The date was October 6 1951 and the
Captain Gill Garrett was flying his sortie #97 in the
F-86A Sabre BuNo 49-1319, 334th FIS of 4th FIW, as
leader's wingman of a group of 4 Sabres. Two
squdrons (his own and the 336th) were doing a CAP over
the "MiG Alley", a zone near the Yalu river,
the border between China and North Korea, and also the
area where the MiG-15s flew by the Communist pilots
were more active. Garrett waited to end without trouble
this one and the three remaining sorties left to
complete the 100 of his tour, or even perhaps with some
kill in his account. As a matter fact, he already had
participated in 35 engagements and he also had
seriously damaged a MiG, all without suffering a single
scratch. But his luck was over that day, as the own
Garrett explained:
The two MiGs had led us straight into a
trap. They had two buddies who now were cutting down on
us from our flank at a time when we were at our lowest
air speed.
A MiG bore down on me and began firing
with his 37 mm. and 23 mm. cannons. I could see that
mean-lookining red nose gun flash when my ship bucked,
skidded around and head down. I had been hit - but
good. A shell had slammed into my engine just aft of my
right wing. The force of the blast had trown the plane
around and into a spin. One second I was in the middle
of the fight the next I was on my way out with a GI
insurance policy due to mature."
Garrett had the bad luck to meet that
day one of the best MiG-15 pilots never sent to Korea,
who also was the commander of the 196th IAP of 324th
IAD of the VVS (Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, Soviet Air
Force): Colonel Yevgeni Georgievich Pepelyayev.
A little promising beginning
Yevgeni Pepelyayev was born on March 18
1918 in Bodaybo, Irkutsk (Eastern Siberia), son of a
railroad worker. Even when he learnt and worked in his
youth in hisfather's proffesion, he felt atraction
for the aeronautics since his childhood, and when his
elder brother Konstantin enlisted in the Soviet air
force, he looked for job in Odessa as assistant in the
aeroclubs of the city, with the intenttion of following
his brother's steps later.
He graduated in 1938 from the 8th
Military Pilots School and was sent to serve in the
regiments deployed in the Soviet Far East. When the
German invasion to the USSR began in June 1941, he
requested several times to be transferred to the battle
front, and those requests were more frequent after the
death in combat of his brother Konstantin. With the
only exception of a short period when he play as
instructor of the 162nd IAP about late 1943, those
requests were always rejected. And in this lone
instance, the bad weather reduce his battle chances to
recce flights. In one of them, his Yak-7 was attacked
by German planes and seriously damaged, even when
Pepelyayev could return to his base. In 1945 his unit,
the 300th IAP, participated in the operations against
Japan in Manchuria, and he performed 30 sorties,
finding no aerial opposition during them.
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Photo of Yevgeni G.
Pepelyayev taken in August 1945, when he was
27 years old, posing besides his Yakovlev
fighter few time after the USSR's
declaration of war against Japan. His unit,
the 300th IAP, supported the advance of the
Red Army over Manchuria. In that period
Pepelyayev flew 30 sorties, distributed
between escort missions and recce missions.
However, due to the weakness of the Japanese
(remember that those are the final days of
WWII) almost there was no enemy fighters in
the air, and Pepelyayev ended the war without
any shootdown in his score. That would change
six years later.
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In 1947 he graduated in the VVS Academy
and he married with his first girlfriend, Maya. Even
when his flight habilities and command capacities
didn't remain unappreciated -he was promoted from a
deputy commander of squadron to deputy commander of the
196th IAP- certainly nothing seemed indicate that this
29 years old officer would be one of the top aces of
the typical post-war conficts caused by the "Cold
War".
The USSR gets into the Korean War
When in October 1950 the Colonel
Pepelyayev recieved the command of the 196th IAP, the
War of Korea was in its climax, with the UN troops and
air forces (leaded by USA) entering in North Korea
after defeating the initially succesful North Korean
invasion to South Korea. Both Josif Stalin and
Mao-Tse-Tung decided do not see how a Communist allied
(Kim Il Sung) was defeated without move a finger. With
a big secret, the USSR sent several air regiments
equipped with the new MiG-15s to the Chinese base of
Andung (in Manchuria) with the mission to support the
Chinese counter-strike. In a short period of time the
Soviet fighters transformed the southern shore of the
Yalu river in the most dangerous area for the UN
aviation, zone that received the nickname of "MiG
Alley".
