Korean War: Jets Are Your Way Out!
Не-178 - the firstborn of a new era
Although Soviet and American pilots first encountered each other in the skies over Korea, it was the Germans and British who were the first to usher in the jet age. The He-178 was powered by the HeS 3 engine, designed by Hans von Ohain, but he wasn't the inventor of the turbojet engine. British test pilot and Flight Captain Frank Whittle patented his engine design back in early 1930, but the distance from patent to hardware was considerable: the Royal Air Force wasn't interested. In fact, this was to Whittle's advantage: he retained the rights to the idea, and after securing funding, the inventor, along with two partners, James Tinling and Rolf Williams, founded Power Jets Ltd.
Flight Captain Frank Whittle
It's not that the Luftwaffe generals were fond of jets. aviation, but at least the drag was less. As a result, the Germans beat the British by nine months. However, the quality of the early engines varied: the German production Junkers Jumo 004 produced 950 lbf of thrust (the Germans measured it in kgf, but I'm converting to imperial units for comparison) versus 860 lbf for the British, but due to a cobalt shortage, its service life was only 25 hours. Nevertheless, the He-178 and He-280 were the first jet aircraft, and the British Gloster E.28/29 was only the third. However, all of these were just prototypes...
Me-262 "Schwalbe"
Since this story is about the Korean War (has anyone forgotten that?), and the Me-262 Schwalbe didn't participate in it, it's not worth dwelling on this aircraft at length. However, it's worth mentioning that the Lastochka featured such innovations as swept wings (the sweep wasn't great, but it was there!), a delta-shaped fuselage, and an ejection seat, and most importantly, the Junkers Jumo 004 engine, which became the prototype for the first Soviet turbojet engines, the RD-10. Copying this German engine gave rise to the Soviet school of jet engine engineering, which today is one of the most advanced in the world.
Power Jet W.1
The British Gloster Meteor fighter deserves a closer look! Whittle's Power Jets Ltd. had been working on its engines since 1936. The first prototype, the Power Jets WU, began testing on Cosmonautics Day, April 12, 1937. The engine produced a staggering 2950 horsepower. Why staggering? The piston-powered Rolls-Royce Merlin, in production at the time, produced 1290 horsepower. However, this model was experimental and was never installed in aircraft. The next, the Power Jets W.1, was installed on the experimental Gloster E.28/29, which made its maiden flight on May 15, 1941. During testing in February 1942, the aircraft reached a speed of 430 mph (690 km/h). By comparison, the hero of the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire Mk.V, could reach a maximum of 375 mph (602 km/h). Now all that was left was to build a jet fighter!
Experimental Gloucester E.28/29
On February 7, 1941, Gloster received an order for 12 prototypes of the aircraft, but this number was subsequently reduced to eight. Initially, the aircraft was planned to be called the Thunderbolt, but the Americans had already transferred the P-47 Thunderbolt to the British, and to avoid confusion, the future aircraft was christened the Meteor. The prototype, designated the Gloster Meteor Mk.I, made its maiden flight on May 15, 1941. However, development of the aircraft continued until 1944. Nevertheless, on July 12, 1944, the jet aircraft was accepted into service with the Royal Air Force. The first batch of 20 fighters was delivered to 616 Squadron. On October 10, a series of training battles was conducted: the Meteors attacked a formation of a hundred Fortresses, covered by Mustangs and Thunderbolts. The result was exactly the same as what Soviet pilots would demonstrate in Korea: escort fighters were unable to stop the jets' attack, and the bombers suffered heavy losses.
Gloucester Meteor
The Gloster Meteor Mk.I was powered by two W.2B/23C Welland engines in wing nacelles and had a top speed of 4 mph (660 km/h). Four 20mm Hispano cannons were mounted in the nose, a significant advantage over piston-engine fighters whose armament was spread across the wings. Was the Meteor a good aircraft? Absolutely not! A full list of its flaws would fill several A4 sheets. It's worth mentioning landing gear issues, weak brakes, yaw in flight, the lack of an ejection seat, and cannons that jammed after the first shot or refused to fire at all... But it existed, and it flew!
Gloster Meteor and V-1 - made for each other!
