a positive identification. He could see no
insignia on the aircraft but was positive they
were the enemy and called to the other
two Mustangs: “Let’s go get them.” He and
Lt Olsen dived on the nearest one, which
panicked, snap-rolled and quickly lost height.
“I picked up the next one,” said Price. “He
started to turn sharply left and away from the
other Yaks and snap-rolled. I followed him
down. While he was turning I clobbered him
as my rounds converged right on target.
“Pieces flew off the enemy fighter and his
engine causing him to immediately bale out.
What surprised me was that his parachute
was square, unlike the round one we used.
I didn’t see where he landed, but swung
around and tried to get at another aircraft.
“All I saw was Lt Reynolds following a
lone aircraft, so the
others may have
dived for the ground.
The Yaks were much
slower than our
Mustangs [relative top
speeds 367/437mph;
590/703km/h] and
I joined alongside
Reynolds. He then
stated that his guns
had jammed.
In the meantime,
the enemy fighters
were trying to head
west to get across the
Yalu River and safety.
I slid down and
across as Reynolds pulled off. I fired each of
my rockets at the Yak in an effort to save my
ammo. Each [one] missed... these rockets
were absolutely worthless.”
According to Capt Price, they had beenstored on Guam in the western Pacific since- Their propellant had solidified, so
the rockets tended to fall short of the target.
They also failed to stay on course and either
veered left or right, what Price called a ‘hook’
or ‘slice’, in a golfing
analogy.
“I then lined up
from slightly below
and fired the 0.50
calibres. I hit him
from behind the
cockpit all the way
up to the engine. I
must have fired
three or four bursts,
as I remembered
that these Yak types
were supposed to be
armoured.
“All at once,
bluish flames started
coming out of the
engines. At the same time, the aircraft nosed
over, the guns started firing and he went
down in a steep dive. I think he was killed or
unconscious because he made no attempt to
pull out, and went on in from about 5,000ft.
“I watched all the way down until he hit
very near Sinuiju. No other aircraft were in
sight so we stayed for about a half-hour; saw
no traffic on the roads, so we headed home.”MiGs CAUGHT ON FILM
Only a few 67th FBS Mustang pilots tangled
with MiG-15s – among them Captain Ross
Flake.
After months of ground support around
the Yalu with no aircraft sightings, MiGs
suddenly became a common part of
missions, Flake recalling that they appeared
in two-ship elements at very high altitude,
circling but never starting a dogfight.
His first encounter came when a pair
made two formation passes at the flight
he was leading. “We were down at 2,000ft
when my wingman called out that the two
MiGs inverted, launching an almost vertical
pass at us.
“We started a hard turn, hoping they
would engage, but they pulled up again.
The second dive on us was not so steep.
I turned into them and, even though they
were out of range, I pulled the trigger and
kept on them as long as possible to get
them on film.‘An ominous
shape hurtled by
me and I then knew
we were weren’t
being fired on from
the ground, because
a Yak-9 pilot had
me in his sights’
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 67Right: Captain Howard I Price (left) with his
crew chief with a red/white blinker-nose
Mustang that had belonged to the 40th FS
and was transferred over to the 67th FBS. H I
Price via Warren Thompson
Bottom: All of the Yaks in South Korea were
shot up by strafing fighters. Those that were
able to fly made it back to Manchuria. Warren
Bodie via Warren Thompson64-68_mustangDCmfDCmfDC.indd 67 04/08/2017 12:36