tangle with the MiG-15s every now and then. Staff Sgt. Carl Oseen, a B-29 crew member recalled, “Te fire we took from some MiG-15s on one mission was so thick you could have got out of the plane and walked on it.” While the Communist jets were a threat, both officers and enlisted men alike had a job to do, and more often than not, they kept a clear head and performed well under fire. “I spied this ‘baby’ (MiG) coming in at us at 1:30- low,” recalled B-29 gunner Sgt. Billie Beach, “so I picked him up at about 1,200 yards and ‘chopped’ into him with short steady bursts. At 400 yards (away) he keeled over on one side and I watched him go into a headlong dive and crash into a mountain below.” Just like at the end of WWII in
Three airmen perform engine work on an F-86 engine. Quite a few USAF mechanics in Korea had seen time serving propeller aircraft during WWII. This front-line experience made them invaluable line performers during the Korean War. (R. Blaylock photo collection)
lucky enough to have a leg up on this tough task. Sgt. Joseph Maddox of the 16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS) had seen time at Dow Air Base in Maine. He knew what cold felt like. His training and familiarity with cold conditions stood him in good stead for the two years he spent in Korea; he was ready both for the weather and his job of working on jets. Men like Maddox, and others of the 16th FIS, were especially at risk. Tey were one of the most forward- deployed squadrons in all of the Korean War. Hundreds of thousands of North Korean and Chinese sol- diers were within just miles of Suwon Air Base, South Korea (also known as K-13) at many times during the war. In fact, the base was about to be overrun and was evacuated only to be retaken when the Inchon Landings later occurred. While the Korean War was a
relatively “short” war, technology was changing all the time from 1950 to 1953, and enlisted mechanics needed
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to have a diversity of knowledge in order to best service each kind of jet. Gen. Ferguson recalled, “At the out- break of the war, we were mainly using F-84 Tunderjets and then there were some F-80 Shooting Stars ... but those needed to be adjusted to have larger fuel tanks. Later on it was the F-86 Super Sabres.” Te F-86 truly was a difference-maker in the skies over Korea. It was nearly unstoppable in its encounters with the Soviet MiG-15 jets. Te F-86 enjoyed nearly a 15-1 kill ratio versus the MiG-15. While the F-86s were quite domi- nant in their encounters with the Soviet-built MiGs, it didn’t mean you were out of harm’s way when you encountered the Communist aircraft amid the clouds. After all, not every- one flying in USAF “blue” during the war was a jet pilot. Cargo planes and bombers were in the skies doing their part to aid the war effort as well. Just as in WWII, bombers would carry 10-man crews, several of which were enlisted gunners. Tey also had to
the Pacific, B-29 Superfortresses were still a key instrument of war five years later in Korea. In late June of 1952, the USAF B-29s were involved in a joint operation with the Navy, rather than the Army, that had great results for the Democratic cause. Coordinated strikes on 11 Communist hydroelectric plants nearly destroyed those elec- trical facilities and plunged sections
Sgt. Joe Maddox of the 16th Fighter- Interceptor Squadron finds time to “cheese” for the camera at Suwon Airfield, South Korea. Smiles weren’t always the norm as Maddox stated in 2013, “I have many memories of K-13 ... some good and some bad.” (J. Maddox photo collection)
OUR HERITAGE
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