True, Meteors weren't allowed to engage enemy aircraft. Moreover, jet fighter pilots were strictly forbidden from flying over enemy-occupied territory, lest a shot-down (or simply crashed) top-secret aircraft fall into enemy hands. Tellingly, Me-262 Schwalbe pilots were also forbidden from flying over enemy-occupied territory for exactly the same reasons! In short, for this reason, there were no combats between jets in World War II. What did Meteors do? Well, they found something to do: shoot down V-1 bombs. However, given the poor performance of their cannons, they did this using the "rolling strike" method: the pilot carefully approached the very edge of the aircraft. rocket, then carefully (after all, the V-1 carried almost a ton of explosives!) he would tuck his wing under the rocket's wing and lift off. The rocket would flip over and fall. In total, 616 Squadron pilots shot down 13 V-1s, of which only J.C. Rogers managed to do so with a cannon...
Danish Air Force Gloster Meteor Mk.8
But World War II is not the topic of this story. Afterward, the aircraft's development continued: the Welland engines of the Meteor F.Mk IV were replaced by Derwent engines, which produced twice the thrust and increased speed by 179 km/h. On November 7, 1945, a specially modified Meteor F.Mk I set a world speed record of 969,6 km/h. The Meteor F.Mk 8 became the most numerous model, with 1183 aircraft built. This aircraft made its maiden flight on October 12, 1948. The aircraft was equipped with a catapult, a gyroscopic sight, and an additional fuel tank with a capacity of 432 liters, and the Derwent 8 engines produced 1633 kg of thrust.
An Australian Gloster Meteor undergoes maintenance during the Korean War.
Meteors fought in Korea, flown by pilots of No. 77 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force. Their mission was to escort B-29 Superfortress bombers. Meteors also encountered Soviet MiG-15s. Soviet pilots claim to have shot down 26-28 Glosters, while the Australians admit to losing three. However, both sides agree that the Meteors failed to shoot down a single Soviet MiG (they allegedly managed to down a couple, piloted by inexperienced Chinese pilots): by 1951, the aircraft were already obsolete. Meanwhile, according to Australian data, the RAAF lost a total of 54 aircraft out of 90 available in Korea. How do these figures reconcile? Excellent! Meteors were easily destroyed without outside intervention: of the 3875 Meteors produced, across all modifications, 890 crashed, killing around 450 pilots. However, one shouldn't be so harsh on the pioneer of British jet aircraft: all early jets were more dangerous to their own pilots than to the enemy—new engines allowed for high speeds, and the same criteria were applied to the airframe design.
General Henry H. Arnold
But that was the British. And what about their "overseas cousins"? Well, in the US, things were very bad in terms of jet aviation! Because in terms of piston engines, they were doing very well... To rectify the situation, the American Air Force commander, Lieutenant General Henry Arnold, flew to the islands in 1941. Thanks to his efforts, a Liberator flew from England to the US, carrying a carefully packed Whittle W.1X jet engine and plans for the more powerful W.2B/23. A team of engineers from Power Jets accompanied the cargo...
R-59 Aircomet
Soon, General Electric received a contract to develop its own engine based on British designs. It took American engineers 28 weeks to produce their Type 1. On May 18, 1942, testing of the Type 1-A began, producing 1250 pounds of thrust. Once the engine was accepted into service, aircraft construction was not an issue: Bell produced the P-59 Aircomet, which took to the air on October 1, 1942. In July 1943, the US Air Force placed an order for 100 of these aircraft (later reduced to 50).
Technically, the Aircomet was a fighter: it even carried armament. Some had a pair of 37mm cannons, others a single cannon and three heavy machine guns. In reality... In reality, the performance characteristics of these aircraft were inferior to the piston-engine Mustangs and Thunderbolts! Didn't I write that the Americans were doing very well in terms of piston-engine aircraft? In short, their conventional aircraft were so good that the P-59 immediately became a trainer: everyone knew the jet age was ahead, and Bell's firstborn aircraft weren't good for much more. But the outlines of a completely different machine were already taking shape on the drawing boards. The one that Soviet pilots would eventually encounter in Korea.
R-80 Shooting Star
"Shooting Star" is the American nickname for the meteor. In fact, the American P-80 Shooting Star, developed by Lockheed, was the Meteor's equivalent. Design work began on June 26, 1943, with Frank Halford's British Halford H-1 engine, later designated the de Havilland Goblin (later, a more powerful General Electric engine with 4600 pounds of thrust was installed). The aircraft made its maiden flight on January 8, 1944, and by the end of the year, the US Air Force had received 12 pre-production aircraft. A pair of pre-production P-80s even flew over Italy during World War II, but they did not see combat.
