th FIS pilots talked
to the resident 51st FIW that were also station there about the MiG. When the weather cleared and the
runway was rolled flat in the morning of 17th December the four Sabre pilots headed by the 336th FIS CO
were ready. Flying towards Sinuiju, which was at the time the heart of the “MiG Alley”, the Sabres were
imitating a flight of Shooting Stars. They were using the Shooting Stars transit altitudes, speeds and call
signs. Four MiG-15bis of the 50th IAD scrambled towards the formation. Thinking they were attacking
Shooting Stars they intercepted them early over the Yalu with insufficient altitude. The Sabres flying at
25.000ft (8.000m) bounced the MiG formation flying at 18.000ft (7.000m). The MiGs performed a
climbing turn towards the Sabres to counter the bounce but Lt. Col Hinton redlined his stopcocked Sabre
and damaged two MiG-15bis fighters.
The damage to Major Yakob Yefromenko’s MiG being so
extensive he decided to eject. Thus the first encounter
between the natural enemies ended with a clear-cut USAF
victory. Major Yakob Yefromenko holds the dubious honor
as the first pilot who had successfully ejected in combat
with a Soviet ejection seat.
But this Sabre victory resulted from the tactical surprise.
The true show of strength was yet to be seen. Only five days
later a four ship Sabre formation in which two distinguished
World War Two aces Lt. Col. Glenn T. Eagleston and Col.
John C. Meyer was badly bounced by the same number of
What this photo lacks in quality is compensated in its MiG-15s belonging to the 177th IAP which was patrolling at
historical value Taken from Hintons Sabre the MiG-15 11.000m. Kapetan Nikolai Vorobyev riddled the F-86A
of Major Yefromenko starts emitting smoke. piloted by Capt. Lawrence Bach with 23mm shells forcing
Yefromenko ejected moments later. The silver Yalu
can be seen in the back ground (USAF) Bach to eject into captivity. The whirling dogfight then
descended to no more then 900m where the Sabres had
immense advantage in maneuverability. Col. Meyer translated this advantage into fact when he shot down
the MiG-15 piloted by Barsegyan who perished in the crash. Of course Lt. Col. Eaglestone was not far
behind and shot down a MiG-15 piloted by Zub who was wounded in this combat. The dogfight lasted no
less then 20 minutes which is an eternity in jet combat. Apart of Capt. Bach the Soviet pilots claimed
three more Sabre kills. The price of two pilots lost was high to pay, but the Soviet pilots walked away
from this fight knowing that they cannot adequately turn with the Sabre below 8.000m. From the Soviet
records the first victory over the Sabre actually happened a day before Bach was shot down. On 21st
December Kapetan Ljurkevich from the 29th GvIAP claimed one Sabre shot down.
There were two more battles between the Sabres and the MiGs in what remained of the 1950. On 24th of
December six MiG-15s of 29th GvIAP found four Sabres over Sensen where Kapetan Naumenko claimed
to have shot down one of them from a distance of 800m. Less than an hour later Naumenko was the
element leader of a group of four MiG-15 when he again clashed with 336th FIS Sabres. In this combat he
claimed to have shot down another Sabre who was at the time jockeying for a shooting position on D. I.
Orlov. According to the Soviet records, the wreckages of both Sabres were found with their pilots killed
in the cockpits, but the USAF admits none.
With those two victories over the Sabres Kapetan Stepan Naumenko claimed
his fourth and fifth personal victory. This would make him the first jet-versus-
jet ace in history, but so far from his five claims only one B-29 can be safely
attributed as his victory.
Six days later a new battle raged and the MiG-15 pilot S. M. Lyubimov
claimed another Sabre kill, but was in turn himself bounced by an Sabre
Kapetan Stepan Naumenko.
piloted by an exchange USN pilot, Lt. Cdr. Paul E. Pugh, who severely
The first man to claim five damaged his plane. While Pugh claimed a MiG kill Lyubimov landed safe
jet victories, but at the and sound at Antung.
present date only one can Those two weeks of combat established some characteristics of the aerial
be confirmed (unknown)
combat which last for the remaining of the war, characteristics dictated by the
advantages and disadvantages of both types of aircraft. The MiG-15bis had a higher ceiling with 15.000m
than the F-86 with 12.000m. The MiG-15 pilots learned to initiate combat with altitude advantage, diving
and performing their attack runs from the sun. Additionally, the MiG-15bis had an outstanding climbing
capacity enabling them to retreat to a safe altitude after performing the initial bounce This ability allowed
the MiG-15 tacticians to develop maneuvers which lured the Sabres into a climb, bleeding airspeed in the
attempt to catch the MiG while becoming an easy target for a second MiG element. Also the MiG-15bis
could easily out-turn the F-86 above 10.000 m and turned as well as the Sabre in the region between
8.000-10.000m.
At medium or lower altitudes below 8.000m the F-86 Sabre was more agile than the MiG, and it could
out-turn the Soviet-built fighter. Such capability increased proportionally with the decrease of the altitude.
Of course this inferior turning cycle was not to such an extent so it could prevent a well-piloted MiG-
15bis still could give a good fight against the Sabre even at such altitudes.
