Korean War air combat.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

That is most probably the case....and yes, a beautiful aircraft.

A product of the same folks who brought us the P-51 Mustang.

The Korean War was also the first airwar that suffered from planning by people far from the front. US Command was in Japan, and it showed. You would have F-80s, F-84s and F-9-F Panthers doing ground attack with Mustangs and Corsairs as top cover. Yes, that's jets doing the ground-pounding and the older "prop-jobs" as we called them when I was a kid, trying to take on the MiGs.

In World War 2 it could be doubly dangerous for a fighter pilot, because a P-51 head-on at 300 yards looks very much like a Bf-109 at 200 yards, and bomber gunners tended to shoot at both. In Korea they actually assigned straight-winged F-84s as close escort for the B-29s, with F-86s flying high cover. They were told to not chase the MiGs through the formations, because the B-29 gunners were told to shoot at anything with swept wings.

Two Korea airwar movies you should not miss.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046806/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051750/

Too much schmaltz and not enough flying in both films, but what is there makes them both worth a look.

Except for Platapus, who will hate The Hunters, as it's Crash Dive with airplanes.