Word: mig
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Dozens of swept-wing F-86 Sabre jets streaked north across the Korean battle-line one morning last week, climbing steadily but slowly to conserve fuel. At the Yalu at 45,000 feet they found what they were looking for, and Russian-made MIG-155 began falling from the sky. In the afternoon the Sabres went back to the job. By nightfall they had destroyed 15 MIGs, set a new record for a single day's action (previous record: 13 MIGs downed on July 4, 1952), and brought the month's MIG total to 74. Delighted, the Fifth...
Last week's big day belonged to the aces. Back in harness was Major James Jabara, who became the first jet ace in 1951, to shoot down his 13th and 14th MIGs. Colonel James Johnson, 37-year-old commander of the Fourth Fighter-Interceptor Wing, destroyed his tenth. Another oldster, Lieut. Colonel Vermont Garrison, 37, who shot down eleven Nazi planes in World War II, got his ninth MIG the same day. Among the younger aces who added to their scores was Captain Ralph Parr, 28, who flew 165 fighter-bomber missions on his first Korean tour...
After the Sabre. On the Quonset wall of a pingpong room at Kimpo airfield, a crudely drawn cartoon sums up the pilots' feelings about the Sabre jet and North American Aviation, Inc., the Los Angeles company that makes it. The cartoon shows a MIG pilot, closely pursued by an F-86, yelling "Break!" as he clambers out of his cockpit armed with a large paddle against a watery landing. The caption: "Look to North American for leadership...
Flying Arm Chair. But as the kill ratio, over the MIGs has soared, so has the pilots' respect for the sturdiness and dependability of the F-86. They have found that odds are with the MIG only until actual combat starts. Then the reliable Sabre takes over. Said Jet Ace (11 MIGs) Major James Jabara: "It's like flying an arm chair." The MIG cannot pull out of a left spin, but U.S. pilots never have to worry about the Sabre. The Sabre is also stronger than the MIG; pilots have seen the wings shear off a MIG...
Above all, the Sabre is versatile. The MIG was designed as a shortrange, fastclimbing bomber interceptor to defend Russia. It is ideally suited for Korea. But the Sabre was designed for air-to-air combat - and light bombing - anywhere in the world...