Publication: Air Power History
Publication Date: 22-MAR-02
Format: Online - approximately 7213 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Marion, Forrest L.
Article Excerpt
In an interview with the air component commander of NATO's "air effort" against Serbia in 1999, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael C. Short described the tense hours on the war's fourth night. (1) During those hours, the fate of a downed American F--117 pilot hung in the balance and, perhaps with it, the support of a somewhat divided American populace. General Short stated, "I remember a senior officer from another nation who had sat with us most of that night when it was over saying to me, 'I can't tell you how impressed I was with what you were willing to do to get that pilot back, and the clear message being sent that this happened to be an American pilot, but if it had been a Spanish or a Canadian or Italian or German or a Frenchman or a Brit, it wouldn't have mattered, that you were gonna spend everything you had to go in and get him. And me as a member of another NATO air force, I'm impressed by that.' And I remember saying to him: 'It has always been that way in my air force....' And that was a legacy of Vietnam and a legacy of the Gulf War, that we will go and get a fellow [airman] if it's at all possible." Although the general's remarks were quite insightful, he was wrong on one point: the legacy dated not from Vietnam, but from Korea. (2)
Much has been written on air superiority during the Korean War, focused mainly on the aerial combat between F--86 and MiG--15. Some attention has been devoted to air-sea rescue, but one gap in the historiography of the "forgotten war" has been the contributions made to U.S./UN air superiority by the USAF aircraft that picked up downed fighter pilots. Sikorsky-built helicopters, mainly the newer H--19 but to some degree the older, less-capable H--5, and the amphibious Grumman SA--16, contributed in three ways to the air superiority mission in Korea. First, they recovered key components of MiG aircraft, increasing U.S./U.N. technical knowledge of the enemy's new and formidable let fighter. Second, by returning Sabre pilots from behind enemy lines or the hostile waters of the Yellow Sea, the pilots could "fly and fight" again. Third, they improved the morale of every fighter pilot who realized that if the unthinkable happened to him, the USAF would "spend everything...to go in and get him."
In 1951, within nine months of the MiG--15's appearance in Korean skies, two U.S./U.N. recovery efforts led to increased technical knowledge of the advanced enemy fighter. By March 10, 1951, Lt. Gen. Earle E. Partridge, Fifth Air Force Commander, had decided to make the salvage of a crashed MiG--15 a top priority. Years later he recalled:
General Ben Chidlaw, head of the Air Materiel Command...told me that we really didn't have any intelligence on the MiG--15, on the physical structure of it and what hind of guns it had and what the ammunition was like, and he said, "Why don't you get one?" And I said, "Why didn't you tell me your Foreign Intelligence Section needed one?" (3)
Partridge delegated the task to an enigmatic intelligence genius named Donald Nichols, whom the general described as "an incredible man," one who "could do almost anything," and a "one-man war." Nichols was an Air Force intelligence officer in charge of Special Activities Unit Number One. Three weeks later, Nichols began a training program including parachute jumping, salvaging of aircraft parts, and concealment in enemy territory. Operational plans were still incomplete on April 13, when an F--80 Shooting Star pilot of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing reported the location of a crashed enemy swept-wing fighter south of Sinanju, North Korea. Word reached Fifth Air Force Headquarters the next morning. After several unsuccessful photo reconnaissance flights to locate the crashed fighter, success came a day later and photo interpretation confirmed the aircraft as a MiG-15. The jet appeared to be unguarded and in relatively good condition, making it an attractive target. The salvage mission was on. (4)
Early on April 17, Mr. Nichols and two Koreans departed Taegu aboard a transport aircraft. Arriving at Seoul, they were joined by four more Koreans. The party soon departed in the 3d Air Rescue Squadron's newly arrived YH-19 helicopter for Paengnyong-do, a friendly-controlled island in the Yellow Sea just below the 38th parallel. After refueling, the helicopter departed and flew north, landing in a barley field two hundred meters from the crashed MiG. Friendly fighters provided cover en route and F-51 Mustangs strafed the area just prior to the helicopter landing. The H-19 pilots remained in the helicopter, while the salvage party proceeded to the MiG. Overhead, friendly fighters maintained their protective cover. Over the next thirty minutes, the party photographed and extracted vital components of the MiG, including turbine blade, fuselage, and ammunition samples. Using hand grenades, they blew apart the aircraft and obtained the engine exhaust pipe, exhaust pipe cover, and combustion chamber and carried t hem to the waiting helicopter. Nichols dragged the horizontal stabilizer to the helicopter. By 1700 hours, the H-19 was airborne for Cho-do, an island located less than four miles from the North Korean mainland, forty miles north of the 38th parallel. On the way out of North Korea, near Sinanju, the helicopter came under enemy antiaircraft fire, taking one hit in the blade. Refueling at Cho-do, the H-19 continued south to Paengnyong-do where the salvage party transferred to a 3d Air Rescue Squadron SA-16 amphibian, that flew them to Seoul. From there, they boarded a C-47 for Taegu, arriving that night. Soon, the salvaged parts were en route to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, for analysis. (5)
Note that this was a "special operation" mission conducted by a team of special operators using Air Rescue aircraft and aircrews. Three months later, another MiG recovery operation engineered by Nichols, this one near Cho-do, salvaged even more components than had the first one. In September 1951, the first issue of the Fifth Air Force Intelligence Summary featured a comparison of F-86 and MiG-15 characteristics, an analysis based upon the second MiG recovery operation. Thus, the newly acquired technical knowledge of the MiG-15 already was beginning to reach the F-86 pilots who were flying counter air patrols in "MiG Alley," increasing their understanding of the enemy's capabilities and vulnerabilities. (6)
Rescue and special operations aircraft also contributed to air superiority by picking up downed F-86 pilots from behind enemy lines or out of the Yellow Sea. In one of the earliest Korean War pickups of a fighter pilot from behind enemy lines,...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
More articles from
Air Power History
Modern warfare: desert storm, operation Iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom, 22-DEC-07
Books received, 22-SEP-07
The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the First Indochina War, 1947-1959, 22-SEP-07
Looking for additional articles?
Click here to search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Click here to search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company analysis or best practices in managing your organization, Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible, authoritative information they need to support their business goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting, company research or defining management best practices - Goliath is your leading source for accurate information. |
