…d combat experience. Although denied at the time, former Communist sources later acknowledged that, while North Korean and Chinese pilots increased their combat participation as the war went on, Soviet pilots initially flew the majority of MiG-15s that fought in Korea. In Mig Alley, an area near the mouth of the Yalu River (the boundary between Korea and China), the North Koreans and their allies periodically contested UN air superiority. Mig Alle…
…defected to South Korea with a combat-capable MiG-15. In September 1953, a MiG– 15 piloted by Senior Lt. No Kum-Sok of the North Korean Air Force, landed at Kimpo Air Base in South Korea. Powered by a copy of a British Rolls-Royce jet engine that was improved to produce a higher thrust, the MiG-15 was superior to the American P-51 Mustangs, F-80 Shooting Stars, and the F-84 Thunder jets. Almost capable of Mach 1 speed, the MiG-15 was maneuverable…
…tected region restore forward airfields near the 38th parallel – Since the MIG-15s and IL-10s were short-range aircraft After the U.S. the Fifth Air Force demolished its forward fields at Kimpo and Suwon during the New Year’s offensive and redeployed all jet fighters to Japan, U.S. jets’ range was too short to maintain air superiority in the far northwest. The Chinese People’s Air Force then assumed control of the air between the Yalu and Ch’ongch…
…enetrate the Pusan Perimeter. U.N. bombing continued relatively unhindered for six months of the war ~ until the ominous appearance of the Soviet-built MiG-15 fighter (presumably flying out of Manchuria). MiG-15. Wikimedia Commons…
…While a bit over-the-top (Jack Webb?), this U.S. Army film made in 1950 reflects the post-WWII Cold War mentality….