As F-86 Sabres battled MiG-15s over North Korea, in the first jet vs. jet battles in history, the dogfights most resembled World War I and its famed “knights of the air.” Not that there was anything chivalrous about Korea in the air or on the ground. But compared to the trench warfare below, “Mig Alley” was almost romantic, an arena where relatively small numbers of fighters dueled in a conflict carefully managed to avoid escalating into World War III.
“Here, the best from both sides sparred and dueled, fought and killed–or died–in an arena almost completely detached from the World War I-like trench warfare far below to the south, and even from the results of the war as a whole. It was a battle much more for the prestige of the nations engaged–and the reputation of their respective aerospace industries–and for the glory of the fighter pilots involved than for its effect on the conduct or the outcome of the conflict,” write authors Douglas Dildy and Warren Thompson in F-86 Sabre vs MiG-15: Korea 1950-53 by Osprey Publishing.
MILITARY HISTORY SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER
ROCHESTERMILITARY.COM
