The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

Chapter Chapter Chapter 5 5 5 - - - A AAviation:
A viation: F FFrom
FF
rom the the Cold Cold Cold W WWar
W ar to to Desert Desert Storm
Storm
build. The first all-jet air battle in history was won by an American F-80 piloted by Lieutenant Russell J. Brown
against a Chinese piloted, Russian-built MiG-15. Meanwhile, the Chinese pushed the UN troops back across
the 38th parallel and captured the South Korean capital of Seoul again.
The Chinese had about 1,000 MiG-15s when they entered the Korean War. The Russian built
aircraft were smaller, faster and more maneuverable. They could climb faster and higher, and they
possessed more firepower than the F-80 and the Navy F-9F fighters. In fact, the MiG-15 even had the
edge, at high altitude, over the F-86 Sabrejets, which were the best aircraft the United States had
during the Korean War.
Although the Russian-built MiGs
out performed the American made jets,
more MiGs were shot down than
American jets. The biggest reason for
this was that the United States had
better trained pilots. The result was
nine MiGs shot down for every one
United States aircraft lost during the
war.
When the Chinese invaded in
November, the United Nations’ aircraft
provided air cover for the retreat and
kept the UN forces from being
completely overwhelmed. They used
The F-86 Sabrejet proved to be one of America’s greatest jet fighters.
(EAA)
to what was used on Japan during World War II. The new
weapon was rockets delivered by airplanes. The rockets
carried the destructive force of a 105-mm cannon shell and
could be delivered with great accuracy by the fighterbombers.
The other weapon was a bomb just like what
General Kenney used during World War II, a firebomb. These
new bombs were called Napalm bombs, and were made of
110-gallon tanks of jelled gasoline, which when dropped,
would explode and burn an area some 250 feet long and 80
feet wide. Postwar interviews showed that Korean and
Chinese troops greatly feared these weapons.
Once the Chinese advance was stopped, UN troops
121
two weapons that proved to be the best
weapons used in Korea. One was a new
weapon, and the other was very similar
KOREAN WAR AMERICAN ACES
The top five American aces of the Korean
War were:
Captain Joseph McConnell, Jr. 16
Major James Jabara 15
Captain Manuel J. Fernandez 14.5
Major George A. Davis, Jr.14
Colonel Royal N. Baker 13
recaptured Seoul and advanced as far as the 38th parallel. From this point, the war neutralized into a
stalemate. By the middle of 1953, United States’ close air support for the ground troops developed into
a very precise art. Just like the end of World War II, the Air Force had become very good at supporting
the fight on the ground. It became clear, however, that the enemy could not win the war, and neither
could we.