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

KOREA
Chinese began their summer offensive under the cover of the clouds
common during the monsoon season, their goal was to secure the best
. possible post-armistice positions. And after the armistice was signed
on July 27, the primary concern of FEAF was that Washington not so
deplete USAF strength in the region that the Chinese would be tempted to
renew the fighting. To deter any such effort, FEAF moved to build up an
effective nuclear strike capability independent of that of the Strategic Air
Command.”*
In sum, during Phase I11 (July 1951-July 1953) of the air war in Korea,
the level of conflict gradually increased. Both USAF and enemy fighter
units increased in number and strength. The air superiority campaign was
fought mainly over a small number of airfields in or near MiG Alley. By
keeping those fields closed, the bombers of FEAF and the fighter-bombers
of Fifth Air Force compelled the Chinese MiGs to fight the F-86s. If the
latter could be overwhelmed, then the air support and interdiction efforts
of U.N. air forces could be assaulted directly. It was a very different situation
than that faced by the Eighth Air Force in Europe in World War 11.
Then, U.S. aircraft had gained air superiority over Germany by forcing
German fighters to attack heavily defended U.S. bomber streams and also
by taking control of the air above German airfields so that German aircraft
had no sanctuary. In Korea, both sides had sanctuaries, but the Chinese
never had the long-range strike capability of FEAE Korea more resembled
World War I than World War 11, and the F-86s and B-29s kept it that way.
After October 1951, the ground war was largely static, and, in the air, both
sides gradually improved their equipment and their skills and also aug-
TABLE 9-1 1
FEAF Air Activity, 1953
Jan-Mar Apr-bun Jul Jul x 3*
Counterair Sorties 6,407 9,945 2,322 6,996
Total F-86 Sorties 9,713 19,763 5,841 17,523
F-86 Combat
Flying Hours 14,690 26,651 7,555 22,665
*Note: “July x 3” is simply the July figure multiplied by three to give a figure comparable to the other
three-month periods.
Source: FEAF Korean Air War Summary, June 25, t9SO-July 27, 1953.
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