The Remembered War and the Like

Fifty years ago in Korea, the shooting war stopped but the Cold War had been fundamentally changed. F-86 Sabres, such as these A models, had a dramatic impact on the course of the Korean War. Still, most sorties were devoted to attacks on ground forces, airlift, The Remembered War and the like. By Peter Grier HORTLY after noon on July 27, However, 5th Air Force instructed That was the war’s last air-to-air 1953, Capt. Ralph S. Parr Jr. airmen to keep up the pressure until encounter. Fifty years ago this month, spotted an unfamiliar aircraft. the appointed time, so Parr turned at precisely 10:01 p.m. on July 27, SThe Air Force pilot was flying his F-86 Sabre and made several the fighting between US-led United an escort mission near Chunggang- passes by the stranger. Parr identi- Nations forces and North Korean jin, on the Yalu River, only hours fied it as a North Korean Ilyushin Communist aggressors came to an before the newly signed armistice Il-12. With one long burst of gun- end. was to bring an end to the Korean fire, he sent it spiraling earthward When it did, the Korean peninsula War. in flames. was divided in two nations, with 1 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2003 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2003 1 Fifty years ago in Korea, the shooting war stopped but the Cold War had been fundamentally changed. F-86 Sabres, such as these A models, had a dramatic impact on the course of the Korean War. Still, most sorties were devoted to attacks on ground forces, airlift, The Remembered War and the like. By Peter Grier HORTLY after noon on July 27, However, 5th Air Force instructed That was the war’s last air-to-air 1953, Capt. Ralph S. Parr Jr. airmen to keep up the pressure until encounter. Fifty years ago this month, spotted an unfamiliar aircraft. the appointed time, so Parr turned at precisely 10:01 p.m. on July 27, SThe Air Force pilot was flying his F-86 Sabre and made several the fighting between US-led United an escort mission near Chunggang- passes by the stranger. Parr identi- Nations forces and North Korean jin, on the Yalu River, only hours fied it as a North Korean Ilyushin Communist aggressors came to an before the newly signed armistice Il-12. With one long burst of gun- end. was to bring an end to the Korean fire, he sent it spiraling earthward When it did, the Korean peninsula War. in flames. was divided in two nations, with 1 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2003 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2003 1 heavily armed forces facing each and airlift, lessons that proved to be government, and President Harry S. other across the 38th parallel. So the of great value in years to come. Truman ordered the evacuation of situation has remained, to this day. In the words of the Air Force’s US nationals, under protective cover Korea may have been America’s official history of the Korean con- from US airpower. “forgotten war,” overshadowed by flict: “The fledgling United States Fifth Air Force—largest of Gen. World War II, but in retrospect it Air Force emerged as a power better Douglas MacArthur’s Far East Air was clearly a pivotal event for the able to maintain peace through pre- Forces (FEAF)—rose to the task. US military in general and US Air paredness.” F-82 Twin Mustangs flew overhead Force in particular. The Korean War began on June while evacuees were loaded onto ships At the war’s beginning in June 25, 1950, when North Korean forces at the port of Inchon during the first 1950, the United States was woe- stormed southward across the 38th hours of fighting. By the night of fully unprepared to counter North parallel in a carefully planned at- June 26, the situation had become so Korea’s armed aggression. Force size tack. In the south, Republic of Korea dire that embassy officials asked for and the military budget had shrunk defenders were rocked back on their an airlift to take remaining depen- to a tiny fraction of their World War heels and then routed. President dents out. A flight of F-82 fighters, II levels. Yet, by the end of the fight- Syngman Rhee fled south with his ordered to defend Seoul’s Kimpo ing 37 months later, the United States had laid the foundation for the large standing force throughout the Cold War. The Jet Age The Air Force expanded. When it Photo via Robert F. Dorr began fighting in Korea, USAF was still heavily dependent on propeller- driven fighters and bombers. By the time of the armistice, it boasted an almost all-jet combat force. New