Both sides deployed their best fighters
in a try to obtain the air superiority.
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Above: several F-86A Sabres
of the 4th FIW ready to take off from Kimpo
right to the "MiG Alley".
Right: Even when this photo
of Soviet pilots preparing themselves to ride
their MiG-15s is taken in an airbase of the
USSR, it illustrate perfectly the aspect and
the activity existing in Andung since late
1950 until July 1953.
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Anyway, the arrival of the fighters
F-86 Sabre of the 4th Wing of the USAF in December 1950
turned the tables in favour of the UN again. It was
decided to create the 64th IAK (Fighter Corp) with two
fighter regiments and to assign them the best available
pilots. The chosen units were the 176th GvIAP y 196th
IAP (the Pepelyayev's unit) of the 324th Division
and the entire division was put under the command of
the best possible man: Colonel Ivan Kozhedub, three
times awarded with he Golden Star of the Heroe of the
Soviet Union (the highest Russian military award) and
Top Scoring Soviet Ace of the WWII with 62 victories
against the German Luftwaffe.
Pepelyayev arrives to Andung
The 196th Regiment arrived to Manchuria
in January 1951, and was in second-line airfields until
complete the training of the pilots and their
familiarization with the temperamental MiG-15 with
Kimov RD-45 engine, and was later deployed to Andung.
On April 1 both regiments were finally commited to
combat, but their results weren't good initially.
The reason was simple: in an attempt to keep in secret
the Soviet injerence, to flight over UN controlled
areas or the sea was forbidden to the Russian pilots
(due to the fear of being downed and captured), and
their MiGs carried Chinese roundels. But the worst
thing was the order of speak only Korean or Chinese
language in the radio. It caused a lot of complains
from Pepelyayev and Lt.Col. Sergei Vishnyakov, CO of
the 176th GvIAP. As the own Pepelyayev explained:
It was impossible psychologically in
the heat of battle to use a foreign language you hardly
knew. So after a week or two we just decided to ignore
the order. The top brass started complaining, so I told
them: 'Go and fight yourselves''
Col. Kozhedub supported his
subordinates in front of the commander of 64th IAK,
Lt.Gral I.V.Belov, and due to Kozhedub was one of the
Stalin's "favourite sons", the High
Command of the VVS finally gave up and allowed that the
pilots speak Russian in combat. That caused an
immediate raise in battle efficiency, which reach its
peak on April 12 1951, when 36 MiG-15s of the 176th
GvIAP and 196th IAP intercepted an American formation
of 48 B-29s of the 19th, 98th and 307th BW (Bombing
Wings) escorted by 34 F-84s and 18 F-86s when they
tried to attack the bridges thru the Yalu. In the
following battle three B-29s were shot down and seven
more were seriously damaged, all that against the loss
of a single MiG due to a Sabre.
Col. Yevgeni Georgievich Pepelyayev was one of
best MiG-15 Fagot pilots and was also one of the
Top Aces of the war. He commanded the 196th IAP,
324th IAD, and he obtained 23 kills in Korea -19
were official and the other 4 were possible
victories- distributed among 12 F-86s, five
F-80s, four F-84s and two F-94s. His first
victory happened on May 20 1951 (a F-86), and the
last one occured at the beginning of the next
year, on January 15 1951, against a Sabre too.