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson - the "daddy" of the P-80
The aircraft was accepted into service by both the US Navy and Air Force, which redesignated it the F-80. It was still a piston-engine aircraft, with a straight wing, so its lifespan, in an era of rapid aviation development, was short: the Shooting Star was decommissioned in 1959. However, the aircraft did manage to see combat in Korea! Interesting fact: the aircraft was designed in a hut covered with a rented circus tent—all for the sake of speed and secrecy. Speaking of secrecy, of the 130 people working on the project, only five knew they were developing a jet. Project designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson promised to have a prototype ready for testing within 180 days. They did it in 139—when necessary, Americans know how to work fast...
FP-80A photo reconnaissance aircraft
The P-80 was an all-metal aircraft with a lower wing and tricycle landing gear. For the first time, the engine of a production fighter was located inside the fuselage; previously, engines lacked power and were installed in pairs in nacelles under the wings (except for experimental aircraft). Initially, the Americans designed the air intakes too weak, which was pointed out to them by a British colleague. His advice was ignored, and during testing, both air intakes were sucked into the engine, causing it to die. A second engine had to be ordered from England. The cockpit was pressurized with a relatively simple instrument panel. Additional fuel tanks could be mounted on the wingtips. The aircraft became the first in the US Air Force to exceed 500 mph (800 km/h), reaching 504 mph (811 km/h). Later modifications reached speeds of up to 956 km/h. Armament: 6 machine guns of 12,7 mm caliber, 8 unguided rockets of 127 mm caliber, 2 bombs of 450 kg.
A destroyed R-80 "Shooting Star"
The aircraft became notorious for its extremely high accident rate—the highest of any American fighter. But, to be fair to the aircraft, the cause of the accidents was the pilots' lack of familiarity with jet aircraft—they were accustomed to piston engines and didn't understand the "voice" of jet engines. The P-80 entered service in February 1945, with initial plans for a massive 5000 jet fighters! But the war ended, and the "sturgeon" was cut back to 2000 units. The first modification was the P-80A, the P-80B was designated a racing model, and the most numerous in the family was the P-80C, with 927 produced. A total of 1714 P-80s were built.
Major Charles Loring Jr., a P-80 pilot who repeated Gastello's feat
By the start of the Korean War, the P-80 was already obsolete: in occupied Germany, the Americans (though not only them!) had acquired German swept-wing designs, and the next aircraft, the hero of this story, was built with them in mind. During the war, the aircraft served primarily as a photo reconnaissance and attack aircraft; it wasn't particularly effective as a fighter. 368 F-80s were lost, 277 of which were damaged by shells, while the rest crashed. Interestingly, it was in a Shooting Star that Major Charles Loring Jr. repeated Nikolai Gastello's feat on November 22, 1952, by diverting his damaged aircraft into a Chinese battery and destroying it, for which he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
R-80 as an attack aircraft
The role of the primary fighter for the "UN forces" in Korea went to the next aircraft. Of course, it was the F-86 Sabre! The aircraft was designed after the war, taking into account German developments in swept wings. However, American engineers initially tried experimenting with a forward-swept wing. Nevertheless, the Me-262's straight-swept wing design prevailed. Early models were equipped with a General Electric J47-GE-3 engine producing 5200 pounds of thrust, while later models were equipped with a J47-GE-7 engine producing 9250 pounds of thrust. The combination of a powerful engine and a swept wing resulted in increased speed: on September 15, 1948, Major Richard Johnson's F-86A set a world record, reaching 671 mph (1080 km/h).
F-86 Sabre in the skies over Korea
The aircraft was produced in two versions: a fighter-interceptor and a fighter-bomber. The bomber version could carry 2000 pounds (910 kg) of bombs (including napalm tanks) and 127 mm rockets. Both versions were armed with six 0.50-inch M3 Browning machine guns. On the F-86H, after close encounters with MiGs, the machine guns were replaced with four 20 mm cannons. Early models were equipped with a Mk-18 manually aimed gunsight, while later models were equipped with an A-1CM radar sight that automatically calculated the range to the target.
Test pilot Edward Schoch pilots the F-2H Banshee.
