[JoeB]

The daily summary of 64th IAK (version I have) says Zabelin downed Ellis, by name, but then that's lined through and at the end of the report it says Ellis was pilot of one plane, but pilot of 15/24-00-1 (written that way) was killed, and they were searching for wreckage of a third.

However the wreck report confirming Zabelin's victory says the pilot of the 1524001 (written that way) ejected and was arrested by Korean police, then provides the following wreck evidence:
-a calibration card from an altimeter
-two unknown equipment nameplates both of which have type F-86E but are for some particular part, might have serial number 1524001, not legible enough to say, but that's obviously not a whole USAF a/c's serial number
-photo of wreck sight showing nothing definitive
-a short 'confirmation' report from NK Interior Ministry (Korean original and Russian translation; I'm going from the Korean version) which describes a crash at that location and time, says nothing about a pilot.

In summary there is no evidence that the a/c in the wreck report was other than Ellis' plane 51-2828 (not 49-2828 which was an L-18 observation plane), nor any other tangible Soviet evidence of any other F-86, v multiple forms of then-secret USAF reports saying 51-2828 was the only a/c lost. The final Soviet summary of victories has four in this time window rather than 3 in the daily summary, but two are possible duplicates, with pilot said to be captured same exact time and place in two different entries in the list (no names given in either); one crashed offshore, one wreck site was inaccessible.

And there's really no evidence Zabelin was responsible for the wreck in the report, almost surely 51-2828, rather than one of the other Soviet pilots credited at the same time and place. How could a wreck team, or the original Korean (or PLA) observers on the ground possibly tell who downed a crashed plane among several pilots claiming at the same time and place? So I don't apportion victories based on whose victory was supported by a wreck report v. whose victory was said to crash offshore etc, but prorate by claims v losses which occurred at about the same place and time. Before I said 1/4 for Zabelin in this case; maybe it should be 1/3 due to the conflicting evidence whether 3 or 4 victories were awarded.

Joe