But he obtained his most famous air-to-air
victories on July 11 and October 6 1951 (both
Sabre kills). |
Drawing of the MiG-15bis Fagot # 1315325
("325"), plane used by Colonel Yevgeni
Pepelyaev on October 6th 1951 to shotdown the
F-86 BuNo 49-1319. With this aircraft Pepelyaev
obtained 17 of his 19 official air
victories. |
First victory
May 20 1951 meant the end of three
weeks where both sides were relatively quiet. That day
a force of 50 MiGs fought with 28 Sabres, and during
that combat both sides claimed more shootdowns that the
ones actually obtained (three claims the USAF side and
four ones in the VVS side). The truth is that both
sides lost only one plane each: a pilot of F-86 Sabre
of the 334th FIS, Captain James Jabara, shot down one
of the Pepelyayev's men, Captain Nazarkin, and in
retaliation the commander of the 196th IAP, flying the
MiG-15bis Fagot # 1315325, shot down one F-86;
as indicates the after-battle report presented by
Pepelyayev:
"...on 20 May 1951, during the
period of 1508-1558 hours, during an air battle with a
group of F-86 Sabres I fired at an F-86 at a range of
500-600 meters. At the time of my firing, I noticed
shell strikes along the enemy's right wing, after
which the aircraft went from a bank to the left into a
right turn."
It must be noted here that he do not
claim any shootdown directly; he do not say "I
shot down an F-86" but he simply describe what
really happened, and such style is typical in all his
reports. The confirmation of his victory would come
from the Chinese ground troops, which capture the pilot
of the F-86 downed by Pepelyayev. Unfortunately, even
when the Chinese give the pilot's name to the
Soviets, they changed the spelling in such way that
even today is imposible to know who was this pilot
(USAF never gave a complete list of the Sabre pilots
taken prisoner), sending also the flight suite, the
helmet and other pertenencies. This unknown pilot
became that way in the first of the 19 victories
credited to Colonel Pepelyaeyev.
Yevgeni G. Pepelyayev, this
time taken in 1951, whe he already was Colonel
and he was 33 years old. Many people considered
him too old to fly an exigent plane as the
MiG-15, but he would demonstrate that sometimes
the experience compensate the reflexs'
reduction that came with the age. Such a
prejudice wasn't an Russian prerrogative:
Joseph McConnell, the Top American F-86 Ace, 28
years old in 1952, was considered too old to be
a Sabre pilot
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Colonel Pepelyayev in the USSR
in the late 1950, after a routine flight with
the (at that time) new MiG-15; few time later
his regiment would be send to Andung
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On July 11 Pepelyayev scored another
important victory when he downed other F-86 which pilot
was captured, and even when again the Chinese failed to
indicate his name to the VVS, it is also known that
this pilot was interrogated by the KGB in an attempt to
obtain information. This pilot mentioned the weak
points in the F-86A, such the low climbing-rate and the
loss of thrust and maneuverability at alttitudes higher
than 10,000 meters (about 30,000 feet). That
information would allow to develop better tactics in
the following months. Few days later, on July 21,
Pepelyayev and Captain Boris S. Abakumov intercepted
what they identified as a F-94 formation, and both
devastated it: Pepelyayev shot down with his MiG-15 two
of the enemy aircraft, and so did Abakumov with a third
one. The Chinese search teams confirmed the three
shootdowns, because they found the remains of all the
planes. In the case of Pepelyayev's kills, the
Chinese could identify a serial number in one of the
wreckages -"109-I-405116"- and also found the
death bodies of both pilots in the crash sites. The
pilot of the "F-94" downed by Abakumov was a
little bit more lucky, because he could eject, only for
being captured later. The only one thing wrong in the
claims of both Russian pilots was the type of plane:
there was no F-94s in Korea until 1952,and as amatter
of fact the downed planes were F-80Cs with a special
fuel tank -"Misawa"- that gave the Shooting
Star a profile similar to the F-94 (after all, the F-94
Starfire is the night fight two-seat version of the
F-80)
The Sabre's Hunter
But the most important MiG-15 victory
of this period happened on October 6 1951, when Colonel
Pepelyaev (flying the MiG-15bis Fagot #
1315325 again), during a battle among 10 MiGs belonging
to his regiment and 16 Sabres of 4th FIW at 8,000
meters (about 24,000 feet), he downed a F-86 with 37 mm
ammunition. In first place he organized the engagement
and later himself performed an attack against the
leader of the heading pair of Sabres, firing against
him at 550 meters (yards), without confirm the results
of the attack, due to the second pair of Sabres also
attacked both -Pepelyaev and wingman- MiGs almost in a
head-on attack (according the Pepelyaev narration, from
1 or 2 o'clock). On the own Pepelyaev words:
"I remember this battle as if it
happened yesterday. Their leader opened fire on my
aircraft and ripped off a piece of the air intake...I
remembered a maneuver developed by me and my friends,
when we were trying to develop new tactics. During
head-to-head attacks, when both aircrafts are trying to
get on each other's tail, one of the maneuvers was
to indicate a 'boevoj razvorot' [combat turn in
Russian - Note of Vlad "PG Monster" Arkhipov]
to one side, but then to make a sharp turn to the other
side and follow the opponent. When the enemy aircraft
wouild exit from the combat turn, I would end up on its
tail. That's what happened that time. When I passed
the Sabres on the head-to-head course, they initiated a
right turn while rapidly gaining altitude. I, on the
other hand, continued to fly level for a while, and
then begun turning to the right, towards the Sabres.
