In the fall of 1950, the increasing numbers of MiG-15s based just north of the Yalu River caused great concern with the Far East Air Force (FEAF), and when these swept-wing fighters started coming south of the river in November 1950, air superiority and safety of United Nations (UN) ground troops were threatened. The call was made to bring the new F-86 Sabres over to Korea to counter the Soviet-built MiGs. The 4th Fighter Wing was the first to respond, but that is not the end of the story. At the same time, there was also a need to bring in a newer fighter bomber that could easily range up to the Yalu and take care of itself in a fight. The F-80Cs were doing a good job of this, but if the MiGs came south of the river in large numbers, the current U.S. Air Force bombers, the F-51 Mustang and the F-80 Shooting Star, could be in for a much tougher job of bombing targets and getting back home unscathed. The Mustangs were also getting old, and heavy maintenance was required to keep their in-service rate up.
The Strategic Air Command (SAC) had a highly trained F-84 wing at Bergstrom AFB in Texas, and it included some of the most combat-experienced fighter pilots from World War II. This was the 27th Fighter Escort Wing and, up until this time, their main task was to fly escort for SAC bombers if WW III started. The unit had already transitioned from the F-82E Twin Mustang to the F-84E and was able to get proficient in the new jet before the orders sent the wing to Japan. General Hoyt Vandenberg approved the request to send one wing of F-86s and one wing of F-84s to Korea.
MiG Alley heats up
This story is from the September - October 2021 edition of Flight Journal.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
This story is from the September - October 2021 edition of Flight Journal.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
A Legendary Sortie
BRADLEY WENTZEL
Fairchild 24 Sean Neal pays tribute to history
“AT THE END OF THE WAR, there was an interview with a senior German U-boat commander asking why they pulled their submarines from the Atlantic coast in 1943,” American Airlines Boeing 737 captain Sean Neal recalls. His reply was, It was because of those damn little red and yellow airplanes!” The little red and yellow airplanes the U-boat skipper was referring to were the general aviation aircraft pressed into service by the newly formed Civil Air Patrol CAP) in 1942 to report, deter, and disrupt the operations of German submarines, which had begun to devastate merchant vessels along the East Coast that January.
FIRST BRIDGE The start of the Vietnam war
General Curtis E. LeMay, Air Force Chief of Staff, was not happy. First-line U.S. fighters had been in South East Asia in small numbers since 1960. By mid-1964, more fighters began rotating through bases in South Vietnam and Thailand as a show of force. Reconnaissance missions with a pair of fighters as escorts, known as armed recce,” were being flown into Laos and Vietnam, but they were severely restricted in their operations. The fighters escorting the reconnaissance aircraft could attack enemy positions only if they were first fired upon. The politicians were being cautious. By January 1965, there had been several protective reactions,” and even a few fragged planned) missions, but nothing of any real scope. In fact, many of the preplanned missions had failed to find their targets in the confusing jungle landscape or reported disappointing Battle Damage Assessment.
Hying for \"DEVOTION\"
Behind the scenes with the pilots who brought the story of Ensign Jesse Brown & LTJG Thomas Hudner to life, Artic cold invaded Jesse Brown’s cockpit as he desperately looked for a place to land his F4U-4 Corsair in the snow-covered mountains of North Korea, near the Chosin Reservoir.
The Original \"Old Crow\"
Col. Bud Anderson's airborne reunion with a P-39Q Airacobra,The evening sun was low on the horizon as John Cyrier taxied toward the Commemorative Air Force's (CAF's) ramp at San Marcos, Texas on July 28. He had just completed the final leg of a four-stop flight home from AirVenture 2022 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Cyrier pivoted the Central Texas Wing's P-39Q around to the right, braked to a stop, and cut power to the fighter's Allison V-1710 V-12 engine. Just after its 11-foot, seven-inch Aeroproducts propeller swung to a stop, he shot both arms through the P-39's rolled-down cockpit door windows, clenched his fists, and yelled an exultant \"Yeeeaaah!\"
F-117s OVER BAGHDAD
Stealth fighters adapt new tactics in Desert Storm, On January 16, 1991 Nighthawks unleashed their stealth capabilities and Guided Bomb Units (GBUs) on Baghdad and some of the most heavily defended airfields in Iraq. During the “43 Day War,” F-117As of the 415th and 416th Tactical Fighter Squadrons flew nearly 1,300 sorties under the command of Col. Alton Whitley.
THE LAST COMBAT Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 Wk. Nr. 1342
In 1988, a Frenchman walking on the beach near Cap BlancNez near Calais, France, discovered a piece of metal sticking out of the sand. There had been a storm and, as sometimes happens, the sand on the beach had shifted, revealing something that had been buried for almost 50 years. It was the wingtip of a crashed World War II fighter aircraft. As the tides ebbed and flowed, most of the wreck of a relatively intact German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter was revealed, with both wings, the landing gear, and parts of the fuselage.
Samurai SURVIVOR
Zero ace Saburo Sakai
The Guys with the Wrenches
The pilots got the glory but the unknown heroes were the mechanics
EARLY CHANNEL BATTLES Spitfires fend off Me 109s
Of all the written accounts by the fighter pilots of the RAF during 1941, two stand out, in my opinion. Both were by pilots who flew Spitfire Mk Vs with 610 Squadron, which by summer 1941 was one of the squadrons under Wing Commander Douglas Bader. "Circuses" were usually composed of six bombers, escorted by many squadrons of fighters, typically Spitfire Mk Vs; the formation was called a "Beehive."
