Air Force Museum
Korea & Southeast Asia
108 reading stories
Enter the experience →18th Fighter-Bomber Jacket
Many U.S. Air Force Airmen wore unofficial "social jackets" during off-duty hours. These jackets were custom-embroidered at tailor shops in Japan or Korea. Some, like the one on display at the museum, were reversible with decorations both outside and inside the jacket.
Read the story →1st Lt. Bryce Poe II
Before the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June 1950, 1st Lt. Bryce Poe II flew the first Cold War reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union. In May 1949 he overflew the Kurile Islands in a specially-equipped RF-80A, and in March 1950 he flew over Vladivostock. Poe briefed the results of his flight directly to Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the USAF theater commander, Lt. Gen. George Stratemeyer.
Read the story →1st Lt. James Pragar
1st Lt. James Pragar, a C-47 pilot, flew special operation missions in Korea in Baker Flight, 6153rd Air Base Squadron (later designated the 6167th Operations Squadron) from July 1951-February 1952. His flights included agent drops, leaflet drops, loudspeaker missions, agent radio relays and partisan aerial resupply. Like many special operation C-47 pilots, Pragar flew special operations missions at night, and VIP flights for generals and political leaders during the day.
Read the story →49th Fighter Bomber Group
At the war's outset, 49th Fighter Bomber Group F-51 Mustang pilots covered the air evacuation of civilians from South Korea. After that, the 49th Fighter Bomber Group concentrated on attacking the advancing North Korean army. In the fall of 1950, the 49th Fighter Bomber Group converted to F-80Cs, and continued to fly their missions against enemy ground forces.
Read the story →5-inch HVAR
USAF fighter-bombers used the High Velocity Aircraft Rocket (HVAR) to knock out communist tanks, trains and bunkers. Developed by the U.S. Navy in World War II, the HVAR's warhead carried a deadly load of TNT that sped to the target at 1,360 feet per second.
Read the story →A Flight Suit as a Service Record
A flight suit can preserve the practical needs, unit affiliations, and personal history of one aircrew member. The garment was working equipment: pockets held checklists and survival items, fabric balanced movement with protection, and insignia identified the wearer and unit. Repairs and fading record repeated use.
Read the story →A-Frame
The USAF interdiction campaign struck targets as large as trains or as small as single communist soldiers with A-frame backpacks. Used as an effective means of transportation in Korea for centuries, the A-frame allowed its bearer to carry a tremendous load.
Read the story →AC-130 Gunship
The AC-130 turned a transport airframe into a sensor-equipped gunship for night interdiction and close support. Side-firing weapons allowed the aircraft to circle a target while keeping its guns aimed inward. Sensors helped crews locate vehicles and other targets at night, while a large team coordinated navigation, detection, fire control, and weapons.
Read the story →Aces of Two Wars
Many American pilots with World War II experience fought in Korea. Francis Gabreski, Vermont Garrison and Harrison Thyng were three of the six USAF Korean War aces who were also WWII aces. (The others were Majs. George Davis Jr., James Hagerstrom and William Whisner.)
Read the story →Aeromedical Evacuation
Air evacuation moved wounded personnel quickly from forward areas to better-equipped medical facilities. Aircraft turned distance into time. Casualties could be moved from Korea to hospitals in Japan and, when necessary, farther through the Pacific medical system.
Read the story →AF Reserve and ANG
Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard personnel connected civilian life with military aviation. Mobilization brought experienced people and established units into a much larger wartime effort. The display opens a view of service that included civilian careers, family disruption, deployment, and the sustained work of keeping units ready.
Read the story →Air Rescue
Air rescue combined helicopters, amphibians, aircraft, ground teams, communications, and medical care to recover people from hostile or isolated locations. A downed aircrew might be injured, hidden, surrounded, at sea, or beyond the range of a single rescue aircraft. Controllers coordinated information while helicopters, SA-16 amphibians, fixed-wing aircraft, pararescue personnel, and supporting fighters responded according to terrain and threat.
Read the story →Air Superiority
Controlling the skies over Korea was the USAF's primary mission. After defeating the small North Korean Air Force, USAF pilots were challenged by Soviet -- and later Chinese and North Korean -- pilots in nimble, swept-wing MiG-15 jets. The winning combination of the F-86 Sabre and experienced USAF pilots, however, ensured UN ground forces need not fear the enemy's air power.
