MiG-15 with dragon motif

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

I'd like to know a little more about the "confirmed via Thompson's gun camera footage". I'm surprised such a spectacular picture has not been published in the past 60 years. I do note that the majority of even published gun camera film was
1. taken from a fair distance
2. not of brilliantly clear quality
3. viewed from the rear.

To get a photo good enough to picture a marking on the side of the fuselage as "very elaborately painted" would seem to require something very different. It is indeed something that a pilot might briefly notice as he passed, but a gun camera?

The film was taken at very close range, with the MiG passing right in front of Thompson from right to left according to his account. Also according to him the dragon was apparent in his film when processed.

Whilst much dogfight footage is unclear there are examples from the Korean War which have remarkable clarity, the famous film of a stricken MiG running for the Yalu which is frozen in winter is one that immediately comes to mind.

After his Korean tour he states that his reel had been edited and cut and the dogfight footage with the dragon MiG was gone. The possible reason he gives for this is: "It wasn't uncommon for some people to cut a few frames for souvenirs." I'd imagine that if you were in the 51st FIW, and had access to gun footage and you wanted to take a memento home of Korea, then probably Thompson's footage would have been highly desirable.