Review Runway
Osprey Publishing ISBN: 9781472836083
Many aviation enthusiasts recognize that the Korean War was the first time that jet aircraft fought for air superiority. Air campaigns started early over South Korea between the air forces of North Korea and the United Nations, consisting of South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In the beginning, several WW II aircraft found new purpose during the conflict, and aircraft development quickly progressed to jets. The most famous were the North American F-86 Sabre Jet and the Soviet MiG 15, and by the end of the Korean War, newsreels touted the absolute supremacy of the U.S. Air Force pilots and their aircraft. For decades, claims of 14:1 kill ratios achieved by the U.S. Air Force fighters went unchallenged. But with the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records from the Korean War became available, a different story emerged.
Far from overwhelming American victories over their Soviet-supported opponents, aerial combat in the beginning was much more evenly matched, and produced kill ratios closer to 1:1. Regardless of the accuracy of wartime propaganda, the efforts of the U.S. Air Force did much to prevent North Korea from dominating the skies over the battlefield. Ultimately, this allowed the United Nations forces to hold the line in Korea until a ceasefire agreement that protected South Korea could take effect.
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver’s book,
MiG Alley is extremely well written and focuses close to highlight the full spectrum of the U.S. Air Force’s involvement in Korea. Drawing from firsthand accounts of those involved (both U.S. and Russian),
MiG Alley offers an eye-opening view of the history of the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, revealing the true story of deadly combat fought in the skies from 1950 to 1953.
Each chapter teaches the reader much about this “Forgotten War.” From our ill-prepared beginnings at a time when the ever-escalating threat of allout nuclear war was on everyone’s mind, and MiGs severely affected daylight bomber campaigns, to the personal accounts of pilots being in the cockpit, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Priced at $30, MiG Alley should be on every aviation and history buff’s bookshelf! I highly recommend it.
—Gerry Yarrish