Re: UN Air Losses in Korea

OK Cookie but seems you're including "lost in strafing run" etc. as combat not accident. Some accidetns would have happened anyway, others were due to the extra risks of combat flying, like flying into the ground on a strafing run, which could also happen in peacetime, with realistic training, and certainly been called an accident. The Navy actually tracked both categories at least for a while, accidents they figured would have happened anyway and those were from the added risks of combat, but both were considered "non-combat". Of course some of those lost on strafing run were perhaps AAA nobody saw.

The accidental losses criticized in recent operations, and not just here, also tend to be the type that wouldn't have happened in peacetime.

The official number of a-a was also somewhat lower (around 150 v. your 258, IMO >150 but not nearly 258);a lot of those disputes are officially non-combat. Rearranging (accident + "combat accident"+ official a-a) it's right around 49% non-combat.

The Navy/MC official breakdown was 564 combat, 684 non-combat, by their definitions.

Joe

----- Original Message -----

From: AMPSOne@aol.com

To: KOREAN-WAR-L@KU.EDU

Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 8:58 PM

Subject: UN Air Losses in Korea

Having read Joe Brennan's comment on losses in Korea, I checked over my data base and came up with the following numbers.

Overall, so far I have records of 3,041 aircraft lost in Korea, most of which now have a serial or BuAer number for the US ones and at least day/date/unit on the foreign ones (RN, RAAF, RAN, SAAF, ROKAF, etc.)

Of this number:

       41 have no reason given
       11 are listed as lost for unknown reasons
       164 list a reason but no category
       991 are non-combat losses (crashes in training, landing/takeoff from carriers, typhoons, accidents, etc.)
       1,150 were lost due to AAA damage or blew up in midair
       683 were combat losses (non AAA inflicted)

Of that 683 --

       4 were midair collisions (3 with MiG-15s, 1 with a Po-2)
       12 were claimed by the KPAFAC
       14 were claimed by the PLAAF
       15 were claimed by both the PLAAF and the VVS
       227 were claimed by the VVS
       407 were lost in strafing runs, bomb runs, accidents in combat, etc.

So in the end about 32% of the losses are non-combat losses.

Cookie Sewell
AMPS