When I achieved a turning angle of between 40-50deg, I
initiated a sharp left turn and ended up behind the
lead Sabre slightly above it and to the right.
It was almost directly in front of me,
just over 100 meters away. I pushed the stick, trying
to align with the Sabre. However, the targeting
indicator would always be above the Sabre, while at the
same time negative g would try to pull me out of the
cockpit. Then I rolled upside down so the g-force would
press me into the seat; it's more convenient to aim
that way. As soon as I rolled, the Sabre did the same
thing, but by then I already got the targeting
indicator over him, and I opened fire from a distance
of 130 meters. A 37 mm shell hit him directly behind
the cockpit. There was an explosion and the Sabre
started to losing altitude. I did not follow him: after
such a hit there was no reason to pursue him."
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These images were captured by the
gun camera connected to the 37 mm cannon belonging to
the plane MiG-15bis Fagot # 1315325 piloted by Col.
Yevgeni Georgievich Pepelyaev on October 6th 1951. In
them appear the plane F-86A BuNo 49-1319 flew by
Captain Gill M. Garrett perfectly placed in the fire
line. The first photograph was taken at 130 meters, and
the second one at 122 meters.
The Sabre's pilot, Captain Gill M.
Garrett, used all his habilities to land upon his
damaged plane in the Sokhoson Bay (East China Sea), and
the American pilot was rescued by a SA-16 Albatross
seaplane. It must be noted that the Sabre leader of the
one hit by Pepelyaev, gallantry tried to provide cover
to his wingman during the time after being hit until it
landed in the sea shore; but it was seen by a group of
MiG-15s of the 176th GvIAP, leading by the unit's
deputy commander, Captain Konstanin Sheberstov, who
apparently shot it down. American sources admitt the
loss of two Sabres that day, the one downed by Col.
Pepelyaev, piloted by Captain Gill Garrett (not
classified as "shootdown" but as "forced
to land") and the F-86E BuNo 50-671, most likely
Sheberstov's victim. The same sources mentioned a
third Sabre damaged, and that one could be the plane
attacked by Pepelyaev in the beginning of the air
battle.
Garrett's Sabre left almost intact
under a few inches of water. It was gold for the USSR:
finally an oportunity to get a look to the best USAF
fighter jet, and the Soviet technicians took the
chance: a special team leaded by the Engineer Kazankin
achieved to rescue the damaged plane, put it on a truck
and sent it to USSR (after a dangerous travel where the
American B-26s tried to destroy the remains of the
Sabre).
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Above:
This picture shows the aspect of the F-86A
Sabre BuNo 49-1319 when it was rescued from
the East China Sea waters. This plane was
sent to USSR.
Left:
During the air engagement with the Sabre
49-1319 happened on October 6th 1951, the
MiG-15bis "325" was slightly
damaged by 12,7 mm (0,50") bullets. The
upper picture shows that damage, while the
picture below shows the "325" after
repairs.
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Few days later -October 8-
Pepelyayev's MiG-15 received an addittional mark,
due to the Colonel scored a new kill (confirmed by
USAF): one F-84 of the 182 FBS, which pilot -Earl
Harbour- perished when his aircraft crashed near
Syukusen.