The design of the vertical stabilizers gave to F-86 Sabre a better axial stability, which apart from making
it a much more stable fire platform it also enabled a better diving capacity. As the Sabre could maintain
Mach 0.97 in a steep dive and still be under control a MiG doing so would enter in an uncontrolled spin
and rip its wings off. At least that was told to the combat pilots. The reality was a bit different as test pilot
Stepan Mikoyan explains:
"The MiG-15 fighter had sweptback wings but the sweep was only thirty-five degrees and the wings were
relatively thick, therefore its speed limit was M 0.92 (for an aircraft with a non-sweptback wing M 0.8
was the maximum). In the Korean War the pilots who were trying to escape or were chasing him in a dive
at full-throttle sometimes exceeded the never-exceed speed. Whenever that happened they were supposed
to throttle down and deploy the speed brakes, but in combat nobody really did that. So we, the test pilots
of the fighter section, were instructed to test the MiG-15 in steep dives to assess the risk of that maneuver
and to devise some practical recommendations for combat pilots. I was among those engaged in those
tests. Thanks to the MiG-15’s sweptback wings, its longitudinal control was not affected by high speed
diving, whereas the lateral control effectiveness was decreased and the aircraft would roll to the left due
to the engine rotation moment. It took us several flights to realize it, but once we did, we developed a
certain pattern of diving in which a steep dive was entered with the aircraft already banking to the right.
It turned out that even in a vertical dive at full power the MiG-15 was unable to reach M 1.0-with its
aerodynamic layout the air drag was simply far too great. Therefore we could report that there was no
longer the danger of exceeding the limit speed."
In fact Central Fighter Establishment documents pertaining to the Sabre versus the MiG comparison
indicated that the Sabre could in fact dive faster but was less stable in this regime. This was especially
true for the A model of the Sabre.
The MiG-15 had a much more powerful weaponry; its single Nuddelmann-Richter and two Nuddelmann-
Semenov cannons of 37 and 23 mm could brake a Sabre, or any other type of U.N. aircraft, into pieces
with a few rounds. Experience showed one or two direct hits of a 37 mm shell or 10-15 hits of 23 mm
shells usually sealed the fate of the Sabre in most cases. On the opposite side of the fence, the Sabre pilots
sometimes needed the full load of the Sabre's six Browning machineguns of 12.7mm (0.50 inch) to shot
down a single MiG-15bis like Hinton experienced when he shot down Yefromenko on December 17.
As no rose is without a thorn the F-86 Sabre had a much better gunsight, coupled with a small ranging
radar mounted on the top of the intake lip which calculated the range to target. This contraption enabled
U.S. pilots a greater degree of accuracy for less effort when firing at a MiG. In addition to the better
gunsight complex the trajectory of the 0,5 inch (12,7mm) bullets was almost a straight line, while the
trajectory of the 37 and 23 mm shells curved earthwards after a few hundred meters because the weight of
the rounds. That was why only the best Soviet shooters could score hits at long range while the vas
majority preferred to close to 200m of their targets.
The sight with the radio-range finder of the Sabre gave birth to the first Soviet Radar Warning Receiver.
Test engineer Vadim Matskevich conceived a contraption that reacted to the Sabre’s ranging radar. Every
time such a radar would be looking at the MiG the pilot would hear a low-pitch ‘howling’ in the
earphones. As the distance from the emitter grew the noise became high in pitch and low in volume. Even
so it remained perfectly distinct within the distance of seven to eight kilometers. Probably the most
important reason for the introduction of this improvement on the Korean MiGs was the fact it was very
simple to install partly utilizing the already built-in, but never really used equipment for rocket-assisted
take-offs.
Apart from the tactical aspects of the Sabre versus MiG-15 combat many other indications were already
present in the initial skirmishes of what was yet to come.
The Soviets inflated their score with a high percentage of over claiming. The actual kills differed from
claims by as much as 50-65%. In many cases the over claims were made in good faith, but it must be said
that the Soviet contingent command encouraged good results, which could be reported back to the SSSR.
Of course the U.N. was also prone to over claming, albeit at a lower rate of about 30-40%. This was
evident especially in the post 1952 period where a confirmed kill was awarded even with inconclusive
evidence that cried out for a damaged or a probable classification.
During the same time it had become standard practice if a Sabre that was shot up in combat with the
MiGs successfully disengaged and then crashed outside the MiG Alley or in the vicinity of the home
base, these losses would be considered as accidents and not classified as losses to enemy fighters as they
should had been.
Another factor was also present in all of the jet combats in Korea. Namely both sides liked to inflate the
amount of enemy aircraft engaged in every combat. As we will see that the Soviet liked to increase the
size of the enemy formations in a 100 %, and the Americans did it even worse (a percentage of 200 %).