Read the story →Air War over Southeast Asia
American air operations over Southeast Asia expanded from advisory and transport missions into a large, complex air campaign. Aircraft operated over South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in missions that included airlift, reconnaissance, close support, interdiction, rescue, air defense, and strategic bombing. The conflict crossed borders even when official descriptions did not always acknowledge it.
Read the story →Air-to-Air Combat over North Vietnam
Air combat over North Vietnam exposed weaknesses in training, missiles, identification, formations, and rules of engagement. American fighters faced MiG-17s, MiG-19s, and MiG-21s supported by ground control and a dense air-defense network. Beyond aircraft performance, success depended on warning, formations, visual identification, missile reliability, fuel, and the ability to leave defended airspace.
Read the story →Airlift
Airlift moved troops, patients, equipment, food, ammunition, and mail across a theater where distance and a changing front challenged surface transportation. Transports connected Japan with Korean bases and carried cargo forward as airfields became available. C-47s, C-46s, C-54s, C-119s, and larger aircraft handled different loads, runway conditions, and distances.
Read the story →Army Green to Air Force Blue
The Korean War tested an Air Force that had become an independent military service only three years earlier. The National Security Act of 1947 created the Department of the Air Force. People, organizations, equipment, uniforms, and traditions that had belonged to the Army Air Forces did not transform overnight, and older Army items remained visible as the new service developed its identity.
Read the story →B-26 Invader Exhibit Case
The World War II-era B-26 Invader was the Air Force's light bomber during the Korean War. Third Bomb Group (Light) and 452nd (later 17th) Bomb Group (Light) aircrews used their B-26s to strike the enemy's storage centers and transportation system. For the first year of the war, they flew these "interdiction" missions during the day, but increased enemy antiaircraft fire and the MiG threat later forced them to fly at night.
Read the story →B-26 Invader in Korea
The World War II-era B-26 Invader was the Air Force's light bomber during the Korean War. Third Bomb Group (Light) and 452nd (later 17th) Bomb Group (Light) aircrews used their B-26s to strike the enemy's storage centers and transportation system. For the first year of the war, they flew these "interdiction" missions during the day, but increased enemy antiaircraft fire and the MiG threat later forced them to fly at night.
Read the story →B-26C (A-26C) Invader
Invader crews attacked transportation and supply targets, increasingly at night, in an effort to slow movement toward the front. The twin-engine aircraft had entered service during World War II as the A-26 and was redesignated B-26 after the war. In Korea, crews struck railways, roads, bridges, vehicles, airfields, and other targets that supported enemy operations.
Read the story →B-29 Walk-through
Command Decision was a 28th Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group B-29 that became famous for shooting down five MiG-15s, unofficially making it a bomber "ace." It was named after a popular 1948 film about the difficult decisions and heavy casualties of bomber operations over Europe in World War II.
Read the story →B-29 Walk-through Fuselage
The B-29 remained a central heavy bomber in Korea, but jet fighters and improved defenses forced its crews to change how they operated. B-29s attacked airfields, transportation, industrial sites, bridges, dams, and other targets. Early daylight formations became increasingly vulnerable to MiG-15s, and major missions shifted toward night operations with electronic countermeasures and fighter support.
Read the story →B-45C Tornado
The B-45 was America's first operational jet bomber, and reconnaissance versions carried high-priority cameras over Korea and neighboring regions. The four-engine jet represented the rapid transition from piston bombers to jet-powered aircraft after World War II. In the Far East, RB-45C reconnaissance aircraft gathered imagery needed to understand airfields, transportation, defenses, and other activity.
Read the story →B-52D Stratofortress
After it became operational in 1955, the B-52 remained the main long-range heavy bomber of the US Air Force during the Cold War, and it continues to be an important part of the USAF bomber force today. Nearly 750 were built before production ended in the fall of 1962; 170 of these were B-52Ds.
Read the story →Barracks Tent
A tent represents the living and working conditions behind the aircraft on display. Air operations required people to establish bases, shelter equipment, maintain airplanes, and sustain crews through changing weather. The everyday environment of a deployment was part of the cost of keeping aircraft in service.
Read the story →Bird of Prey
The Bird of Prey is a single-seat stealth technology demonstrator used to test "low-observable" stealth techniques and new methods of aircraft design and construction. The secret Bird of Prey project ran from 1992 to 1999, and the aircraft first flew in the fall of 1996. The Bird of Prey was named for its resemblance to the Klingon spacecraft from the science fiction series Star Trek.