aircraft, such as the supersonic F-100 fighter and B-57 tactical bomber, were on the verge of entering the inventory in quantity. The Air Force’s combat experi- ence in Korea was marked by impro- visation—at one point, for example, C-47s seeded the roads of Pyongyang with roofing nails in an effort to halt North Korean trucks. However, Air Pilots flying F-82 Twin Mustangs, such as this one, scored aerial victories in Force operators also learned lessons the war’s early days. When Soviet-built MiGs entered the conflict, though, the about close air support, interdiction, F-82s were overmatched. Airfield during this operation, scored the first air-to-air kills of the war. The big Twin Mustangs were or- biting the field when five North Korean fighters, either Yaks or Lavochkins, swung by. First Lt. William G. Hudson, in pursuit, blew off chunks of one and set its wing afire. He saw its pilot climb out and say something to his observer, who did not respond. Then the pilot pulled his ripcord and parachuted free, while the aircraft rolled over and crashed, the observer still inside. At least one additional North Ko- rean airplane—possibly three—was shot down in this encounter, but it is Hudson’s victory that the Air Force today officially lists as its first of the Korean War. Capt. Ralph Parr describes the last shootdown of the war to Col. Thomas DeJarnette, a 4th Wing group commander. Parr’s achievement was the last air- The airlift of civilians concluded to-air victory of the conflict. without further interference, but back 70 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2003 in Washington, and at the United Nations in New York, officials and diplomats were viewing the situation with growing alarm. With the Soviet delegate absent in protest against the UN’s refusal to admit the People’s Republic of China, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling on UN members to resist North Korea’s invasion. On June 27, President Truman— Photo by Charles Willis via Warren Thompson without consulting Congress—ordered US forces to support the UN in its “police action.” In Tokyo, Mac- Arthur, commander of US Far East Command, began plotting strategy. One of his first moves was to order FEAF to strike at North Korean ground troops with all aircraft at its disposal. A Cut Too Deep Early jets, such as this pair of F-84s, were straight-wing aircraft. The F-84s Unfortunately, not many aircraft and F-80s went from a fighter role to that of close air support. By war’s end, were available to the commander of most USAF aircraft were jet-powered. FEAF, Lt. Gen. George E. Strat- emeyer. His squadrons were short of Japan. More than half were F-80 poorly trained. The US estimated everything from F-80 fighters to fighters, the service’s first widely that, by August, North Korea still C-47 transports. In the aftermath of deployed jet fighter. The inventory had only a handful of its original 110 World War II, US flying forces had also included 190 F-51 Mustangs of combat airplanes. shrunk by four-fifths, to about 411,277 World War II vintage, valued for Job two, attacking North Korean personnel. Not all of USAF’s 48 their long range and ability to oper- ground troops, was far tougher. North groups were at full strength or com- ate from rough strips. Thirty-seven Korea’s armies outnumbered US and bat ready. In 1948, such downsizing F-82s were available for night and UN forces, and, aided by the shock had seemed prudent economy. In the all-weather duty. All of the Air Force effect of their sudden invasion, they face of North Korea’s strike, the cuts bombers were prop-driven models— made rapid advances to the south. In appeared to have gone too far, too 79 B-26s and 87 B-29s. late summer, UN forces had been fast. Job one was to gain air superior- driven into a small area covering the Still, FEAF struck back hard with ity. USAF achieved this fairly eas- approaches to Pusan in the far south- what it had. The US deployed some ily; the Soviet-supplied aircraft of east of the peninsula. In the critical 921 combat aircraft in the theater by North Korean units were old and days of July and August, virtually July, flying from bases in Korea and inferior and North Korean pilots were all UN ground forces were dug in on front lines, with only a handful in reserve. It seemed possible South Korea could be lost. However, the Communists’ southward thrust had used up tremendous amounts of North Korean resources, material and human, and Pyongyang was running out of gas.

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