Re: Soviet Aircraft Types in Korea

[<RonaldS842@aol.com>]

Hi all-

   Especially after January 1951 COMINT and the USAFSS was monitoring almost 
every air to air, ground to air and ground to ground transmission and we 
probably knew every PLAAF and Russian aircraft in and around Korea and the 
names of the pilots. We had ferrets (RB 50B) that went along with the B-29 
raids in 1953.  We destroyed the Danish made telegraph service from PLAAF 
headquarters in Beijing to the commander of the PLAAF 5th Air Division at 
Kaiyuan AIR Base in Manchuria who controlled  80 Il-10 ground attack 
aircraft. This gave us the opportunity to monitor HF and VHF transmissions.
   Between December 1950 and June 1951 the size of the PLAAF grew from 650 to 
1,050 combat aircraft including 445 first line MIG-15 jet fighters in the 
PLAAF inventory by the end of June 1951 (1st RSM Historical Report January 1, 
1951- March 1 1951). At the start of the War the NKAF had only 80 pilots, 40 
of whom were rated as "proficient" so the brunt of the airwar was not Korean  
pilots.
   In March 1951 COMINT confirmed that two regiments of Soviet-made Ilyushin 
Il-10 fighter bombers were training for ground support missions at an 
airfield near Kaiyuan in Manchuria and were used by the PLAAF. 
   In October 1950 two elite PVO fighter divisions (the 303rd and the 324th) 
were deployed from the Moscow region to Chinese air bases around the 
Manchurian cities of Antung and Mukden.  They immediately began flying combat 
patrols over the Yalu River. Russian pilot intervention was significant.
   Thanks to Matthew M. Aid's  "American COMINT in the Korean War." Matthew 
says once he gets all of his info on the subject together, which is probably 
as much as anyone has in the group, he is going to write a book. It should be 
a good one. 

Ronald Schultz
Moraga, CA