Read the story →Boeing Bird of Prey
The Bird of Prey is a single-seat stealth technology demonstrator used to test "low-observable" stealth techniques and new methods of aircraft design and construction. The secret Bird of Prey project ran from 1992 to 1999, and the aircraft first flew in the fall of 1996. The Bird of Prey was named for its resemblance to the Klingon spacecraft from the science fiction series Star Trek.
Read the story →Bomber Crewman
Communist anti-aircraft guns sometimes forced B-29 crews to altitudes above 20,000 feet. At this height, the temperature dropped to well below zero degrees Fahrenheit and crews needed warm clothing for protection. Many wore the same flight clothing that their counterparts did in World War II. Some also added their own unofficial flight caps, like this crewman.
Read the story →C-124 Globemaster II
The C-124 Globemaster II was built to move heavy cargo and large numbers of people over long distances. Its deep fuselage and large forward loading doors turned the airplane into an airborne freight carrier. Behind the name lies a central aviation achievement: getting the right equipment and people to a distant destination, repeatedly and in useful quantities.
Read the story →Capt. James Jabara
James Jabara became the first American jet ace after earning five credited victories against MiG-15s. Jabara flew F-86 Sabres with the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing. On May 20, 1951, he was credited with his fifth and sixth jet victories, becoming the first American ace of the jet age.
Read the story →Capt. Joseph McConnell Jr.
Joseph McConnell became the leading American ace of the Korean War with sixteen credited aerial victories. McConnell began his combat career as a navigator in World War II and later became a fighter pilot. During a concentrated period of Korean War operations, he flew the F-86 and was credited with sixteen MiG victories.
Read the story →Capt. Lillian Kinkela Keil
Flight nurse Lillian Kinkela Keil cared for wounded personnel during hundreds of evacuation missions in World War II and Korea. Keil served as an Army Air Forces flight nurse during World War II and returned to aeromedical evacuation duty in Korea. She cared for patients in transport aircraft where vibration, cold, noise, altitude, and limited equipment made every flight demanding.
Read the story →Capt. Mary Spivak
Flight nurses brought professional medical care into an aircraft cabin, accompanying wounded people between the battlefield and hospitals farther from danger. This personal exhibit places an individual service member within that demanding work. The aircraft was a means of saving time, but the nurse made the journey a continuation of care.
Read the story →Ceasefire
The Korean Armistice ended major fighting but did not create a peace treaty. Negotiations took more than two years while combat continued. The agreement established a military demarcation line and a demilitarized zone and arranged mechanisms for prisoners and supervision.
Read the story →Chosin Reservoir
During the Chosin Reservoir campaign, air support, resupply, evacuation, and an emergency bridge airdrop helped forces withdraw through extreme cold. United Nations troops around the reservoir faced Chinese forces, mountainous terrain, and temperatures that affected weapons, vehicles, aircraft, and people. Marine, Navy, and Air Force aircraft attacked enemy positions, delivered supplies, and evacuated casualties from small airstrips.
Read the story →Close Air Support
Close air support placed aircraft near friendly ground forces, where speed and firepower had to be balanced with precise coordination. Pilots attacked enemy positions, vehicles, and troops close to United Nations forces. Forward air controllers and tactical air control parties helped identify targets and prevent attacks on friendly units.
Read the story →Col. Dean Hess
Dean Hess led an American program that trained Republic of Korea pilots while the new South Korean air arm was fighting for survival. Project Bout One placed American instructors with South Korean pilots flying F-51 Mustangs. Training and combat occurred together, so the program had to build skills, maintenance habits, communications, and operational confidence while missions were already underway.
Read the story →Col. Joseph Davis Jr.
Thunderjet wing commander Col. Joseph Davis Jr. displayed exceptional leadership by personally leading successful close air support strikes and interdiction raids over North Korea. By war's end, he was the commander of all F-84 units stationed in Korea.
Read the story →Coming Home
Homecoming brought relief, reunion, grief, medical recovery, public controversy, and memories that continued to change long after the war. Prisoners returned in 1973, while American military involvement and the lives of veterans, families, refugees, allies, and Southeast Asian civilians followed many different paths. The fall of Saigon in April 1975 marked the end of the war for the United States but not the end of displacement or consequence.
Read the story →Coming Home
Homecoming brought relief, reunion, grief, medical recovery, public controversy, and memories that continued to change long after the war. Prisoners returned in 1973, while American military involvement and the lives of veterans, families, refugees, allies, and Southeast Asian civilians followed many different paths. The fall of Saigon in April 1975 marked the end of the war for the United States but not the end of displacement or consequence.
