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A lighter new topic (though I sense some are
annoyed by air war trivia, sorry). The linked picture (I posted it at the linked
site) is a shot taken by a USAF F-82G Twin Mustang of the first kill claimed by
the USAF in the Korean War, June 27, 1950. The original is cutoff as shown,
that's all there is.
This aircraft is id'ed in some US books as a
"Yak-7U" presumably meaning Yak-7V conversion trainer, which it's pretty clearly
not. It was officially credited as a Yak-11 (trainer based on the Yak-3 fighter
airframe but with a lower powered radial engine, sort of equivalent to an
American T-6 Harvard, not fighter-like in performance). However given the
situation, NK aircraft attacking Kimpo, and one having put holes in the tail of
the F-82 taking the picture before the tables were turned, a Yak-11 seems
a strange type to encounter (though Yak-11's did have a light armament of 1
synchronized mg). A more likely type would seem a Yak-9P fighter, but that type
had a retractable tailwheel, unlike the plane in the photo shot and
unlike most Yak-11's. An identification mystery, any
opinions?
Joe
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