FlyPast 06.2018

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot
jets were limited to airspace north of
Pyongyang and the daylight.
Tigercat pilot Captain William
G Johnson recalled when the war
started swinging back in favour
of the Chinese. “Our pilots were
among the few allowed to fly armed
reconnaissance missions all the way
up to the Yalu [River] because of our
radar mapping capabilities.
“We were visually observing
numerous truck columns coming
into North Korea with their lights on.
This was the beginning of a massive

effort by the Chinese to keep their

advancing troops supplied. When we

first noticed this around November

1, we reported the activity every

night to General MacArthur’s staff.

They seemed to ignore the reports.

Therefore, it was no real surprise to

any of us when the Chinese hit our

lines south of the Yalu.

“As the temperatures continued to

drop, we flew many night missions

when it was well below zero at our

low altitudes. This took our 5in

rockets to well below their operating

minima.

“I remember one time I fired a

salvo of rockets at a truck column

with temperatures at -65°F. This

wasn’t recommended because instead

of ignition you could also get low

order rocket motor detonation. My

rockets ignited and barely pushed

off my wings. That was the last time

I fired rockets in such extreme cold

conditions.

“However, not all was lost on this

mission because we had discovered

a major reinforcing attempt by the

Chinese that were attacking the 1st

Marine Division. Once these fresh

enemy troops had pushed our forces

below the 39th Parallel, we had to

return to Itami in Japan to continue

our operations.

“We flew reconnaissance around the

clock and even in bad weather. We

pulled some night alerts at various

air bases in South Korea when the

USAF was having trouble keeping

the required number of F-82s [North

American Twin Mustangs] in service

for this role.”

Bumper to bumper

S/Sgt Kermit Moffitt, a radar

observer in VMF(N)-542

remembered a mission with his

pilot, Captain Manning Jannell,

over the Suan area, slightly southeast

of Pyongyang. “The weather

was perfect for striking targets of

opportunity. On this night, we were

working with a flare-ship which

could give us sufficient light to

get down low and deal out a lot of

damage to anything that moved.

“Our Tigercat was loaded with

eight 5in HVARs [high velocity

aircraft rockets] and 800 rounds

of 20mm ammo along with one

canister of napalm. When we arrived

in our designated area, the flare-ship

dropped two flares over a deep valley

that was suspected of housing a lot of

enemy road activity.

“As we descended under the flares,

we noticed several vehicles near

a small village. We had caught a

convoy right before they had begun

to camouflage their trucks. This

was a common tactic used by the

Chinese because they figured

we would not level an innocent

village in order to destroy

June 2018 FLYPAST 21

Above left

A replacement

Tigercat shipped in

from the States, still

bearing its ‘WM’ tail

code, at Kimpo in

late 1952. CULTRONA

COLLECTION

Left

The vicious winter

of 1951: a tracked

vehicle towing an

F7F-3N of VMF(N)-513

at Kunsan.

GENE DERRICKSON

Below left

Ground running an

F4U-5N.

GENE DERRICKSON