John Scallan
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Former Radar Tech at U.S. Air Force (1974–1978)Mon
Was the MiG-15 a nasty shock for the Allied bomber aircrew in the Korean
War?
Oct 23, 1951 will always be remembered as “Black Tuesday” by American aviators. On that day 200 American planes attacked the NK airbase at
Namsi, Korea. The core of the American force was a group of 9 B-29s. The
rest of the force was the fighter escort. They were attacked by three squadrons of Mig-15s. The Mig-15s ignored the fighter escort and
concentrated on the bombers. The Migs shot down 6 of the B-29s that day.
The Mig-15s took 0 losses. The surviving bombers were so shot up that
they were deemed unrepairable and eventually scrapped. This was, as you
say, a nasty shock to the USAF. Losing 100% of your bombers in a single attack is considered a disaster. The fact that an escorting fighter
group of close to 200 planes failed to shoot down any Migs was an even greater shock. It was clear that the Allied fighters were totally
useless. USAF bombers were switched to nighttime operations only. The
B-29 crews were mostly reserve officers called back to duty. Very few of
them were regular USAF officers. The B-29 crewmen were already bitter
and resentful over being called back to duty while the regular officers stayed at home.
After the war a defector landed his Mig-15 at an American airbase. The
USAF immediately sent their top pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager, to do a technical evaluation of the Mig-15. He quickly identified the weaknesses
of the Mig. This information was passed down to the rest of the USAF organization.
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Charles Fletcher
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Charles Fletcher
· Tue
The defection of the MiG pilot was after the Korean War.
John Scallan
· Tue
You are correct. The plane and the pilot at the Smithsonian Museum.
M.P. L.
· Tue
Crazy if you think the british gave them the engines to fight the west….
Richard Garside
· Tue
Yes, okayed by Stafford Cripps, a Communist sympathiser
Nathan Thomas
· Tue
They gave them obsolete engines. And they needed money rather badly
since America was demanding immediate payment. It's called karma
M.P. L.
· Tue
Afaik they gave them nene engines in 46 that were anything but obsolete
and money wasn‘t the object of the transfer….
Dave Austin
· 15h
That and they raised the price of Merlin’s and the Packard license. Shot
in the foot that, the US had much superior radial engines and hundreds
of thousands of crated Allison’s for the last thing inline 12’s were
good for, drag racing, hydrofoils and tractor pulls.
Paul Ithurralde
· Thu
What a load of crap. America wrote off the war loan, then gave ANOTHER
loan with extremely generous long term, low interest rates which they
allowed 11 defaults on over the years when England couldn’t make the payment.
You’ve been lied to Nathan. Get your facts straight.
You might want to acknowledge that Canada ALSO gave the same type of
post war load to England. Try reading a bit, even shitty Wiki gets it
more correct than far to many Brits on this site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-American_loan#:~:text=The%20Anglo%2DAmerican%20Loan%20Agreement,World%20War%20to%20keep%20afloat.
John Ruthven
· Thu
Far too many Brits get it wrong I think you mean…
Paul Ithurralde
Well I didn’t want to drag ALL the Brits into it :D. I only really have experience arguing it with the one’s here on Quora and I wouldn’t want
to assume all of England is represented by a few here on this site.
John Pearson
· Fri
I think Nathan may be an Aussie not a Brit.
“England” and “Britain” are not the same thing - even Wikipedia gets that right.
Chris Pratt
· Tue
Lol
After the war a defector landed his Mig-15 at an American airbase. The
USAF immediately sent their top pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager, to do a technical evaluation of the Mig-15. He quickly identified the weaknesses
of the Mig. This information was passed down to the rest of the USAF organization.
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