The American air force's fleet in Korea wasn't limited to Sabres and Shooting Stars, but the other aircraft are worth a brief mention. The F-2H Banshee was a development of the McDonnell FH Phantom (not the "bullet-fast" one, the Phantom II)—a carrier-based jet fighter developed for the US Navy at the end of World War II. The Phantom itself had a surprisingly short service life—62 of these aircraft entered service in August 1947, and by the end of 1949 they had been transferred to the Navy Reserve, where they gathered dust until 1954. However, the Banshee served longer—the sailors were significantly more satisfied with its 1168-mile (1880 km) range versus the Phantom's 690 miles (1110 km)—an important factor for a carrier-based fighter! The aircraft's maximum speed was 930 km/h—frankly slow for a swept-wing aircraft. However, naval command was initially hesitant to deploy such aircraft from carriers, so it deliberately opted for slower, straight-wing aircraft. The Banshee was armed with four 20mm Colt Mk 12 cannons and could carry eight 60-pound unguided rockets or six 500-pound bombs. Due to their poor performance, these aircraft operated outside the MiG range during the war, so they never claimed a single victory, though three were shot down by anti-aircraft fire.
P-84B Thunderjet fighters of the 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, 1948
F-84 Thunderjet. Development of this fighter began in 1944, so the straight wing—detected! Strictly speaking, it was simply an attempt to equip the P-47 Thunderbolt with a jet engine. The aircraft wasn't particularly fast, with a top speed of 977,6 km/h (600 mph), compared to 985,7 for the Meteor. However, for the US in 1946, this was a record. The first model to be mass-produced was the F-84B, which was delivered to the troops beginning in the summer of 1947. The aircraft's 0,8 mm-thick skin was patently weak and deformed in flight, and the aircraft itself was dubbed a "mechanic's nightmare" by Air Force wits. The aircraft was modernized, resulting in the F-84C, which also received an offensive nickname, this time - "pilot's nightmare": at speeds up to 800 km/h, the aircraft behaved perfectly, but then... It turned into an unguided projectile: external fuel tanks shifted the aerodynamic focus, increased the angle of attack, as a result, the effort on the control stick dropped to zero. It was necessary to modernize the aircraft again, increasing the thickness of the wing skin, which prevented its twisting. The next modification was the F-84D. This was the Arctic version of the aircraft, designed to shoot down Soviet Tu-4s bringing heat and light to the United States across the pole (usually, American aircraft are very heat-loving, and special models have to be cut for the Arctic). There is no need to go into detail about the other models - they did not make it to the Korean War. Perhaps we should mention the F-84G, designed to use nuclear weaponsThe Thunderjet was, to paraphrase a classic, "like a carpenter versus a joiner" against the MiG, but it was actively used as an attack aircraft—the aircraft arrived in Korea just as the Chinese People's Volunteers arrived in the theater.
No, it's not an F-2H Banshee, it's an F9F Panther, find 10 differences...
What else? The Grumman F9F Panther carrier-based fighter... It looked a lot like a Banshee, but it's worth mentioning if only because it scored the first aerial combat victory of the Korean War, shooting down a North Korean Yak-9 piston-engine aircraft. These aircraft flew 78 sorties during the war, but were used primarily as attack aircraft. However, with a good pilot, they could also fight against the MiG-15, and reportedly even shot down a few. A total of 1382 of these aircraft were built.
How many times have I mentioned MiGs here? Perhaps it's time to finally move on to the jets of the Soviet Air Force...
The MiG-9 was the first Soviet jet fighter. One of two...
On April 24, 1946, within hours of each other, two aircraft took to the air: a MiG-9 piloted by test pilot Alexei Grinchik and a Yak-15 piloted by Mikhail Ivanov. Both aircraft were powered by RD-10 engines—Soviet copies of the German Jumo 004. Two venerable aviation design bureaus took different paths: Mikoyan and Gurevich built a new aircraft, while Yakovlev... The cunning Deputy Minister of the Aviation Industry realized that jet aviation was a new thing, and the main thing was not to scare off pilots. And, of course, to ensure rapid transition to the new aircraft. Therefore, Alexander Sergeyevich took a difficult path: he decided to install the RD-10 on the Yak-3, which had proven itself during the Great Patriotic War.
size=2]Yak-15 - a Soviet school desk for retraining from piston-engine aircraft to jet aircraft
Crossing a "horse and a timid doe" proved challenging—designing a new aircraft would have been easier—but the result was worth it: 280 Yak-15s were built, allowing pilots to quickly retrain for jets. Once in the cockpit, pilots felt at home, making the transition to the new technology easier. On May 1, 1947, two flights of unusual aircraft, their engines whistling rather than roaring, flew over Red Square. These were the Yak-15 and the MiG-9, showing the world that the USSR had entered a new, jet-powered era. Their service life was short—just three years! And then, the time came for the hero of this story...