TEMPORAL WITHDRAWAL OF THE SABRE

While not achieving a positive balance with the Sabres the MiG-15 units defeated the FEAF over the
Yalu in December 1950 in the area where it counted. With the air superiority gained by the MiGs in
November and the first half of December the great Chinese offensive could reach Seoul outskirts on 2nd
January 1951, and on the same day the 4th FIW Sabres were evacuated out of Kimpo airbase to Japan.
Seoul fell two days later. The Sabre effort was just too little far too late and these events left them out of
the game for a while, due to the short range of the F-86A, Kimpo was the only airfield where the Sabres
could operate and reach the "MiG Alley". So, the only opposition found by the MiGs in the air during
January - first half of March 1951 were the inferior F-80s and F-84s.
No missions were flown into the "MiG Alley" for most of January. On 21st January a mission designed to
test the waters with one RF-80A escorted by four F-80Cs was flown into the area. They were met and
bounced by six MiG-15bis of the 29th GvIAP, 50th IAD. Kapetan I. F. Grechko shot down the valuable
reconnaissance platform piloted by 1st Lt. JB Smith of the 8th TRS while the rest of the formation engaged
the escorting Shooting Stars of 49th FBW. The resulting combat was swift and Major I. F. Bogatyrev shot
down the Shooting Star of Robert Dalmon. The remaining three F-80Cs returned home and reported that
they were jumped by no less then a dozen of MiGs. Robert Dalmon remains Missing in Action till this
day while JB Smith loss was credited to North Korean flak.
During the same day the newly arrived F-84Es met their Soviet opponents for the first time. A raid of
eight Thunderjets against a bridge over the Chongchan river met the same amount of MiG-15s of the
177th IAP later Major Mikhailov shot down the F-84E BuNo 49-3240. Other two Soviet pilots and the
American F-84E pilot Lt. Col. William Bertram (CO of 523 rd FBS) claimed one kill each, but it seems
that there were no additional losses of any side that day.
In the light of the Chinese offensive slowing down due to the FEAF ground support an maximum effort
was mounted against the North Korean airfields of Sinuiju and Pyongyang to deny their use to the
Chinese and Soviet units. These strikes were mounted the day after the unsuccessful 21st January. Prior to
the arrival of the B-29 formations no less but forty jets were sent against each of the targets to suppress
the local defenses. While the Pyongyang bound forty F-80C of the 49th FBW encountered no difficulties,
the forty F-84Es of the 27th FEW were intercepted by twenty MiGs of the 177th IAP over Sinuiju. Tha
badly outnumbered Soviet pilots claimed five victories while the Thunderjets claimed four. Actually the
only confirmed victory of the day was the one obtained by 1st Lt. Jacob Kratt Jr., who shot down the MiG
of Kapetan G. M. Grebenkin who lost his life in that combat. Four days later Kratt would claim to have
shot down a Chinese Yak-9P.
With the destruction of the NKAF airbases and nothing to be done with the Yalu ice the FEAF was
convinced by the three losses suffered on 21st January not to send any more formations into the MiG
Alley for the little or no gain they achieve. Thus February was a quiet month without any air combats
involving the Soviet units.
This respite in combat was enough to enable the rotation of combat formations. The 50th IAD including
the veterans of the Shanghai and Korea-the 29th GvIAP was sent back to the Soviet Union. It’s MiG-15bis
remained at Andun since they were assigned to the 151st Division. In turn the 151st handed its earlier
model MiG-15s to their Chinese pupils just before their move to Andun. The first regiment of the 151st
Division: the 28th GvIAP was ready for operations on 8th February while the 72nd GvIAP was ready on
March 2 1951. This rotation proved rather unsuccessful. For better understanding of the rather
complicated Order of Battle of the Soviet units the following schematics was prepared for the period of
the Soviet deployment in China in 1949 and the first three months of the Korean War.

