The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

North Korean advance just enough so that the UN forces could be resupplied and hold their defensive
positions. To accomplish this, the Air Force used the F-80 Shooting Star, the F-51 and the F-84
Thunderjet. The Navy carriers were equipped with the F-9F Pantherjet fighters, AD Skyraiders and F-
4U Corsair propeller-driven attack aircraft. Soon thereafter, the UN forces had achieved air superiority
over a small North Korean Air Force that consisted of about 120 obsolete Russian aircraft.
The F-84F was one of America’s first jet aircraft to see combat in the skies
over Korea.
support to the forces engaged in the
fighting and hammered North Korean
supply routes.
South Korea’s territory had been
recaptured in a rout of North Korean forces.
With the North Korean Army on the run,
General MacArthur calculated the entire
Korean peninsula could be swept clean of
communist forces with a simple mopping-up
operation. The UN and President Truman
agreed that the original objectives of the
Korean War allowed for the elimination of
the communist force that would hinder a
completely reunified Korean peninsula.
The communist Chinese, who had been
120
In September 1950, the UN
forces landed at Inchon. This
amphibious operation placed the
UN forces behind the enemy
lines and was timed to coincide
with the Eighth Army breakout
at Pusan. The plan was so
successful that within 10 days the
North Koreans had been pushed
back nearly 200 miles to the
former South Korean capital of
Seoul. During the push north,
UN air power provided close air
The Chinese MiG 15 proved to be a formidable opponent in the Korean
War. (EAA)
supporting the North Korean war effort did not take General MacArthur’s threats lightly. They threatened that
if UN forces moved past Seoul and the original border of North and South Korea (the 38th parallel), they
would attack.
On November 25, 1950, after moving all the way up to the Chinese border with little North Korean
resistance, the war changed completely around. The communist Chinese entered the war with 850,000
troops and the best fighter aircraft in the world. The Chinese were using the Russian-built MiG-15
fighter jet.
A new air war had started in the skies over Korea, and part of this air war was very new and
different. It was an all-jet battle. The best Russian built jets versus the best that the Americans could