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Korean Air War info
| Korean air war statistics from sources of USA and USSR |
| Data from: | ||
| USA | USSR | |
| Overall losses of American planes | 2837 | |
| Combat losses of American planes | 1097+271 * | |
| Combat losses of F86 Sabres | 103 | 651+181 * |
| Combat losses of B29 Super Fortress | 17 | 69 |
| Combat losses of F84 Thunder Jet | 18 | 186+27 * |
| Combat losses of F80 Shooting Star | 15 | 117+30 * |
| Combat losses of F51 Mustang | 12 | 28+12 * |
| Combat losses of Meteor G.8 | 5 | 28+7 * |
| Rescued US pilots
(it's interesting to compare with the number of lost planes. How many crafts need to lose in combats to manage to rescue over 1000 survived?) | 1000++ | |
| Kills by B29 | 34 | 0 |
| Kills by Sabres | 810 | |
| Losses of MiGs by Sabres | 792 | |
| Losses of MiGs | 885 | 335+231 * |
| Combat losses of other Communist planes | 69 | |
| Not-combat losses of Communist planes | 1800 | ~10+? * |
MiG-15
The MiG-15 was an unpleasant surprise to the West when it appeared over Korea, because its performance was superior to that of any Western fighter. The configuration: the high-set swept wing, high tailplane. The MiG-15 is the most built jet fighter, with over 15000 produced.
| version | engine | weight , kg | speed , kmph | climb , min | ceiling , km | range, km (w/o drop. tanks) | take off run , m | land run , m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| design. | kgs | empty | ready | at sealevel | at 5 km | landing | 5 km | 10 km | |||||
| MiG-15 , 1948 | RD-45F | 2270 | 3382 | 4806 | 1050 | 1031 | 160 | 2.5 | 7.1 | 15.2 | 1420 * | 600 | 710 |
| MiG-15bis , 1950 | VK-1 | 2700 | 3681 | 5044 | 1076 | 1044 | 178 | 2.1 | 5.3 | 15.5 | 1330 ** | 500 | 880 |
** option to mount up to 2x600 liters (2x 1000 lbs) dropping tanks.
Armament : 37mm cannon N-37 + two 23mm cannons NR-23
Ammoload: 40 rpg 37mm, 80 rpg 23mm
| Name | Caliber | Shell weight | Muzzle speed | Firing rate |
| N-37 | 37mm | 735 g | 690 m/s | 400 s/s |
| NR-23 | 23mm | 200 g | 690 m/s | 850 s/s |
Along with the MiG-15 and MiG-15bis, the communist side used the piston fighters Yak-9P and La-9 and La-11 , attacker Il-10M , light night bomber Po-2 ;
the tanks T-35/85, IS-2, SU-76. The Americans used tanks: M24 Chaffie, M4 Sherman (M4A3E8), M26 Pershing, M46 Patton ; the bombers B26 Invader, B29 Super Fortress, AD4 Skyraider, the piston fighters F51D Mustang, F82F and F82G Twin Mustang, F4U-4 Corsair, the jet fighters F84G Thunderjet, F94B Starfire, F2H-2 Banshee, F3D-2 Skyknight, F86A and F86E and F86F Sabre, F9F-2 Panther, F80 Shooting Star.
The British (and the Australians) used the tanks: Churchill Mk.VII Crocodile, Cromvell Mk.VII, Centurion Mk.III, A34 Comet and the fighter-bombers Sea Fury Mk.11, Meteor Mk.8, Firefly.
Aces of Korean war
Some Air Combats
The world 1st jet-vs-jet kill. On November 1st, 1950 was the encounter of MiG-15 and F80 flights. The Soviet pilot Khominyh shot down one of the Shooting Stars. The Americans hide this loss, and did so in future. Many shot down planes were writen-off as "not-combat losses".
| 
|  F80 shot down | 
|
| F84 shot down | Sabre shot down | B29 shot down |
12th April 1951. 48 escorted B29 tried to attack a bridge over Yalutsyan river. 36 MiG-15 shot down 9 bombers. The Americans said 3 lost and 7 damaged SuperFortresses, and claimed 9 MiGs from 64..72 attackers, plus 6 probablies and 4 damaged. In fact, all Soviet fighters returned safety.
12th September 1951. 80 MiG-15 attaked about 150 F80, which strafed ground targets between Anchzu and Phenian. 15 Shooting Stars were shot down, 3 MiGs were damaged.
"The Black Tuesday". 30th October 1951. 21 B29 escorted by about 200 F86 and F84, tried to attack Namsi airfield. They were intercepted by 44 MiGs, which shot down 12 B29 and 4 F84. 1 MiG-15 was shot down by Sabres. The rest of SuperFortresses were damaged, but managed to escape. According the American sources, were lost 8 bombers.
Thanks to Andrey Mikhaylov and Alexander Melnikov.
Korean Air War info. Statistics from sources of USA and USSR, MiG-15 data, and so on
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