Korea: The wreck of the first MiG recovered

[Daniel Nole]

By the end of Jul 20, 1951 the Royal Navy and the US Navy completed the work of recovered of the wreck of a first near complete MiG-15.
The remains of this MiG where shipped to the United States and subjected to rigorous inspections by engineers.
The aircraft was identified as 120147, built in 1948 and it had one 23mm and one 37mm cannon instead of the normal two 23mm and one 37mm(?).
Yefim Gordon added that was a early-production Kuybyshev.

The reports of the CIA and the recovered team dont speak about colours, numbers, or the actual fate of the pilot. Also is not clear when actually this MiG was shot down.

But we can trace maybe some info about this MiG. First reports of sighting coming by Jul 10, 1951 with a position 40 miles north of Cho-Do, just offshore. Position adjusted and confirmed by Sea Furies of "Glory" Jul 11, 1951: MiG tailpane lying in mud near Hanch'on , about 13 miles south and slightly west of the position originally reported.
By Jul 13, 1951 the fuselage of the crashed MiG was visible for the first time and the location photographed.
By Jul 18, 1951 the "Glory" moved 70 miles north to cover a team of CIA experts aboard an YH-19 helicopter inspecting the wreck of the MiG.
And by Jul 20, 1951 after a hard work day, the wreck was finally recovered.

If the plane was sighted by Jul 10, 1951, possible this MiG was shot down Jul 9, 1951.
Jul 8, 1951 the 523th IAP loss two MiGs flown by St/Lt A.A.Obukhov(KIA)and St/Lt P.P.Pavlovsky(ejected)shot downs by Col Francis S. Gabreski and 1th Lt Richard S. Becker. But his kills were done in the Pyongyang area; Pavlovsky was observed ejecting of his burning MiG-15, which crashed in a orange ball of fire 1 mile S of Pyongyang. And the burning MiG with a death St/Lt A.A.Obukhov was observed to crossed the Taedong River, and crashed into a hill on the south bank.
There were also 523th IAP MiGs, that mean MiG-15bis and not MiG-15s.

The next day, Jul 9, the PLAAF 4th FAD 12th Regiment flown his second mission(and last in his very short 2th tour of operations)escorted by 10 MiGs of the 17th IAP(303 IAD).

The formation take off at Myaogou(Tatung-kao)at 09.39 and was led by Maj Maslennikov. Some 26 F-86 were reported and sighted over Sonchon area.
Two flight of B-29s were engaged by the PLAAF 12th Regiment, but no claims were made and one MIG-15 piloted by a regimental commander was downed by the defensive fire of the B-29s. The Sabres were engaged by the escorting MiGs of the 17th IAP between the mouth of the Sonchon River and Anju. One F-86 was reported as damaged. Milton E. Nelson claims also a MiG in this mission.

Near certain, this PLAAF MiG hit and shot down by the B-29s was the 120147. Was fighting over water, the aircraft was a MiG-15 early series.
Curious the info about the weapons of only one 23mm and the 37mm. Had the PLAAF engineers removed one cannon to save weight and made the fighter more light? Who was this Regiment Co of the 12th Regiment? Had ejected or wounded ditched the plane and dead shortly after?

[Light123]

Daniel:

The name of the regimental commander is Zhao, Da-Hai (赵大海). He joined Nationalist's Air Academy (15th Class) during WW2 and was trained in the US between 1942-1944. He joined CCP secretly in 1947 and went over to CCP's side openly in 1948. He was a captain before defecting. Interestingly, his father was also a local CCP leader in Shandong. Zhao was soon assigned to CCP's North Eastern (Manchurian) Air Academy as an instructor. He was transferred to the fighter unit defending Beijing in mid 1949. With his CCP background and experiences, he was soon promoted to command a regiment when the 4th FAD was formed in late 1950.

July 5th, 1951, 12th Regiment moved to Andong and prepared for combat sorties. They saw the action on July 9th when the 2nd Squadron took off to intercept 6 B-29s in the morning. Somehow 2nd Squadron failed to acquire the targets. Zhao then lead the 3rd Squadron to make another try. During the approach, one MiG of the 2nd Flight of the 3rd Squadron developed a serious frosting problem on canopy and the 2nd Flight dropped off from the formation. The 1st Flight, lead by Zhao, finally caught up with the B-29 formation. Zhao's flight started to attack. He was shot down by the combined fire power of the 6 B-29s because he did not keep enough distance when he tried to circle around for another firing pass.

And, yes, his aircraft was the one salvaged by the UN.

[Daniel Nole]

Many thanks Little123. Very good information.