Read the story →Command Decision
The name Command Decision connects this display to the B-29's continued service in the Korean War. A bomber designed during the Second World War entered a new conflict in which jet fighters changed the risks of its mission. The aircraft's crew worked within an evolving contest between older and newer aviation technologies.
Read the story →Command Decision Sighting Station
A bomber's sighting station was part of a coordinated defensive system. Crew members had to find threats, communicate, and use their limited fields of view while the aircraft continued its mission. This equipment gives a close view of the work inside a large combat airplane.
Read the story →Commitment Remains: U.S.-ROK
The wartime alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea continued after the armistice as a long-term defense partnership. The armistice stopped large-scale fighting but did not produce a peace treaty. American and South Korean forces therefore continued training, planning, and maintaining readiness on a peninsula that remained divided by the Demilitarized Zone.
Read the story →Defending Hill 351
On March 26, 1953, 16 F-51 Mustang fighter-bombers of the newly-created Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) led by Maj. E. Yul Yoon furiously attacked Communist ground forces attacking Hill 351. The air-to-ground action was being directed by a USAF T-6 Mosquito airborne forward air controller flown by Maj. William Light and ROKAF Capt. Sang E. Wie along with a USAF ground-based control party.
Read the story →Double MiG Ace and POW
Harold Fischer had great success as a fighter pilot in Korea, and he also endured captivity in communist China long after the end of hostilities. On his first tour in Korea, Fischer flew ground attack missions in F-80s in the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing. He stayed in the Far East and transferred to the Sabre-equipped 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing.
Read the story →Escalation and Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a sustained bombing campaign whose gradual escalation reflected both military goals and political restraint. The campaign sought to pressure North Vietnam, reduce the movement of people and supplies, and support South Vietnam. Targets, routes, weapons, and timing were constrained by changing political decisions and fears that the conflict might widen.
Read the story →Escape and Evasion Exhibit
After bombing Japan on April 18, 1942, all but one of the sixteen B-25 Doolittle Raid crews crashed or bailed out in China (The remaining crew landed in the USSR, and they successfully escaped internment in 1943). Thanks to the generous help of the Chinese people, 64 of the 75 crewmembers evaded capture.
Read the story →Exposure Suits
Exposure suits protected downed pilots and other aircrew and passengers from freezing in the icy waters of the Yellow Sea between Korea and Japan. Fighter pilots commonly wore exposure suits while flying, since they would not have time to put one on if they had to eject from a damaged aircraft. Aircrew and passengers in larger aircraft like bombers and transports had access to quick-donning exposure suits packed in highly visible yellow bags hung inside aircraft.
Read the story →F-22A Raptor
The Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor is the world's first stealthy air dominance fighter. Its radar, weapons control and electronic warfare systems work together as one integrated unit. The Raptor combines stealth, maneuverability and the ability to fly long distances at supersonic speeds -- or "supercruise" -- in performance of air superiority and air-to-ground missions. Furthermore, it requires less maintenance than older fighters.
Read the story →F-80C Shooting Star
The Shooting Star was the Air Force's first operational jet fighter and one of the first American jets committed to Korea. The straight-wing F-80C entered the war as a fighter, but the arrival of the faster MiG-15 shifted much of its work toward ground attack. It flew from bases in Japan and Korea against troops, vehicles, airfields, and supply lines.
Read the story →F-82G Twin Mustang
During the Korean War, Japan-based F-82Gs were among the first U.S. Air Force aircraft to operate over Korea. On June 27, 1950, all-weather F-82Gs shot down the first three North Korean aircraft destroyed by U.S. forces.
Read the story →F-84E Thunderjet
The durable F-84E became an important fighter-bomber for strikes against ground targets throughout Korea. The straight-wing Thunderjet lacked the high-altitude performance needed to meet the MiG-15 on equal terms, but it could carry bombs and rockets over useful distances. Units attacked bridges, rail lines, troop positions, airfields, and supply concentrations.
Read the story →F-86A Sabre
The swept-wing F-86 Sabre became the principal American fighter in the air battles against the MiG-15. The Sabre combined swept wings, radar-ranging gunsight, six .50-caliber machine guns, and responsive handling at high speed. It entered combat in late 1950 after MiG-15s challenged United Nations aircraft over northwestern Korea.
