By:      Norm Goyer

When the Korean War began our new Air Force was equipped with straight wing Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and the Republic Thunderjet already obsolete.

The Korean War was an aerial transition from one era to another. It was the last war where propeller powered aircraft and turbine powered aircraft served side-by-side, each needing the other. It was also the first war where helicopters played an increasingly important  role. It was also the last war that did not employ help from outer space, in the form of satellites for navigation and for instant data transfer. When the war first started, it was thought that this would be a war of turbine powered aircraft. They had been introduced during the end of World War II by both Germany and England. The USA lagged a bit, as usual, with the wrong design, Bell XP-59. Our leaders thought that the almost ten year history of jet usage would dictate the use of jets during the Korean War. Our Air Force and Navy had been using them for some time and our pilots were trained in jet aerial maneuvering. Lockheed had produced the F-80 Shooting Star, Republic, the ThunderJet and Grumman, the Panther, all extremely well built and good flying fighting aircraft. But, it didn’t work out that way.

The North Koreans were using the latest Russian MiG-15 swept wing fighters with Soviet trained pilots. Their small jet was far superior.

For some reason the Russians had taken a giant step in jet fighter design, giving their pilots and some Chinese and North Korean pilots, an edge that immediately made our fleet of jet fighters obsolete. To many engineers, the change in wing shape appeared to be minor, but in actuality, it became a major factor in aerial jet dog fighting, In addition the new MiG.15s were small, light and had swept back wings. Our fighters had straight wings and were typical American, big and heavy with lots of armor, guns, bombs, and too small fuel tanks. The MiGs could turn within our aircraft, they could out climb them and out distance them. The well trained Russian pilots literally had a turkey shoot with our now ineffective straight wing fighters. The only immediate solution was to recall some of our better World War II prop fighters from Davis Motham mothball fleet. Mustangs were dusted off, Twin Mustangs were prepared for low level attack duties, Corsairs were already in the fleet and being used as night fighters. The Dash 5 had a radar dome installed on the right wing. The Navy also had an inventory of the new Douglas AD-1 single seat, attack fighter and bomber. This huge aircraft could carry more bombs than a World War II B-17 Flying Fortress. The Navy moved aircraft carriers with Dash 5 Corsairs, Douglas AD-1s and Grumman Panthers into position to pound Korean ground targets.

Boeing B-29 and Douglas B-26 Invader bombers were resurrected from the Arizona bone yard and used to bomb North Korea.

While our Air Force and Navy were doing their best, our aircraft factories were busy modifying our aircraft to modern standards and beyond. The new North American F-86 swept wing jet fighter, the swept wing Republic Thunderstreak and the swept wing Grumman Cougar started rolling off the production lines. The skies over Korea were full of North American aircraft, the P-51,. P-82 and the F-86. The New Sabres were a match for the MiG 15s. With the air war finally under control, the military decided to pound the ground with increased heavy bomber attacks. Davis Motham provided a large number of very tired, but still willing, B-29s for long bombing runs carrying tons of bombs. The ground attack bombing duties were assumed by the outstanding Douglas B-26. This aircraft was called the A-26 Invader during World War II but was changed to a light bomber status for Korea as the B-26. The Martin B-26 Marauder was retired so there was little confusion, except in the minds of aircraft buffs.

North American was finally able to release the production version of the F-86 swept-wing Sabre. This new aircraft rapidly leveled the air war. It became one of our all-time great jet fighters.

It is interesting to note that the aircraft used during the Korean War ended up as some of the best aircraft every built in America. The Corsair flew with the Navy for many years, the B-26 went on to fight again in Vietnam, being the only light bomber that fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Of course the Douglas C-47 did the same in the military transport category. In addition the C-47 became “Puff the Magic Dragon” when it was equipped with modern Gatlin Machine guns raining hell from the open cargo doors of the C-47s down on the North Vietnamese. The F-86 became the best small single engine jet fighter during the Korea time period. It was purchased by many countries as their first line jet fighter. The Douglas AD-1 was modified into many different working aircraft both single and multi seats. The AD-1s were heavily used in Vietnam.

Grumman had to redesign the straight wing Panther into the swept wing Cougar. The F9F along, with the prop driver Corsair and Skyraider fought the war for the Navy.

If you have never seen “The Bridges of Toka Ri” rent it. This Korean war movie features the Grumman Panther and the first use of helicopters as flown by Mickey Rooney with a cigar almost bigger than he is. The B-29s were retired and replaced with the B-47 and B-52 heavy bombers, The Sabre was upgraded to the F-100 Super Sabre and then the McDonald F-4 Phantom for use in Vietnam appeared setting another new standard for jet fighters..

Yes, Korea is often spoken of as the “Forgotten War”, but aviation will forever be grateful for the lessons learned in this transitional conflict, When obsolete propeller aircraft saved our butt during the early years of the conflict.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 11:10 pm and is filed under UnderTheRadar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.