Powered by 5,000-pound static thrust Allison J35 engines, the F-84’s heavily laden takeoffs from Korean airfields were sometimes augmented by the use of strap-on jet bottles, a process known as JATO–Jet-Assisted Takeoff. Initially assigned to B-29 escort duties, the F-84s soon gained fame in ground attack operations.
28, 1946, arrived in Korea in December 1950. Used initially for counterair and ground attack work, their importance as night fighters caused them to be withdrawn for defense purposes until a shortage of spare parts made it necessary to retire them from combat.į-84 Thunderjet. The F-82s were powered by two 1,600-hp Allison V-1710 engines. It was intended for use as an ultra-long-range escort fighter and a night fighter. Called the Twin Mustang, the F-82 appeared to be two halves of an F-51 joined together with a wing center section and horizontal stabilizer. The first three North Korean airplanes destroyed by US forces were shot down by F-82s on June 27, 1950. The Japan-based F-82s were among the first USAF aircraft to operate over Korea. Powered by a 4,600-pound static thrust Allison J33 engine, the F-80 did remarkable work at a variety of tasks in Korea.į-82 Twin Mustang. Brown shot down a Russian-built MiG-15 in the world’s first jet-to-jet air battle. It operated extensively in Korea in the ground attack role–primarily for low-level rocket, bomb, and napalm attacks on fixed targets–and as the RF-80 reconnaissance airplane. The Shooting Star was USAF’s first operational jet fighter, making its first flight on Jan. Powered by a 1,695-hp, liquid-cooled, Packard-built Rolls Royce Merlin power plant, the F-51 proved itself to be a capable ground attack and, as the F-6/RF-51D, reconnaissance aircraft.į-80 Shooting Star. The Mustang was used primarily for close support of ground forces, until the aircraft type was withdrawn from combat in 1953. It was especially valuable in Korea because it could operate from rough South Korean airfields. The single-seat Mustang was first flown in 1940 and considered by many to have been the premier piston-engine fighter of World War II, when it was known as the P-51.
What follows is an accounting of some of the war’s most important machines.į-51 Mustang. More generally, Korea marked either the beginning or the end for some famous and significant USAF airplanes. It was the last US major war without at least some space support. The Korean War was the last (and only) time large numbers of piston-engine and jet-engine aircraft shared the wartime skies. On the other side of the coin, Korea marked the end of the line for prop-driven combat aircraft–in USAF, at any rate. The US military got its first taste of combat against Soviet aircraft, Soviet tactics, and, on some occasions, Soviet pilots. Within months of the war’s outbreak on June 25, 1950, Korea produced the first-ever jet-to-jet combat. The war saw the first large-scale combat use of jet aircraft. Korea was the first shooting war for the newly independent US Air Force.
The Korean War that was just starting to unfold 50 years ago became the scene for some notable airpower firsts–and lasts.
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