Search results for ""Author Warren Thompson""

The first part of this book covers the role of US aircraft carriers and aircraft in stopping the North Korean initial push to the south and also their role in the famous Inchon Landing and Pusan Perimeter Break out. The last part of the first chapter deals with naval operations during the Marine's Chosin Reservoir march to the sea in December 1950\. The book goes on to describe the stabilization of the front lines after the Chinese had entered the war during 1951\. At this time, the emphasis for naval air operations is centered on interdiction behind the lines. The focus is on trying to stop road and rail traffic from re-supplying the communist troops and allowing them to build up to a major offensive. Also, it includes the entry of the F2H Banshee into carrier operations which gave the USA four major types of aircraft to wage the war. During 1952 most carrier air groups spend their time off the coast of North Korea while hitting targets up along the Yalu River. This puts them well within the range of the MiG-15's. Navy F9F Panthers were used as top cover while the Corsairs and Skyraiders went after major targets such as the dam complexes up river and marshalling yards north of Pyongyang. During 1953 naval air operations were stepped up in an effort to get the communists back to the truce talks. The number of MiG-15's had grown to a figure many times that of the UN for overhead protection. The deep missions were more dangerous than ever and the Chinese brought in state of the art anti-aircraft automatic weapons. The number of sorties flown by the US Naval aircraft increased over the previous year's record numbers. The war ended on July 27, 1953.

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As the routed North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) withdrew into the mountainous reaches of their country and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) funneled in its massive infantry formations in preparation for a momentous counter-offensive, both lacked adequate air power to challenge US and UN. Reluctantly, Josef Stalin agreed to provide the requisite air cover, introducing the superior swept-wing MiG-15 to counter the American’s straight-wing F-80 jets. This in turn prompted the USAF to deploy its very best – the F-86A Sabre – to counter this threat. Thus began a two-and-a-half-year struggle in the skies known as “MiG Alley.” In this period, the unrelenting campaign for aerial superiority witnessed the introduction of successive models of these two revolutionary jets into combat. This meticulously researched study not only provides technical descriptions of the two types and their improved variants, complete with a “fighter pilot’s assessment” of these aircraft, but also chronicles the entire scope of their aerial duel in “MiG Alley” by employing the recollections of the surviving combatants – including Russian, Chinese, and North Korean pilots – who participated.

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