Doug Dildy

Among the legendary matchups of twentieth century aerial warfare – SPAD versus Fokker, Me-109 versus Spitfire, F-4 Phantom versus MiG-21 – one of the most famous is the one between the North American F-86 versus the MiG-15. For two and a half years, these two fighter planes faced off over the skies of the Korean Peninsula in the first war involving air-to-air combat between jet planes. Both planes were the finest fighters of their respective forces. But which one was the best?

To answer that question, Douglas C. Dildy and Warren E. Thompson provide a comparative analysis that examines the development of the two planes, their technical details, and their deployment in combat. Such a comparison is challenging give the relative paucity of information about the MiG-15’s use versus that of the F-86, yet the authors compensate for the lack of North Korean and Chinese materials with exploitation of post-Cold War archival openings and interviews with some of the key Russian pilots. Thanks to these efforts, they are able to draw upon as wide a range of information as possible to provide an assessment that goes far towards answering the question.

One factor complicating their assessment is that both planes enjoyed a common ancestry. The authors note that both designs were influenced heavily by World War II German jet fighter development, particularly the early work on the Focke-Wulf Ta 183. Building upon the technical data seized from the Germans, both the Americans and the Soviets developed the new fighters in parallel and introduced them to their respective air forces in the months leading up to the outbreak of the Korean War. Initially neither side deployed these cutting-edge fighters to the conflict; it was only after UN air forces overwhelmed North Korean airpower that the Soviets transferred their units to protect North Korean infrastructure, with the United States sending over their F-86s once the superiority of the MiGs became evident.

In analyzing combat between the two planes, the authors employ a nuanced approach that considers the variables in both the models involved and the quality of the pilots. Initially most of the Soviet and American pilots were combat veterans with considerable training in the new planes. The Soviet practice of rotating out units, however, soon created an experience gap between themselves and the Americans, whose practice of rotating people into units that remained in the theater allowed the new pilots to benefit from the experience of the veterans in their squadron. This gap grew further still as the Soviets were supplanted by the Chinese and North Koreans, as the limited training of the latter groups ensured that by the autumn of 1951 the F-86s dominated the skies over North Korea.

This result underscores Dildy and Thompson’s contention that it was the quality of the pilots rather than any performance advantage in the planes which gave the Sabres the edge over the MiGs. It’s an argument that is nicely supported by the evidence they present both of the technical factors and of the training regimen of the various sides involved. Here the value of their research is most apparent, giving readers a perspective unfortunately missing from older accounts of the air war in Korea. This is why that, despite the occasional tendentiously opinionated aside, the book succeeds in providing an informative overview of the clashes between the two planes and the factors involved in deciding them.… (mer)

A Lot of Book in Just a Few Pages
Mr. Dildy hits one out the park. After looking at some of the titles he had published, I was afraid this was going to be another generalist’s overview of the air war over Korea. I could not have been more wrong.
Overall this is an extraordinary book with a lot of history packed into relatively few pages. After subtracting the 11 pages of bibliography and footnotes, the 14 pages of color aircraft plates and the two color maps you end up with just over 50 pages of well written text that is supported by an incredible level of footnoting from an extensive bibliography that includes a few US technical reports, the usual mix of English language books and a very large number translated Russian books.
Although it’s a bit bantam sized in terms of text the author covers the entire spectrum of the air war over Korea exceptionally well. You will find chapters covering fighter vs fighter, the night bombing, the North Korean Hecklers, etc. There is also fair amount of coverage given to the use of radar and GCI by both sides. Given the size of the book there are a few minor areas that catch short shrift such as the ROK Air Force. However, the writing covering the North Korean/Chinese/Russian politics and squadrons more than makes up for it.
Overall? Superlative book that only produced one little nit for me, on page 51 the author cites VMA-312 as averaging between 60-75 sorties per day while shipboard on a straight deck carrier with only 24 aircraft. Given the need to re-spot the aircraft before rearming and refueling, the need to perform maintenance, the need to leave station for underway replenishment while at sea, I find that number to be exceptionally high as a “daily sortie” rate. If it was a surge for a few days, that could make sense. Not as a sustained sortie rate.
The one nit aside, this is an extraordinary book that is strongly recommended without reservations for history buff and modelers alike.… (mer)