Captured MiG 15, 1953.

[CharlesBronson]

"We flew the MiG" newsreel about the mig 15 handed over by a North korean pilot.

 

[renrich]

Very good. Thanks for posting. Wonder what happened to the NK pilot? $100000 was a lot of money in those days. Interesting in the comparison with the F86, a lot of the remarks were similar to the comparison of the A6M with WW2 US fighters.

 

[JoeB]

The pilot No Kum-sok emigrated to the US where he later became known as Kenneth Rowe. He worked in the aerospace industry and later wrote "A MiG-15 to Freedom". He was still around and occasionally speaking publicly as of quite recently. What's especially interesting is that, at least according to the book, he knew and presumably told interrogators in great detail about the regular Soviet AF fighter units participating in the war, and that the Soviets, Chinese and NK units generally operated separately with some degree of coordination, not usually 'Soviet instructors' leading 'bandit trains' of NK's or Chinese as was the conventional wisdom. And he claimed to have known personally some of the now well known Soviet pilots in Korea, when they helped in training back in China, and later when his unit was based with them at the Antung base complex. His descriptions of particular incidents which can be checked generally correspond very well to US records, so I tend to find the book credible. It means that the specific nature of Soviet AF ops in Korea, a 'revelation' of the 1990's, was actually known to the USAF as of No's defection, but effectively kept secret by him and the govt for a long time.

There might have been other evidence as well at very high levels of security classification, but even 'secret' level docs as used to brief pilots during the war, such as I've seen, were vague about the actual nature of the opposition, and some statements later seen to be clearly incorrect. So No's info might have been a surprise.

As far as the evaluation of the plane, the one thing said there that's unclear at least is short turn radius for the MiG-15. Both US and later Soviet combat accounts agreed the F-86 could generally outturn the MiG-15 in practice, though on paper it shouldn't be able to, and perhaps in hands of most expert pilots it would not be able to.

Joe

 

[FLYBOYJ]

As far as the evaluation of the plane, the one thing said there that's unclear at least is short turn radius for the MiG-15. Both US and later Soviet combat accounts agreed the F-86 could generally outturn the MiG-15 in practice, though on paper it shouldn't be able to, and perhaps in hands of most expert pilots it would not be able to.

Joe

Actually Joe it depended on the F-86 model. Altitude and speed also played had a factor as well. From what I understand it was the F-86Es and Fs that were really able to outperform the MiG-15bis given the situation. I believe the -86 did have the turning advantage 30,000 feet and below, but at altitude the MiG-15 was more maneuverable. The F-86 was able to outdive the MiG-15 at all altitudes and this included the F-86A. The MiG-15 accelerated quicker and was lighter and the F-86E and F was faster. If you were to get both of them slow I would say the F-86 would be the better performer, especially if we're talking an F model 86 with the "6-3" wing.

I never flew an F-86 (that would have been my lifelong dream) but I did fly in a MiG-15 UTI and had the chance to fly the aircraft for about 20 minutes. At speeds between 250 and 300 knots the aileron effectiveness was tremendous as it felt like it would roll on a dime. I did slow the aircraft down to about 120 knots and slightly pitched the nose up and the aircraft felt very unstable and did begin to slightly snake, as a matter of fact the pilot I was with told me not to go any slower and "get the damn nose down." I followed him on the controls when we landed and the plane definitely snakes a bit when you're over the numbers and about to plant the wheels. Reminded me of flying a Bonanza.

Having worked around both aircraft, 86 was definitely the more advanced and better built aircraft but the MiG-15 just about did the same job with less. Nationalistic pride aside, the F-86 was the superior aircraft hands down. The only thing that could have made it better was using 4 20mm cannons in lieu of the 6 50s, but we know that did played out.