
First To Fight – Episode 8: Wings Over Korea
When the Korean War broke out many of the aircraft initially used by the U.S. military were World War II prop driven planes, including the B-29 Superfortress bomber and the Mustang fighter with the Navy and Marines flying the vaunted Corsair fighter. The attacking North Korean forces had Soviet built jet fighter MiG 15. The U.S. rapidly deployed the F-86 Sabre Jet marking the first time U.S. jet aircraft engaged in battle. In fact, Korea was the first combat by the United States Air Force, created as a separate and independent force in September 1947. The Air Force F-86, the Navy Panther Jets and the Marines in the Corsair supported the heavy bombing campaigns against North Korea. This led to many dogfights in the northwest part of North Korea dubbed ‘MiG Alley and was is the birthplace of jet versus jet aerial combat with U.S. F-86’s fighting MiGs flown by the North Koreans, the Communist Chinese air force and even Soviet airmen. By the end of hostility’s in 1953 the F-86 had shot down 792 MiGs with a loss of 76 Sabre jets a for victory ratio of 10-to-1.