F-86 Sabre and Mig 15 The anticipation is killing me... :)
#7

Yes, I like to argue (or quarrel as my friends calls it).

The aerial war of the Korean war has always interested me, and especially the respective characteristics of the two antagonists. I have collected a large number of books and other information on this war.

What I find interesting is that recent information that has appeared after the fall of the iron curtain sheds new light on the conflict. It is now apparent that the oft-quoted 1.10 kill ratio of the Sabre versus the MiG-15 is just, for lack of a better word, western propaganda! An analysis of combat reports, Soviet loss lists and not least examination of US losses (found here: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmkor/korwald.htm) reveals that it is much closer to 1:2 or perhaps even 1:1! I find that very interesting and worthy of examination from an historical point of view.

Why this disparity betwen original claims and what can be verified? If you allow, I'll give a few examples of such faulty US information regarding their losses.

For one thing there was the usual overclaiming on the US side, but even more improtantly it appears that many Sabre losses were somehow attributed to "ground fire" or other non-combat causes, even if it can be proven that the Sabre was lost in aerial combat. One prime example is F-86A Sabre BuNo 49-1319, which has this entry in the Korwald loss report:

Date of Loss: 511006
Tail Number: 49-1319
Aircraft Type: F-86A
Wing or Group: 4th Ftr-Int Gp
Circumstances of Loss: Hit by gnd fire 15 mi SW of Sinanju, crashed into the sea, bail out into Sinanju River


However, this particular Sabre was shot down by the top Korean ace, Yevgeny G. Pepelyayev! Also this Sabre did not crash into the sea but landed on some mud flats and was subsequently captured by the Soviets and taken to Russia for closer examination. A photo of the aircraft and more information about the combat itself may be seen here: http://www.acepilots.com/korea/yevgeny.html

I find it odd that a pilot reports being shot down by ground fire when in fact he was in an aerial combat in such a way that it cannot have been mistaken for "ground fire"! This is not the only example of this, another occured on the same day and combat as you can see on that webpage. F-86A BuNo 49-1267 was also shot down, not lost due to "engine failure".

What is the relevance to Il-2? Well, I think it clear that the alledged superiority of the Sabre over the MiG-15 is more or less a myth when flown by pilots of equal skills. The disparity of the two aircraft is relatively slight, though, and if the FMs are done right we will indeed have two aircraft where you really need to know the strength and weaknesses of yours and your opponent's aircraft in order to succeed!

Another thing I look forward to is blasting B-29s out of the sky with that armament!

BadPilot
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