UNITS OF SOVIET ADVISORS IN CHINA AND KOREA

Soviet air forces assigned to the Shanghai defence

Commanding officer Lietenant General P. Batitskiy
106th IAD (Fighter Aviation Division)
Lieutenant General of Aviation S. Slyusarev
29th GvIAP 351st IAP (Night) 829th SAP
40 MiG-15s 40 La-11s 10 Tu-2s and 25 Il-10s
Dachan airfield Suchow airfield Nanking PERIOD
(10 km NE of Shanghai) Jinfang airfield
(8 km from Shanghai)
1 April –19 October 1950 16 March–19 October 1950 9 March –19 October 1950 LOCATION
ALL AIRCRAFT ARE THEN HANDED OVER TO THE PLAAF
Pilots of the 29th
GvIAP relocate to Most pilots of the 351st and 829th Aviation Regiments go home
Mukden
Soviet air force assigned to the North Korean front
64th IAK (Fighter Aviation Corps) created at the end of November 1950 in Anshan
Commanding officer Lietenant General P. Batitskiy
28th IAD 50th IAD 151st IAD
Fighter Aviation Division Fighter Aviation Division Fighter Aviation Division
67th IAP 139th GvIAP 29th GvIAP 177th IAP 28th GvIAP 72nd GvIAP
MiG-15bis MiG-15bis MiG-15 MiG-15
early October 1950 to early October to early October 1950 to PERIOD
late November 1950 late November late November 1950
Mukden airfield Antung airfield Andun airfield LOCATION
late November 1950 to late November 1950 to late November 1950 to PERIOD
? early February 1951 early February 1951
Chindao airfield Andun airfield Mukden airfield LOCATION
This unit is active only The units MiG-15bis are Early February Early March PERIOD
for the better part of inherited by the 151st IAD early February 1951 to
November 1950. Then it early April 1951
spends all of it’s time personnel return to the Andun airfield LOCATION
training Chinese pilots. Soviet Union
The unit first relocates to
Anshan and is then sent
home.

The U.N. forces were decided that they will not allow for another Pusan perimeter to develop and they
had stabilized the ground war along the 37th parallel. During February 1951 the Chinese offensive after
the second fall of Seul completely lost its momentum. With the advance south the ground forces found
themselves under the sky, which was far to south for the Soviet units to be allowed to enter. They found
themselves under the sky owned by the FEAF. The Chinese ground troops showered with bombs, rockets
and gunfire, as were the Norht Korean forces a few months earlier they were forced to halt the offensive.
If the FEAF wanted to keep the Chinese volunteers at bay, new attacks against supply lines were to be
initiated immediately, and thus the railroad and road bridges again became main targets. This interdiction
program was described in a single idea of destroying rail and road communications to an extent that a 30
mile long undamaged stretch of road or rail line was not allowed to exist.
On the first day of March 1951 eighteen B-29s of 98th Bomber Wing were sent to strike the bridge near
Chongju, but due to strong winter headwind they were devoid of fighter cover over the target. Instead
they did rendezvous with a formation of MiG-15bis belonging to the 28th GvIAP, which transformed ten
of the bombers into flying sieves. Three of these crashed and were destroyed while trying to perform an
emergency landing at Taegu. March was another quiet month with not many air combats. 17th March saw
an otherwise inconclusive air combat in which a MiG-15 pilot of 72nd GvIAP, Vasili M. Dubrovin,
collided in mid-air with an F-80C of 36th FBS piloted by Howard J. Landry. Both pilots died in the crash.

