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

AIR SUPERIORITY
(See Table 9-9) The counterair effort rose from under five percent of all
FEAF sorties to fifteen percent; it never fell below eleven percent for the
rest of the war. Related figures tell a similar story. (See Table 9-10)
Increases in the tempo of F-86 operations occurred as first the Chinese
pressed U.N. air units in the fall of 1951 and then, in 1953, the Fifth Air
Force, with four F-86 wings, sought to destroy MiGs faster than the
Chinese could train pilots to fly them. Tables 9-9 and 9-10 show the
increase in the counterair effort generally and in the pace of F-86 operations.
Beginning in October 1951, combat between MiGs and F-86s became
steady and intense, paralleling the war of attrition which Chinese armies
waged on the ground. The Chinese strategy was-apparently-to wear
down U.N. air and ground forces and thereby compel the U.N. command
to accept a settlement favorable to the Communist belligerents. To this end,
Chinese and North Korean air units mounted several major fighter offensives
against the F-86 force.
The first was in the fall of 1951, when Chinese MiG units pressed their
numerical advantage against the F-86s. Large numbers of MiGs were used
to occupy the F-86 patrols, and additional groups of MiGs stationed themselves
south of MiG Alley in order to deny Sabres withdrawing from the
battle area safe passage home.*’ To offset the increased numbers of MiGs,
General Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, USAF, authorized the transfer, by sea,
of another wing (the 51st) of F-86s from the United States. In addition,
TABLE 9-8
Bomber Loss Rates, Korea vs Eighth Air Force in WWII
B-29s Destroyed per 100 MiGs Encountered
Nov 1950-June 1951 4.0
Apr 12, 1951 12.5
Sep 1951-Dec 1951 1.3
B-l7/24s Destroyed per 100 German Conventional
Fighters Encountered
Apr 1944-Aug 1944 18
Mar-Apr 1945
Mar-Apr 1945
B-17124~ Destroyed per 100 Me-262s Encountered
16 (with U.S. escort)
32 (no fighter escort)
Source: “Aircraft Attrition in Korea,” Operations Analysis Technical Memorandum No. 31, M.A. Olson
and R.T. Sandborn, HQ USAF (Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations), Feb 11, 1952, Natonal Archives, RG
341, Entry 208, Box 13.
486