Read the story →F-94A Starfire
Developed from the T-33 Shooting Star, the two-place F-94 was the first American all-weather jet interceptor and the first U.S. production jet to have an afterburner. The large radar in the nose permitted the observer in the rear seat to locate an enemy aircraft at night or in poor weather. The pilot then flew the Starfire into proper position for an attack based upon the observer's radar indications.
Read the story →First F-86 MiG Kill
Lt. Col. Bruce Hinton, commander of the 336th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing, was the first F-86 pilot to score a MiG-15 kill. On Dec. 17, 1950, Hinton led a flight of four F-86s over northwestern North Korea. To trick the communists, the Sabre pilots flew at the same altitude and speed as F-80s typically did on missions, and they used F-80 call signs.
Read the story →Flight to Freedom
North Korean pilot No Kum Sok flew a MiG-15 to Kimpo after the armistice, giving the United States an unexpected opportunity to examine the aircraft. No Kum Sok landed at Kimpo Air Base near Seoul without advance notice. He sought a new life outside North Korea and later adopted the name Kenneth Rowe in the United States.
Read the story →Forward Air Control Communications
Forward air control worked only when information could move reliably between troops, controllers, command posts, and pilots. Controllers translated a ground situation into directions an aircrew could use: location, target description, friendly positions, approach, hazards, and the desired effect. Aircraft readbacks and visual marking helped confirm that everyone was referring to the same place.
Read the story →Helicopters, Rescue, and Air Mobility
Helicopters made rapid movement, medical evacuation, resupply, and rescue central features of the war. Rotary-wing aircraft could enter landing zones unreachable by conventional airplanes. They carried troops and cargo, evacuated casualties, recovered isolated personnel, and linked scattered units across difficult terrain.
Read the story →Interdiction: Tightening the Noose
Interdiction sought to reduce the flow of troops and supplies before they reached the battlefield. Aircraft attacked rail lines, bridges, roads, vehicles, tunnels, depots, and transfer points. The goal was not simply to destroy an object but to impose delay, force detours, consume repair resources, and make movement more costly.
Read the story →Itazuke Tower
Sign from the control tower at Itazuke Air Base in Japan. Countless Air Force personnel flew combat missions from Itazuke AB during the Korean War. The sign was sent to the museum when the air base was phased out by the USAF in 1971.
Read the story →K-Bases in Korea
A numbered K-base system gave airfields short identifiers that crews and planners could use quickly during a mobile war. Airfields in Korea ranged from established facilities to hastily improved strips. Their condition changed with the front, weather, construction, and enemy action. Short K-numbers helped identify bases consistently across maps, orders, radio traffic, and logistics records.
Read the story →Korean Flag Case
National flags and service emblems place the Korean air war within the history of the people who fought it. South Korean airmen worked with United Nations forces while their country's aviation institutions grew under wartime pressure. Personal and national symbols preserve that human setting alongside the aircraft.
Read the story →Korean War Aces
The Korean War brought jet fighter combat to a new scale. Pilots needed speed of judgment as well as aircraft speed, and victories depended on formation discipline, training, and support from the ground. The aces' stories sit within a much larger effort by squadron members whose work rarely appeared in a victory tally.
Read the story →Korean War Introduction
The Korean War became the first major armed conflict of the Cold War and the first war fought by the independent U.S. Air Force. North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950. United Nations forces entered a fast-moving war in which air units had to deploy from Japan, establish bases in Korea, protect retreating troops, move people and supplies, and contest the sky while the ground front repeatedly shifted.
Read the story →Korean War Timeline
The war moved through invasion, counteroffensive, Chinese intervention, stalemate, and armistice in just over three years. The opening invasion drove United Nations forces toward the Pusan Perimeter. The Inchon landing and a counteroffensive then carried the front north, before Chinese intervention forced another retreat. By mid-1951 the fighting settled near the 38th parallel.
Read the story →L-17A Navion
American military services used the L-17 from the late 1940s through the early 1960s for liaison, reconnaissance, light cargo carrying and forward air control (FAC) missions. Six even became target drones. Designed for civilian aviation and first flown in 1946, it was introduced commercially as the NA-154 Navion. The U.S. Army Air Forces ordered 83 military versions under the designation L-17A.
Read the story →Laser-Guided Bombs and Precision Strike
Laser-guided bombs greatly improved accuracy when crews could identify and continuously designate a target. A laser designator placed reflected energy on the target while a seeker guided the weapon toward it. The system allowed some difficult targets to be attacked with fewer aircraft and weapons than conventional bombing required.