THE RETURN OF THE SABRE AND THE ROTATION OF THE SOVIET UNITS

The last weeks of March saw the return of the Sabres of the 4th FIW. Two new airbases; Suwon and
Taegu were prepared to receive them. 334th FIS occupied Suwon and its twin unit the 336th FIS found a
new home at Taegu. While the airbases were poorly prepared and operations from them were downright
dangerous this cannot be said for the pilots of the premier Fighter Intercept Wing. During the winter spent
in Japan the pilots who were blooded in December 1951 taught a specialized syllabus based on the
experience gained fighting the MiG. And this quickly brought results. In the following days three MiGs
were shot down by the F-86 Sabre pilots all without a loss to themselves. One of these victories was
scored by an exchange Canadian pilot, J. A. O. Levesque on the last day of March. In the light of these
losses the Soviet High Command became worried for the poor results of the 28th and 72nd GvIAP.
The immediate arrival of better-trained units was deemed necessary to prevent the loss of the winter air
superiority again to the Sabre. During March a new Air Division, the 324th came from the SSSR to the
rear bases in Manchuria and got ready for combat sorties as all the previous units prepared to return to the
Soviet Union. The 324th IAD meant business. On the helm of the unit were two best leaders and most
successful fighter pilots that the Soviet Union had to offer. The commander of the 324th IAD was the man
who stood proudly on the first place in the list of Allied fighter aces.
The brightest star of the Three times Hero of the Soviet Union
VVS - Polkovnik Ivan
N. Kozedub. Ivan N. Kozedub with 62 confirmed
The Soviet propaganda victories against the Luftwaffe. Always
fully exploited his belonging to the elite regiments flying
success in the Great
Patriotic war. Paintings the Lavockin series on Svobodnaya
as the one on the right Okhota10 types of operations Kozedub
were plastered around knew how to run an effective unit. The
the airfields with a
motto "Fight like unsurpassed devotion of his
Kozedub" written subordinates was also reinforced by the
below. On the other fact that Kozedub already had an USAF
hand his exemplatory
leadership in Korea was and a jet victory to his credit. Namely
considered secret Kozedub shot down a Luftwaffe Me
almost until his death in 262 over the Oder in February 1945 and
1991.
another two Mustangs that had mistaken
his La-7 for a Fw-190A. Both of the victories over the P-51 are recorded in the USAF archives. Thus
Kozedub actually had the score of 64 victories though he can often be remembered as ranting that he had
for sure shot down over one hundred Luftwaffe fighters. His deputy was of the same make. 41 kill ace
Vitalij I. Popkov is most remembered by the exemplatory leadership and his lighting reactions in air
combat. Recent reseach also credits him for downing the sixth ranking ace of the Luftwaffe Hauptmann
Wilhem Batz. Before he left for Korea he commanded the 739 IAP. Thus the commander and the deputy
commander of the 324th IAD had a combined score sheet of 105 victories.
The Division had two regiments. Podpolkovnik Sergei F. Vishnyakov commanded 176th GvIAP while
Polkovnik Yevgenij G. Pepelyaev commanded 196th IAP. The latter would prove to be one of the best
pilots who ever streaked across the Korean skies in a jet fighter.