An Amazing Final Act
Since November 1951 until January 1952
both sides tried to achieve the air superiority over
the Yalu, or at least tried to deny it to the enemy,
and in consequence the intensity of the aerial combats
reached peaks not seen before. It was a good time for
the aggressive fighter pilots both Soviets and
Americans, and Pepelyayev was amoung them. On November
27 he shot down an F-84, the one piloted by Bernard
Seitzinger -who died- and the next day, November 28
1951, was even better: flying his famous MiG-15bis
Fagot # 1315325, Yevgeni Pepelyayev
knocked-out one F-86, and later put himself at 6
o'clock of another Sabre, which pilot was forced to
bailed out after a few bursts of 37 mm. This particular
pilot resulted to be 1st Lt. Dayton W. Ragland, who
performed with another partner an audacious strike
against North Korean airbase of Uiju 10 days before,
destroying four MiGs in the ground. He even claimed to
shot down another MiG in air combat precisely few
seconds of being downed by Pepelyayev. Yevgeni would
obtain his kill #16 the day after, after shooting down
another Sabre, which pilot couldn't eject and was
kiled when his plane crashed near Syukusen.
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One of the MiG-15 Fagot victories
during the last months of 1951 was the one that can be
seen in these pictures, obtained on November 28th 1951
by Col. Yevgeni Pepelyaev. It was a Sabre belonging to
the 4th FIW, most likely the one piloted by 1st Lt.
Dayton Ragland, who bailed out and became POW. He would
obtain two more confirmed air-to-air kills on
December 1st (F-80) and December 6th (F-86), but, as a
matter of fact -according to USAF data-, he shot down
his last Sabre on January 15th 1952. His victim was 1st
Lt. Vernon Wright.
The next three victories (one F-80 on
December 1, one F-86 on December 6, and another more
Sabre on January 11 1952) have no confirmation yet in
the American side, but ironically a victory that was
originally clasified as "probable" had been
finally confirmed by American sources: the F-86
attacked by Pepelyayev on January 15 1952 -which he
didn't confirm as shot down- was the one piloted by
1st Lt. Vernon D. Wright, who was captured and
repatriated in 1953.
Hero of the Soviet Union
After all this performance, wasn't
a surprise when, on April 22 1952, Colonel Yevgeni
Pepelyayev was awarded with the Golden Star of the
Heroe of the Soviet Union. A particular characteristic
of the ceremony was that Pepelyayev have civilian
clothes, and in the speech there was no mention of the
actions why he deserve the award. The need of keep the
secret caused that such story repeated 21 times more,
with each Soviet pilot who were awarded during the
Korean War.
Besides his impressive record as
fighter pilot, his charisma as leader shouldn't be
understimated. He knew how to motivate his men,
obtaining the top of his capacities, but also facing
the Top Brass when it dictated stupid rules of
engagement that expose his pilots to an unneccesary
risk. His unit recorded more than100 kills during 10
months (30 o 35 of them will be probably fully
confirmed), loosing just 10 MiGs in action and
suffering the lost of 4 pilots KIA. Excluding him,
another seven pilots of the 196th IAP became Aces:
Fiodor Shebanov, Boris Abakumov, Boris Bokach,
V.N.Alfeyev, A.M.Kochegarov, I.K.Shelomonov and Lev
Ivanov.
During a recent interview in Russia
(where he is now a celebrity) a journalist asked his
opinion about the Korean War, he answered:
"For us, Korea was both a love and
an anguish. Back in the 50s we were defending North
Korea, and we learned to care for the people. We also
felt love for the Chinese people, on whose land our
regiments were stationed. But I lost friends there.
Soviet pilots lie in the Russian cemetery at Port
Arthur. I still remember those sorrowful moments when
they buried my fellow servicemen, excellent pilots, my
wingman Sasha Roshkov, Fedya Shebanov,...."
Diego Fernando Zampini.
(dzampini@hotmail.com)
Glossary:
Acronyms used in the text:
- FIS = Fighter Interception Squadron.
- FIW = Fighter Interception Wing.
- IAP = Istrevitelnye Avia Polk: Fighter Aviation
Regiment.
- IAD = Istrevitelnye Avia Divizya: Fighter
Aviation Division.
- IAK = Istrevitelnye Avia Korpus: Fighter Aviation
Corps.
- BW = Bombing Wing.
- FBS = Fighter-Bombing Squadron.
- CAP = Combat Air Patrol.
