FlyPast 06.2018

KOREAN WAR US MARINE CORPS

22 FLYPAST June 2018

KOREAN WAR US MARINE CORPS

their supplies and vehicles.

“Once the flares had ignited, they

immediately stopped their trucks

figuring that a stationary target

was harder to spot than one that

was moving. Now, in the middle

of all this were three tanks lined up

bumper to bumper. What a target!

“Captain Jannell made one pass

to assess and on his second pass

he released the napalm. It hit right

in the middle and the ball of fire

engulfed the tanks. All three were

destroyed and this was confirmed by

our forward air controller.

“We continued over the area, taking

out two trucks with our rockets.

Most of the enemy vehicles had

dispersed off out of the light that the

flares provided, but we continued

to hunt them down. We finally

exhausted the remaining rockets

and all 800 rounds of 20mm taking

out several more Chinese trucks and

supply caches.

“The entire time we were

shooting everything up: we were

in one of those deep valleys which

would have been treacherous to fly

through without any light! The

moonless nights usually worked to

our advantage and the flare-ships

provided us with what we needed to

get the job done.”

Bed Check Charlie

In the spring of 1951, a new threat

showed up over the lines in the form

of Po-2s with a maximum speed

of 94mph (151km/h). These

biplanes would come in the

dead of night,

flying low and slow dropping small

bombs or grenades on the flight lines

of allied bases. Damage was minimal,

but sleep patterns were wrecked, and

disproportionate measures needed

to be taken on the ground to try to

deter what was called ‘Bed Check

Charlie’.

The Po-2s didn’t show up very well

on radar. High-speed interceptors

had to scramble quickly only to find

it was impossible to get a bead on the

low and slow biplanes, even if they

could locate them.

On the night of September 23,

1951, the tactical air direction centre

codenamed ‘Dentist’ picked up a

Po-2 on the scope. It dropped a

Above

An F3D Skyknight high

over Korea. ED EDELEN

Right

The pilots who made the

fi rst MiG kills in F3Ds line

up at Kunsan in 1951. Left

to right: Captains Weaver,

Dunn, Davis and Lt Col

Conley. JAMES WEAVER

Nov 2, 1952 Major W T Stratton Yak-16 Feather

Nov 9, 1952 Capt O R Davis MiG-15 Fagot

Dec 10, 1952 1st Lt J A Corvi Po-2 Mule

Jan 12, 1953 Major E P Dunn MiG-15 Fagot

Jan 28, 1953 Capt J R Weaver MiG-15 Fagot

Jan 31, 1953 Lt Col R F Conley MiG-15 Fagot

Confirmed F3D Skyknight ‘kills’ in Korea