Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

AIR SUPERIORITY
the bullets fired and the chance that bullets would find a target. The USAF
had accepted the same armament in the F-86, and the wisdom of that decision
seemed proven by initial MiG-Sabre engagements. However, the decision
to equip the F-86 with 50-caliber machineguns put a premium on
skilled pilots, which was no problem until the USAF began to run through
the supply of World War I1 combat veterans.
The Sabre was a responsive aircraft and could outmaneuver the MiG
at altitudes below 25,000 feet. Even the F-86A, which did not have powerassisted
controls, was a relatively easy aircraft to fly. Though faster than its
World War I1 predecessors, the F-86 was actually more nimble in the hands
of a skilled flier. The controls transmitted less vibration to the pilot, so that
the physical strain of flying was significantly reduced.35 Compared with
piston-engine fighters, the F-86 could rapidly reach a fighting altitude, and
its ability to use its weight as a source of momentum in dives partially
compensated for its inability to outclimb MiGs. Nonetheless, its range was
limited. There was no provision for inflight refueling, so Sabres could only
extend their range by carrying drop tanks mounted below the wings. In a
dogfight, however, the drop tanks were a definite hazard, so pilots would
jettison them if action appeared imminent. The 4th Fighter-Interceptor
Group (4th FI Group) found in its early encounters with MiGs that many of
its drop tanks would not release, “and the failure of the tanks to release
with complete effectiveness adversely affected pilot p~ychology.”~~ It took
about three months for 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing maintenance personnel
to learn that the problem was caused by moisture freezing in the tank’s
shackle assemblies at high altitudes. The tank releases were simply freezing
shut under certain combinations of moisture and temperature. The 4th
Wing personnel tried attaching the heaters used in the 50-caliber machineguns
to the planes’ tank mountings, but the gun heaters “were short in
USAF supply and critically short in the Far East.”37 Air Materiel Command
specialists finally hit on the solution: packing the mounting shackles with a
waterproof insulating compound. The problem of wing tanks that would not
drop was largely eliminated by July 1951, but it would have been a very
serious problem indeed if Chinese air forces had been able to mount major
MiG attacks in April and May.
Air-to-air fighter tactics were similar to those used in World War TI.
The major differences were closure speed (often over 1,000 miles per hour
as opposing aircraft flew at each other at near mach airspeeds) and the high
speed at which engagements began. The initial high speeds were often
translated into rapid, high-G-force maneuvers, as MiGs and Sabres rolled,
turned, and twisted to get into a shooting position. Yet the basic maneuvers
were what they had been in World War I1 because the goal was still the
same: to hold a commanding position on an opponent long enough to shoot
him down. That usually meant getting on his tail and closing the range to a
thousand feet or less. And, as in World War 11, the task of each individual
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