formidable ghters and had given the
Germans “all they could handle” on the
Eastern Front during World War Two. It had
a 7,000lb (3,175kg) maximum gross weight,
could out-turn and out-climb the Mustang,
now referred to as the F-51 after redesignation
in 1947 when the US Air Force formed as a
separate branch of the military.
“The only things we had going for us was
that North American Aviation had produced
one hell of a tough ghter, and the pilots that
ew the F-51 were far better trained than their
KPAF [Korean People’s Air Force] opponents.
If you sighted one of the Yak planes, you had
better believe that there was another one
around as they always worked in pairs.
“As my Mustang accelerated, my FAC called
out: ‘Watch out for Number 4, he is right on
your tail.’ I turned my head round and saw the
yellow winking lights of the Yak’s two 12.7mm
machine guns and its 20mm cannon.
“He’d been in position all this time and now I
was in his sights. I broke so hard that I greyed
out [a transient loss of
vision], and I knew the
Yak could turn inside me.
In my panic, I held the
turn, hoping he would not
be able to follow after his
ring pass.
“Fortunately, he’d
gone across the top
and, with his advantage
of speed [because of
the manoeuvres they
were undertaking], he
pulled up into a tight
loop. That was all I
needed, because when
he came out of the loop
he’d be perched right
back there on my tail
again, only this time he
had speed to burn.”DOGFIGHTING SKILLS
Thresher said that at this point in any dog ght,
the experience and skill of the pilot played
a critical role in the outcome: “You can have
the faster ghter, but when it gets close and
personal you’d better hope your opponent
hadn’t a lot of combat experience.”
This opponent was in trouble after
keeping his eyes glued on the Mustang
for too long and then making a severe pullon the control column, which stalled the
ghter. As the Yak-9 spun down from 6,000ft
(1.828m), Thresher rolled back into a turn,
hoping to come out behind.
The KPAF pilot was, however, spinning
down the axis of the circle the Mustang was
making. The enemy pilot recovered and,
as he was just coming out of the spin, the
American tried to tighten his turn and come
around behind him. The Yak countered with
a fast, steep climb.
“While at the top of his second loop, the
enemy pilot slackened off gently and began
the dive downward,” said Thresher. “The
manoeuvre set a pattern for the ght. I was
ying a tight circle on the horizontal and my
opponent decided to y a sparring circle on
the vertical, snapping at me as we passed
each other.
“We held our turns and I looked for a
break as he picked up speed – and noticed
we were getting closer each time we closed
on the south side of my circle. We were
rapidly getting out of
phase and I was able
to snap a shot at him
each time now.
“The enemy pilot
was good, but he
realised that after
one more pass I’d
be coming in behind
him as he began his
climb. This seemed to
unnerve him, because
he wobbled at the
top of his next loop.
After the Yak faltered
I added throttle and
waited him out. He fell
unevenly this time and
I cut wide, brie y.
“At the bottom,
he recovered andhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 65Above: A 67th FBS F-51 Mustang carrying
ordnance to attack tank columns and truck
convoys. The weapons would knock out
any T-34 tanks being used by the North
Koreans. The red/white blinker-nose was
from the aircraft’s time with the 40th FS.
Warren Bodie via Warren Thompson
Bottom: Some pilots of the 67th FBS posing
for photographs after a dog ght during
the Korean War. Pictured (from right) Lt
Andridge, Lt Harold Ausman, Captain Ross
Flake and Captain Robert Thresher. Robert
Thresher via Warren Thompson64-68_mustangDCmfDCmfDC.indd 65 04/08/2017 12:36