Read the story →Life in Korea
Daily service in Korea unfolded through cold, heat, mud, dust, tents, improvised facilities, long shifts, and separation from home. The operational story depended on people maintaining aircraft, building runways, forecasting weather, preparing food, handling fuel and ammunition, operating communications, treating patients, and protecting bases. Their work continued whether or not a combat mission drew public attention.
Read the story →Lifeboat from the Sky
The Edo company developed this model A-3 lifeboat in 1947. Modified B-29 bombers, known as SB-29s, carried these boats. SB-29s accompanied bomber formations to the coast of North Korea and circled there while the bombers hit targets inland. If a returning bomber had to ditch in the ocean, a lifeboat could be dropped to save the crew.
Read the story →Medal of Honor Recipients
Four USAF pilots received the nation's highest combat decoration, the Medal of Honor, during the Korean War. All four acted above and beyond the call of duty, sacrificing their lives in battle.
Read the story →Medium M2 Tractor
This M2 Tractor, popularly known as a "Cletrac," is an example of one type of vehicle used at AAF bases during World War II for moving aircraft and heavy trailers. The Cletrac was particularly effective for moving vehicles or aircraft that had become bogged down in mud. The M2 has a gross weight of 13,800 pounds and a maximum drawbar pull of 7,000 pounds.
Read the story →MiG Alley
MiG Alley was the name given to the northwestern Korean region where the war's best-known jet battles occurred. The area lay near the Yalu River, across which communist aircraft could reach bases in China. United Nations pilots operated under restrictions intended to keep the conflict from expanding beyond Korea.
Read the story →MiG-15 Pilot
Unlike their Sabre counterparts, MiG-15 pilots did not wear hard helmets or g-suits. In fact, their flight clothing and gear was essentially the same as that worn by Soviet pilots years before during World War II.
Read the story →MiG-15bis
The MiG-15 forced the United States and its allies to confront a fast, heavily armed swept-wing jet over Korea. Designed in the Soviet Union and flown by several communist air forces, the MiG-15 could climb rapidly and operated effectively at high altitude. Its cannon armament posed a serious threat to heavy bombers.
Read the story →Military Women
Women served throughout the Korean War medical and support system even as policy excluded them from many military occupations. Air Force nurses and medical technicians cared for casualties in Korea, aboard evacuation flights, and at hospitals in Japan and beyond. Women in the Air Force also worked in communications, administration, intelligence, weather, logistics, and other fields that sustained global operations.
Read the story →Misty Forward Air Controllers
Misty pilots used fast F-100F jets to find targets, direct strikes, and gather battlefield information over heavily defended territory. Traditional forward air control often relied on slow observation aircraft. Over North Vietnam and Laos, that could be exceptionally dangerous, so the Misty program used two-seat F-100Fs to perform high-speed visual reconnaissance and strike control.
Read the story →Mosquito Radios
The Mosquito mission depended on radios that let a slow observation aircraft coordinate ground forces and fast fighter-bombers. T-6 crews had to speak with tactical air control parties, command agencies, and strike pilots. Multiple radios allowed them to monitor different networks, pass target information, and remain aware of friendly positions while orbiting near the front.
Read the story →Mosquitoes in Korea
During the Korean War, the personnel of the 6147th Tactical Air Control Group, known as the "Mosquitoes," created a large-scale, effective forward air control (FAC) system that included both airborne and ground-based FACs. The primary FAC missions were to direct strike aircraft against enemy targets and conduct visual reconnaissance. Forward air controllers matched the most important targets with the limited resources available, significantly raising the efficiency of air strikes against the enemy.
Read the story →Operation Kiddy Car
Operation Kiddy Car evacuated nearly a thousand Korean children from the Seoul area as Chinese intervention drove United Nations forces south. Chaplain Russell Blaisdell and other caregivers had gathered children displaced by the war. As the military situation worsened, personnel secured transport to move them from Kimpo to safety on Jeju Island, where Korean caregivers continued their work.
Read the story →Parachute Flare
Painted on the canopy of a parachute flare, this artwork depicts the flags of the U.S., South Korea and the United Nations. It also illustrates the insignia of the 5th Air Force and some of the USAF units that were based at K-16 in 1952.
Read the story →Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5
The Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5 is a compact turbofan engine. A fan moves air around the engine's central core as well as through it, making this a different kind of propulsion system from an early pure turbojet. The exposed engine makes an otherwise hidden part of an aircraft available for close inspection.