THE BOMBER SPRING OVER YALU

The VVS greenhorns performed their first combat sorties on first day of April. Two days later they found
themselves against the F-86A Sabres of the 334th FIS. But those who were expecting a fight of the experts
were to be disappointed since in this particular combat the American pilots gained the upper hand.
Captain James J. Jabara and Benjamin H. Emmert shot down one MiG each, and R. McLain and W.
Yancey shared a third MiG kill all of them belonging to the 196th IAP. However it was not a one-sided
affair since Starshij Lejtenant Fiodor A. Shebanov latched and destroyed the F-86A of Major Ronald
Shirlaw who ejected and was captured. Certainly three losses for one victory was a poor beginning for
both of the new units. Things even worsened on the 4th April when another MiG fell to the F-86A Sabre
pilot Edward Flectcher of 336th FIS and this time there was no US losses. But the new brooms soon
started mopping.
We have mentioned that the Soviet pilots were flying with using North Korean communications. Indeed
this had been the case until now. Within the 324th IAD things would prove to be different. Both regiment
commanders Vishnyakov and Pepelyaev simply grounded their regiments refusing to fly and fight until
such very restrictive bans were lifted. Pepelyaev even told General Lejtenant Ivan Belov that if he did not
like the decision made by Vishnyakov and him he was welcome go and fight by himself.
Belov as commander of the 64th IAF of course wanted to court-martial Pepelyaev but was astonished
when Division Commander Ivan Kozhedub wisely supported Pepelyaev and Vishnyakov in their
decision. Kozedub explained to Belov that he has already sent a personal letter to Stalin outlining how
stupid the ban really was. Belov knew that Kozhedub was a nation wide hero and his popularity with
Stalin was immense. He gave up and authorized the pilots to speak Russian during combat.
On 6th April 1951 the MiG-15bis pilots of 196th IAP could finally show their true color and capacity when
Kapetan Boris S. Abakumov riddled the fuel tanks of the F-86A of Maj. Crown with 23 mm shells.
Crown crash-landed his Sabre and was captured. His Sabre was in a relatively good shape and an attempt
was made to transport the fighter to Manchuria by truck but it was later completely destroyed by other
fighter-bombers before the transport crossed the Yalu. Despite this the incident showed that the 324th IAD
is a combat unit capable to combat the Sabres of the 4th FIW. And it was not to end there since their
greatest hour was still to come.
With the end of March the ice that covered the Yalu started breaking up.
The attacks on international bridges were resumed being most intensive
in the area of Sinuiju and Uiju.
On 7th of April 1951 an unknown number of B-29s escorted by 48 F-84Es
of the 27th FEW visited the Yalu bridges. A force of about thirty MiG-15s
of the 176th GvIAP soon confronted Superfortress crews. Despite the
efforts of the escorting Thunderjet pilots the MiG-15bis of Kapetan Ivan
V. Suchkov passed through the fighter screen and blasted one B-29 out of
the sky.
Just five days later the 324th IAD would go down in history. On April 12,
1951 a composed force of forty-eight B-29 of the 19th and 307th Bomber
Wing with an escort of no less then thirty-four F-84 of the 27th FEW and
another eighteen F-86As of the 334th FIS was tasked with the destruction
of the same targets on the Yalu in the vicinity of Sinuiju. Lt. Gen
Two consecutive guncamera frames
Stratemeyer thought that the F-84s were no match for the MiG-15s and
taken by Kapetan Ivan Suckhov on preferred the Sabre for the task but he was under pressure of the
12th April. Almost fifty Thunderjets temperamental SAC commander, General Curtiss LeMay, who wanted to
weren’t able to prevent Soviet jet
pilots to getting through to the
see the Thunderjets of the 27th FEW acting as escorts. This is an unusual
bombers. (VVS) episode since FEAF was distinct from SAC and under the direct control
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. SAC continued to control all the bomber
forces in the ZI (Zone of Interior - i.e., the United States).
Stratemeyer gave in and crossed his fingers in hope that the 334th FIS will be enough to keep the MiGs
away from the bombers. Nothing remotely similar would happen in what turned out to be one of the worst
USAF operations up to that date.
In the morning of 12th April 1951 the pilots arrived on the air base while the technicians were still
performing the last checks and minor maintenance on their MiGs. At 9:37 in the morning the Soviet radar
operators gave the alert in Antung that a massive and slow air raid was coming in towards the Sinuiju
railroad bridge. Immediately Kozedub went off to command the battle from the KP. Fearing that this
formation was made of Sabres mimicking to be bombers he sent first only six MiGs to reconnoiter the
situation. The rest of the pilots were ordered to cockpit alert. When the six pilots saw that this was really a
bomber formation in short order no less then another thirty-eight MiG-15s of the 176th and 196th
Regiments scrambled towards the bombers and their escorts (and not 75 MiGs as asserted USAF at that
time). Despite the large formation the Soviet were still outnumbered three-to-two by the escorting fighters
and almost tree-to-one by the whole formation. In fact not a single flyable MiG-15 could be found at
Antung. But the analysis of the bombers tactics in the previous months allowed Pepelyaev and
Vishnyakov to realize that when the Thunderjets and Sabres were in the role of escorts for the slow
bombers they were forced to fly at only 700 km/h and at 7.000m. At such a low energy state the Sabres let
alone the Thunderjets would be unable to catch or out-maneuver a MiG-15 diving at 900 km/h. In that
light both commanders instructed two-thirds of his men to climb to 10.000m and then to dive towards the
bombers ignoring the escorts while the remaining third faced the Sabres and Thunderjets.
With dry throats upon seeing the huge enemy formation 3.000m below, one by one the Soviet pilots
began their full throttle dives. In the incredible battle that followed the MiG-15bis pilots Boris A.
Obratsov and Seraphim P. Subbotin from the 176th GvIAP and Fiodor A. Shebanov and A. M.
Kochegarov from the 196th IAP shot down one B-29 each while six more bombers were so severely