RB.41 Ning turbojet engine
In 1946, the Labour government granted Rolls-Royce permission to sell 55 of its latest engines, including the RB.41 Nene and RB.37 Derwent, to a Soviet delegation led by Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan. The reason for this "kindness" was likely that the British themselves were relying on the more advanced and significantly more successful AJ.65 Avon engine, which was produced from 1950 to 1974 (and the Cold War hadn't yet begun, so the USSR was perceived as an ally in Britain). Although, of course, it's possible that the Soviet representatives simply took the blame for this decision. Legend has it that when negotiations reached an impasse, Mikoyan proposed settling the matter with a game of billiards: if he won, the engines would be sold; if his opponent won, they wouldn't. Artyom Ivanovich won... Either way, once in the USSR, the Nin was subjected to what's now fashionably called "reverse engineering": Vladimir Klimov's design bureau disassembled the engines down to the last screw, producing the original, homespun Soviet RD-45 (aka VK-1). Engine production in the Soviet Union quickly became standard, and aircraft designers began designing aircraft for them.
Mikoyan and Gurevich's I-320 variant
In addition to the MiG Design Bureau, the Lavochkin and Yakovlev Design Bureaus received similar orders. Mikoyan and Gurevich initially began developing the I-320, which was simply a version of the MiG-9 with a new engine, but simultaneously, a completely new aircraft with swept wings, the I-310, was accepted for development. The wing sweep itself had been studied in Germany in 1935 by Albert Betz and Adolf Busemann and even used on the Me-262, and after the war, the idea was creatively reworked at TsAGI.
Yak-23 - alternative from Yakovlev
Interestingly, Lavochkin and Yakovlev began designing their aircraft for the lighter RD-500 engines—a copy of the British Derwent—while Mikoyan and Gurevich immediately chose the heavy but powerful RD-45 Nin, intended for bombers. This predetermined the victory of Mikoyan's aircraft. During the design process, operational experience with the MiG-9 was utilized. For example, it was taken into account that, when firing, propellant gases from the fighter's three cannons could enter the air intake and cause engine surge. Therefore, all three were mounted on a single mount below the air intake.
La-15 - an alternative from Lavochkin
Test pilot Viktor Yuganov performed the first flight of the S-01 prototype on December 30, 1947. In May 1948, the second prototype, the S-02, made its maiden flight. In July 1948, the third prototype, the S-03, took to the air, becoming the basis for the production fighter. State testing was completed in December 1948, and the aircraft was recommended for serial production. The MiG-15 entered production alongside the La-15, designed by Semyon Lavochkin and similar in performance to the future hero of the Korean War. The MiG had superior takeoff and landing performance, although pilots reported that the La-15 was easier to control. In any case, Lavochkin's aircraft was soon discontinued.
MiG-15 - a classic of the genre!
What was the MiG-15 like? It was an all-metal mid-wing monoplane with swept wings and a cruciform tail. Most of the aircraft's structure was made of aluminum alloys, but steel was also used. The air intake was located in the nose, and it fed air to the engine in the rear through two ducts that curved around the cockpit. The landing gear was retractable and tricycle-type, the nose wheel was self-orienting, the braking system was air-braked, and the landing gear was extended and retracted hydraulically. The latest modifications incorporated hydraulic booster control into the control system.
MiG-15 nose "battery"
The MiG-15 had a formidable armament! Two 23mm NS-23 cannons with 80 rounds per gun and a 37mm H-37 cannon with 40 rounds. This combination was well suited for engaging bombers, but for air combat with enemy fighters, the ammunition load was clearly inadequate. Additionally, a pair of 100-kg bombs could be suspended under the wings. The cockpit was equipped with an ejection seat: parachuting from the aircraft at such speeds was unrealistic for the pilot. The canopy provided excellent visibility—an important quality for a fighter! The aircraft could reach a speed of 1042 km/h and an altitude of 15100 meters. The aircraft had a range of 1335 km without external fuel tanks.
MiG-15R - photo reconnaissance aircraft
In addition to the original MiG-15, there were also the MiG-15 bis, a more powerful engine, the MiG-15R, a photo-reconnaissance version, and the MiG-15P, an interceptor. And, of course, the MiG-15UT, a trainer. In the winter of 1948-49, the fighters began to enter service with the Soviet Air Force. The Korean War wasn't the aircraft's first "foreign assignment." As early as the first half of 1950, several squadrons were deployed to China to protect Shanghai from Kuomintang air raids. However, the aircraft didn't get to perform much heroically on this trip. Korea awaited them!
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