Quote:
Originally Posted by Stig Jarlevik
Well Nick
I don't think the MiGs were there to just play with the F-86s.
They were there to stop the UN aircraft to get through to stop the Chinese/North Korean
ground troops.
If you look at the losses of the F-80s, F-84s, B-29s and Naval attack aircraft you will see
quite a different figure.
From the US side almost all of that was lost to AA-fire.
When coming down to take on the ground attack aircraft the MiGs were much more vulnerable.
Had they been used only as the Luftwaffe fighters on the Western Front 1941-42 the situation
would almost certainly have been very different.
Speculation of course since I can't predict what new tactics could have done to change things.
Cheers
Stig
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MOST fighter bombers didn't get anywhere near the areas covered by the Migs. And like you said, staying at altitude kept the Migs in THEIR preferred performance envelope--and given the Migs were both higher AND further north than most UN interdiction ops, I didn't see them having an impact on it. The only place the MiGs did have a huge impact was against the B29 force--but that's what they were made for: "Can Openers" for the bombers.