Read the story →Prisoners of War
Captured service members endured interrogation, confinement, deprivation, coercion, and uncertainty that often continued long after release. Aircrews operating over enemy territory faced the possibility that surviving a damaged aircraft would begin another ordeal. Prisoners used discipline, communication, mutual support, and resistance while captors attempted to gain information or propaganda value.
Read the story →Prisoners of War
American prisoners held in North Vietnam developed systems of communication, organization, resistance, and mutual support under severe coercion. Captured aircrews faced interrogation, isolation, poor medical care, torture, and efforts to use them for propaganda. Prisoners improvised tap codes and chains of command to communicate and sustain one another.
Read the story →Reconnaissance
U.S. Air Force reconnaissance units in the Far East were undermanned and under-equipped, and jet aircraft fitted with World War II-era cameras posed new problems. Even so, Air Force aerial reconnaissance provided almost half of ground intelligence gathered, proving its worth during the war and ensuring its support in the years to come.
Read the story →Republic F-105 Thunderchief
The F-105 carried much of the early strike campaign over North Vietnam and suffered severe losses in the process. Designed as a supersonic fighter-bomber, the F-105D carried heavy conventional bomb loads on demanding missions against defended targets. Crews flew at high speed through antiaircraft guns, surface-to-air missiles, and fighter opposition.
Read the story →Republic of Korea Air Force
The Republic of Korea Air Force was part of the international air effort during the Korean War. Its story combines combat operations with the work of building an air service: preparing crews, maintaining aircraft, and developing experience while a war was already under way.
Read the story →Rest and Relaxation
The 5th Air Force carried military personnel from Korea to Japan (usually from Seoul to Tachikawa near Tokyo) for badly-needed, three to five day R&R (Rest and Relaxation) leave. Many took the train from Tachikawa to visit Tokyo while others visited the peaceful surroundings of Japanese national parks. A tremendous boost to morale, the R&R program gave over 800,000 combat-weary UN military personnel the chance to leave the war behind for a short while.
Read the story →Return with Honor
American prisoners of war (POWs) in Southeast Asia endured inhuman torture, political exploitation, filthy living conditions and endless attempts at communist indoctrination. North Vietnam treated U.S. servicemen not as POWs but as foreign invaders and criminals bent on subverting Vietnam's communist revolution. Most POWs were held in camps in North Vietnam, but some were imprisoned in South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and even in China.
Read the story →Roadrunner: Squadron Identity
Nose art and unit emblems gave crews a shared identity within organizations built around standardized aircraft and procedures. Humor, cartoons, names, and painted symbols created informal identities that could coexist with official insignia. They helped crews recognize an aircraft, express pride, and carry popular culture into an austere wartime setting.
Read the story →RQ-4 Global Hawk
The RQ-4 Global Hawk carries reconnaissance sensors high above the ground and can remain airborne for long periods. Its pilots and sensor operators work on the ground, linked to the aircraft through communications systems. The display connects the long history of aerial observation with remotely operated aviation and digital imagery.
Read the story →Russian VK-1 Jet
The VK-1 was used to power the MiG-15. It had a thrust of 6,000 pounds. Essentially, it was an improved version of the British-built Rolls-Royce "Nene" engine, incorporating enlarged combustion chambers, turbine blades and tailpipe for handling a greater flow of intake air.
Read the story →Sabre Pilot
Air Force F-86 pilots wore a mix of World War II and newly-issued flight gear. This pilot has a flying suit and goggles from WWII, but he is also wearing a newer B-15 flight jacket and a post-WWII hard-shell helmet.
Read the story →Special Operations
Special Operations Weather Technicians (SOWT) are Air Force meteorologists with unique training to operate in hostile or denied territory. They gather, assess, and interpret weather and environmental intelligence from forward deployed locations, working primarily with Air Force and Army Special Operations Forces.
Read the story →Strategic Bombing
Strategic bombing in Korea targeted industry, transportation, supply systems, and infrastructure while strategy changed with the course of the war. B-29s began with daylight attacks but moved increasingly to night operations after encountering MiG-15s and heavy defenses. Targets included rail yards, bridges, airfields, factories, and power facilities.
Read the story →T-28B Trojan
North American designed the T-28 to replace the World War II era T-6 trainer. First flown in September 1949, the Trojan entered production in 1950. An 800-hp engine powered the USAF version (T-28A) while the later U.S. Navy versions (T-28B and C) were powered by a 1,425-hp engine. When production ended in 1957, North American had built a total of 1,948 of these three versions.
