couple of small bombs at Kimpo,
causing some damage on the flight
line. Anti-aircraft opened up, but
failed to accurately track the slow-
moving biplane.
At that point ‘Dentist’ scrambled
an F7F-3N from the alert pad.
The pilot of the Po-2 was intent
on escaping the area and was not
looking out for any pursuit.
Major Eugene Van Gundy lowered
his flaps and eased up behind the
fleeing ‘bogey’. A few miles north of
Seoul, his 20mm rounds converged
on the frail wooden airframe resulting
in immediate disintegration. It was
an outstandingly difficult ‘kill’ for
VMF(N)-513.
MiG kill
The lack of proper coverage during
the night resulted in the loss of
Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. The
big bombers had been forced to give
up operations because of MiG-15s
and needed the protection of the
dark. Lockheed F-94 Starfires of the
USAF were doing all they could,but as MiG-15s began nocturnal
missions the situation was remedied
by bringing in the latest Marines
night-fighter, the F3D-2 Skyknight,
the new equipment for VMF(N)-
513.
Major E P ‘Jack’ Dunn and
his radar operator (RO), M/
Sgt Lawrence J Fortin, made asignificant ‘kill’ on the night of
January 12, 1953. Dunn: “The
MiG-15s were all over the area and
we were getting a lot of radio traffic
from our ground controllers on
Chodo Island.
“The enemy pilots were trying to
lure us away from the bombers by
flying right up to our formation and
then darting back across the Yalu.
However, we did not fall for it and
the bombers finished their mission
unharmed.
“All of a sudden, this plane flew
right in front of us with his wing
lights on. Fortin kept track of him
on his screen. As we got closer, we
figured there was no way an F3D
could gain on a MiG-15 like this.
At that moment I called Chodo and
they put our present position right
over Sinanju.
“The MiG commenced circling
to the left with his wing lights still
on and far enough that any anti-aircraft fire would not affect him.
Our vision was hampered but our
concentration wasn’t. I was able
to turn inside of the MiG until
I figured I was within range and
opened up with our 20mm.
“I gave him at least three bursts
before anything happened.
Suddenly, he went into a steep dive
and I was right behind him and gave
several more bursts. By this time,
my ammo had found its mark and
the MiG had burst into flames. I
stayed on his neck until he hit the
ground in a spectacular ball of fire.
Seconds later, we were on our
way back to Kunsan.”Above left
A Tigercat that hit a
tree after a low-level
strafi ng attack in May- It still managed
to return to its base
at Suwon. IRV CLARK
Left
The alert pad at
Kimpo in 1952. Left
to right: F-82 Twin
Mustang, F7F-3N
and a pair of F-94C
Starfi res. W J WEBSTERBelow left
A line-up of F3D
Skyknights. ED EDELEN“Our vision was hampered but our
concentration wasn’t. ...my ammo had found
its mark and the MiG had burst into fl ames”
June 2018 FLYPAST 23