damaged that were written off after landing. The escorting F-86A Sabre pilots James Jabara, Bruce
Hinton, John Meyer and Howard Lane claimed one MiG kill each while and the B-29's gunners claimed
seven more. The truth is that despite many MiGs were damaged only one was lost to a Sabre. Most
probably the successful pilot was Capt. Jabara. The Soviets over claimed a lot too that day. The pilots
claimed a dozen B-29s, two "F-80s" which were actually misidentified F-84s and one F-86, but taking
into account the admitted losses of both sides there is no doubt that this air battle, the biggest one of the
war until that time, was a tremendous Soviet victory with no less then ten bomber victories against only
one fighter lost. Stratemeyer gave a halt to the B-29 daylight sorties and reported to LeMay that he would
not send the bombers again into the "MiG Alley" until new facilities and airbases would be built to allow
the deployment of more escort fighters. But actually the problem didn’t lay in numbers but in tactics used.
Two 196th IAP tragic aces.
On the left Kapetan Boris
Abakumov who claimed six
victories in Korea, but was
shot down and injured.
Abakumov had written one
of the first books about the
Soviet units in the Korean
skies titled the Unknown
War.
On the right Starshij
Lejtenant Fiodor Shebanov
was credit with five Sabres
and one B-29, but was in
turn shot down and killed
probably by Paul Mitson on
26th October 1951. (VVS)
After the downfall of the "the bombers will get through" mentality in the early days of World War Two
the escort tactics had to be rewritten again by the RAF when it leaned over into France in the summer of
1942. The escorting fighters were given several separate tasks. Four types of escort tasks were directly
concerned with the bomber protection and this meant that these formations had to adhere to bomber
speeds, routes and timing. These were the close escort which surrounded the bombers; the escort cover
that provided cover for close escort fighters; the high cover; to prevent the enemy fighters positioning
themselves above the two lower fighter formations; and lastly the top cover which, although tied with the
bombers’ route had a roving commission to sweep the skies clear of enemy fighters threatening the
immediate are of bomber attack. But the bomber support didn’t end there. There were three more types of
escorts which were independently routed namely: target support, withdrawal support and fighter
diversion. Supporting fighter sweeps were employed when the penetration of the raid was sufficiently
deep to encourage the enemy to send reinforcement fighters from bases not in the threatened are of
operations. The USAF adopted this routine with an emphasis on the top cover fighters and incorporated a
shuttle service. With the advent of jets these tactics were shattered. The early jet engines were far from
fuel-efficient and the targets were far from the home bases. Formatting took a long time and during this
time fuel was wasted. The old assembly procedures were not successful just because of endurance. The
failurie to protect the bombers on 12th April was due to the fact the Vishnyakov and Pepelyaev skillfully
led their formations minimizing the advantages of the Sabres, but also due to the fact that the jet escort
were tied to the bombers to a great extent and thus were unable to counter the MiGs who came down on
the formation with 200km/h speed advantage. This goes only to the afore mentioned fact that the West
enjoyed an advantage over the SSSR in the experience gained by the Luftwaffe jet pilots. The formations
flown in Korean differed in nothing to the formations flown by Generalleutnant Galland:
"In principle, the tactics of an Me 262 formation irrespective of what they were opposing were
determined by the flying qualities of the aircraft. First there is the high speed, then there is the small
banking performance and third there is the very limited ability to compare the acceleration with
conventionally engined aircraft. By acceleration I mean the capability of going from limited speeds to
high speeds and vice versa. The Me 262 needs plenty of elbow room in both cases. For formation flying
this means that flying in battle formation is a little more difficult then it is for conventional aircraft, in
other words, by throttle lever – but instead position must be kept by means of sideward movements, ie. by
shortening the flight path or by swinging out and increasing the distance cowered. In any case it is wrong
to give up the one element of superiority the jet has namely speed as again picking up speed takes
longer."
These lines were spoken to an USAF intelligence officer during the end of May 1945. Six years later
USAF jet pilots and their commanders again learnt the importance of keeping up speed. The price of this
lesson was then paid by the Bomber Command.
With the Sinuiju bridges still standing the FEAF Bomber command campaign goal failed. Now they were
again targeted against the NKAF air bases, which were well south of the MiG Alley. With the bombers
gone the air battles during the rest of the month were inconclusive leaving FEAF worried about the
evident improvement in the quality of their opponents and their tactical coordination and cooperation in
combat. Despite the inconclusive engagements of April 16 and 18 the MiGs could not score kills, the
Americans were taught another tactical lesson during these two dogfights.
The basic idea was that a Sabre formation is sandwiched between two attacking MiG pairs. One climbing
and one diving. On 22nd April the Sabre pilots had found the answer to the "sandwich" in the form of the
long forgotten RAF six ship staggered flight. On that day a dozen F-86As of the 334th FIS were
intercepted by 36 MiGs of 196th IAP and began a raging battle in which soon a dozen more Sabres joined
their buddies. During the battle the Sabre pilots countered the Soviet "sandwich" tactic with flight of six
F-86s instead the usual ones of four; four of them would attack the climbing MiGs and the remaining two
the diving ones. Such counter-tactic enabled the Sabre pilots to claim four MiG kills: one each by the
World War Two Ace Glenn Eaglestone, James Jabara, William Yancey and Ralph Gibson. However,
only one MiG was actually lost, and again the most likely scorer was Capt. Jabara.