Read the story →T-6D Mosquito
T-6 Mosquito crews orbited near the front to locate targets and direct fighter-bombers onto them. The propeller-driven trainer was slower than the jets it controlled, but that was an advantage when a crew needed time to observe terrain and communicate with ground forces. Mosquito crews marked targets, often with smoke rockets, and described attack runs by radio.
Read the story →Tactical Air Control Parties
Tactical air control parties placed trained airmen with ground units to connect requests from the battlefield with aircraft overhead. A small team used radios, maps, vehicles, and shared procedures to identify friendly positions, understand the ground commander's need, request aircraft, and help coordinate an attack. Their information moved through a larger control system that assigned available air power.
Read the story →Tetrahedrons
Stopping enemy traffic at night proved to be a difficult problem. One of the more interesting attempts to stop Communist trucks involved dropping tetrahedrons on North Korean roads. Those trucks that were left stranded could then be destroyed by UN fighter-bombers the following morning. In the end, the concept proved to be impractical and was discontinued.
Read the story →TSgt. James H. Ledford
On Dec. 8, 1952, disaster struck a 6167th Operations Squadron B-26 crew on a low-level classified mission over North Korea -- an antiaircraft shell exploded next to the pilot, Maj. Lawrence Freligh, severely wounding him. Freligh slumped against the control column, sending the aircraft into a dive. Flight Engineer Tech. Sgt. James H. Ledford saved the aircraft and crew by pulling the B-26 out before it hit the ground.
Read the story →UH-19B Chickasaw
The UH-19 helped establish the helicopter as a practical tool for rescue, evacuation, and transport. Helicopters could reach small landing areas unavailable to conventional aircraft. In Korea they recovered downed airmen, evacuated casualties, carried people and supplies, and demonstrated how vertical flight could change military mobility.
Read the story →VB-13 Tarzon Bomb
Tarzon combined a large British-derived bomb with radio-command guidance in an ambitious attempt to improve heavy-bomber accuracy. A B-29 crew released the weapon and used visual tracking and radio commands to correct its path toward a point target. The very large warhead promised major effect against structures such as bridges, but the system placed a demanding workload on the crew.
Read the story →VB-3 Razon Bomb
Razon allowed a bomber crew to send radio corrections in both range and azimuth after release. The name combined the words range and azimuth. A control operator watched flares on the weapon and transmitted commands intended to correct its path. B-29 crews used Razon against bridges and other point targets that were difficult to hit with unguided bombs.
Read the story →War in Context
American and international resolve to prevent a communist takeover of South Korea set the stage for future events-- and eventual victory -- in the Cold War. South Korea remained independent and is today a vibrant, well developed democratic nation. Air Force efforts and Airmen's sacrifices in the Korean War played an important part in proving the USAF as an independent service and winning the Cold War.
Read the story →Weapons of the Air War
The air war used weapons selected for very different targets, aircraft, altitudes, and rules of engagement. Bombs, rockets, guns, missiles, mines, and dispensers were parts of mission systems rather than isolated objects. Each required storage, inspection, loading, fuzing, delivery procedures, and decisions about where and when it could be used.
Read the story →What Aircrews Carried
Flight gear joined protection, survival, communication, and personal identity in equipment worn close to the body. Helmets, oxygen equipment, survival vests, maps, signaling devices, weapons, and protective clothing reflected aircraft type and mission. The equipment had to function in heat, cold, altitude, water, jungle, and the possibility of ejection or capture.
Read the story →Women in the Southeast Asia War
Women served across medical, administrative, intelligence, communications, maintenance-support, and other essential roles while formal restrictions still narrowed opportunity. Nurses cared for casualties close to the war, and other Air Force women served across a growing range of specialties. Their work took place within policies that still barred women from many combat and aviation roles.
Read the story →YH-5A Dragonfly
The H-5, originally designated the R-5 ("H" for "Helicopter;" "R" for "Rotorcraft"), was designed to provide a helicopter with a greater useful load, endurance, speed and service ceiling than the earlier R-4. The first of four XR-5s made its initial flight in August 1943. In March 1944 the U.S. Army Air Forces ordered 26 YR-5As for service testing, and in February 1945 the first YR-5A was delivered.
Read the story →YMQ-9 Reaper
The MQ-9 is a long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) with a primary mission of locating and destroying time-critical and highly mobile targets. In addition to this "hunter-killer" mission, the MQ-9 also provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to military commanders.
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