interview with KW ace

[JoeB]

The interview itself is highly valuable first hand oral history.

As far as the list of claims and confirmations at the end, it's a similar story to the other such lists we've gone over on this forum, directly or indirectly, which come from the same sources.

Sept 4 1952: 3 direct F-86 air combat losses plus one F-86 loss to MiG debris (4 is most for one day in KW), 9 Soviet claims, 5 known Chinese claims, no particular evidence to tie Porter's a/c to Mihkin's claim, though it has potential validity.

Sept 8 1952: F-84 claimed by Mikhin around 1510 Item in Suncheon area (though it doesn't appear on the all-in summary list of claims), a formation of 2 F-84's with 2 F-86's. 5th AF Intel Summary records combat between F-86's and MiG's in same area 1506-1600, but no encounters by F-84's. F-86's did spot one unidentified straight wing a/c, possibly prop, in the area at 1520. No such friendly a/c in the area, states the US summary. This is a rare case where Soviet and US records don't agree about a combat having happened and which general type (sweptwing, straightwing etc) of a/c was involved. There's no evidence to tie the non-air combat F-84 loss that day listed in Korwald (51-596) to this incident: that's arbitrary.

Sept 9 1952: F-86 50-672 was probably cannibalized for spares after major air combat damage on Sept 9 *1951*, as far as I've been able to determine: the a/c is not mentioned in any incident after that. 50-666 suffered major damage on landing Sept 10 1952 after a flameout, as given in the 5th AF Lost, Damaged and Aborted A/c File; transported to depot in Japan for repair but eventually stripped for parts, written off in December. Neither side reported combat encounters Sept 10. The 5th AF Intel Summary for Sept 9 records MiG/F-86 actions but no F-86 loss or major damage.

Sept 18 1952: as shown, this claim was for an F-86 not an F-84. Both sides agree on F-86 v MiG encounter in the relevant time period, neither side says there was an ecounter involving F-84's, and neither side says any F-84's were lost in air combat.

Joe