THE FIRST CLASH BETWEEN TITANS

The next important fighter battle happened on 20th May 1951 when 28 F-86 Sabres of the 335th FIS
engaged 30 MiG-15s of the 196th IAP over the "MiG Alley". With no less but 58 fighters in a single battle
this was the largest fighter battle to that date. Capt. James J. Jabara was a member of the 334th FIS, but
when the unit was rotated out he was allowed to stay with the 335th FIS to become the USAF first jet ace
as he was just one victory short. Despite he that he wasn’t able to drop one of his wing tanks and was
therefore flying with a dangerous asymmetric load and the frantic maneuvering of the Soviet pilot,
Kapetan Nazarkin, Jabara shot it down forcing Nazarkin to bail out. That was his 5th claim and instantly
he became the first jet-vs-jet Ace in History. Jabara attacked another MiG after that and claimed to shot it
down too but was then jumped by two MiG-15s, one of them piloted by a future ace Starshij Lejtenant V.
N. Alfeyev, who shot-up his Sabre with 23mm shells. Jabara was saved by the intervention of other F-86
piloted by Eugene Holley, who forced Alfeyev to disengage, even when Holley was slightly damaged by
Alfeyev’s wingman Starshij Lejtenant Fiodor Shebanov. Jabara could land safe and sound but his F-86
BuNo 49-1318 was so riddled that it was considered as beyond repair and dully written off. Despite that,
Jabara was very happy: he was credited as the First Jet-vs-jet Ace of History and he lived to tell his story.
He was immediately sent back to the United States. But according to the Soviet files his score at the time
was four at best, so he actually become ace only in his second combat tour in 1953.
During that particular battle two American pilots were credited with three MiG kills since Jabara claimed
two and Milton E. Nelson claimed the third one but actually only Nazarkin's MiG was lost; and four
Russian pilots claimed to shot down one Sabre each (Maj. Kirizov, Sr.Lts. Alfeyev and Shebanov, and
Col. Yevgeni Pepelyayev) when actually Alfeyev's claim become an write off, Shebanov's one was only a
damaged F-86, and the Sabre kill of Polkovnik Yevgenij G. Pepelyaev was confirmed because the
unnamed American pilot was captured by Chinese ground forces. That would be first one out of the 19
this great pilot would be credited with.

Despite none of the The two antagonist

of the May 20
opposite sides dogfight. Jabara is
knew at that time, on the left, Alfeyev
one more important on the right The
dogfight just proved
event had how closely
happened that day. matched were the
Both V. N. Alfeyev Soviet and USAF
aviators in Korea.
and James Jabara (left USAF
are considered aces museum, right
with 7 and 15 VVS)
victories
respectively, that day occurred the First Clash Between Titans, the first struggle between aces of the
Korean War. Both pilots returned home with their aircraft as write-offs. This is probably the epitome of
how the Soviet MiG-15bis and USAF Sabre pilots were evenly matched in skill in equipment and in
tactics. But the bomber spring in the MiG Alley as a whole was won by the 324th IAD.

NOTES
1) VVS stands for Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily = the Soviet Air Force
2) NKVD are security forces based on the communist ideology but politically controlled
3) Great Patriotic War is the Russian acronym for World War 2.
4) This rule translated is altitude-speed-maneuver-fire
5) PVO stands for Protiv-Vozdushnaya oborna = The Soviet Air Defense Forces
6) Some sources say this was due to Chinese AAA, but others state that Starshij Lejtenant Kursonov
flying a La-11 shot down the Tu-2 on 9 August 1950, after the aircraft strayed into a restricted area
and was mistaken for a B-25.
7) Now known as Shenyang
8) Group Captain J. E. Johnson refers to 'us' as the RAF
9) Soviet time. Add one hour for American time.
10) Literally translated as free hunt missions similar to RAF independent fighter sweeps with the aim of
seeking and destroying the enemy.