Chinese troops crossing the Yalu River into Korea at Antung - November 1950

"While the Communists did not make a maximum employment of their jet fighters, the Chinese air garrison at Antung greatly hampered United Nations air attacks in the strip of terrain along the Yalu. The MiGs took a toll of the FEAF Bomber Command's B-29s and RB-29s. Such RF-80s as went to the border had to be escorted by F-80 fighters, which were not at all adequate to the task. In a hairy engagement of 4 December [1950], a flight of MiGs boxed in an RF-80 photo plane and its F-80 escort (one MiG prosecuted tail attacks while other MiGs flew wing positions 50 yards out). Although both planes were sieved by 23-mm cannon bursts, the American pilots escaped the trap and got home safely."

-- Futrell, Robert F., The United States Air Force in Korea, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C., 1983

DECEMBER 1950

December - The 45th TRS begins to provide reconnaissance support in Korea.

XX December - While participating in an aerial reconnaissance mission over Korea in an RF-80A "Shooting Star", First Lieutenant Hamilton Bruce Shawe of the 8th TRS is shot down by antiaircraft fire and captured by the North Koreans.

JANUARY 1951

January 3 - Red Chinese Forces and North Korean Forces begin their New Year's Offensive. General Ridgeway orders the evacuation of Seoul.

January 4 - Seoul falls for the third when it is captured by Chinese Communist Forces.

January 14 - United Nations Forces establish lines along the 37th parallel in South Korea.

January 21 - While participating in an aerial reconnaissance mission over Korea in an RF-80A "Shooting Star", First Lieutenant JB Smith of the 8th TRS is shot down by antiaircraft fire and is captured by the North Koreans.

January 24 - Colonel Karl "Pop" Polifka is attached to the 543rd Tactical Support Group. Colonel Polifka commanded the 8th TRS in the Pacific during the Second World War.

January 25 - United Nations Forces resume the offensive.

FEBRUARY 1951

February 1 - The United Nations votes on a resolution to end the Korean conflict and Red China is labeled an "aggressor."

February 11 to 12 - A Communist Chinese Forces counteroffensive begins north of Hoengsong.

February 14 - Communist Chinese Forces are stopped at Chipyong-ni by the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division's 23rd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and the attached French Battalion.

February 18 to March 17 - General Ridgeway orders the offensive code-named "Killer".

February 25 - The 5th U.S. Air Force activates the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW) at Taegu. The 162nd TRS (RB-26) is re-designated the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, the 8th TRS is re-designated the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and the 363rd is re-designated the 67th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron. The 67th TRW is assigned directly to 5th Air Force Headquarters.

MARCH 1951

March 1 - The U.N. line reaches between the 37th and 38th Parallels. The U.N. is involved in multiple attacks and withdrawals.

March 7 - U.N. troops launch operation "Ripper". Eighth Army re-crosses the Han River.

March 18 - Seoul and Kimpo Airfield are retaken by U.N. Forces.

March 19 - Flying out of K-2, Taegu, Major Horace H. Myers, 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron fails to return from a mission and is listed as Missing in Action while participating in aerial support over Korea.

APRIL 1951

11 April - General Douglas MacArthur is recalled by President Harry Truman. General Matthew B. Ridgway is given command of the Far East Command (FEACOM).

April 15 - General James Van Fleet is given command of the Eighth Army to replace General Ridgeway.

April 19 - General Douglas MacArthur appears before Congress in hearings on his removal.

April 22 - Communist Chinese Forces begin their Spring Offensive.

April 30 - Communist Chinese Forces and Republic of Korea Forces withdraw for resupply and replacements.

MAY 1951

May 10 - Communist Chinese Forces and Republic of Korea Forces begin May offensive operation designated "The Second Chinese Communist Forces Spring Offensive," also known as the Battle of Soyang or the May Massacre.

May 20 - U.S. forces halt Communist Chinese Forces and Republic of Korea Forces Soyang Offensive.

May 23 to June 1 - United Nations Forces drive north.

JUNE 1951

June 10 - First Lieutenant Milton L. Wiseman of the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron is shot down and listed as Missing in Action. He was flying an RF-80 reconnaissance mission alone. He sent a distress message and then contact was lost.

June 13 - United Nations Forces dig in on the 38th parallel.

June 23 - Soviet Delegate Jacob Malik proposes truce in United Nations.

JULY 1951

July 1 - Colonel "Pop" Polifka is shot down and killed in action while on an RF-51 reconnaissance mission in the vicinity of Kaesong.

July 4 - Colonel Vincent W. Howard assumes command of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Taegu.

July 10 - The Truce Talks begin at Kaesong.

MAP: The Battle Lines - 10 July - 31 October 1951

1Lt. Stan Sebring Lieutenant JB Smith was flying at about the same rate I was, I think, but one day his Tac Recce career was cut short because he got shot down over Pyongyang on a low altitude photo mission.

As I recollect the circumstances JB or some other Photo Interpreter discovered a series of gun emplacements lining both sides of the river flowing through the city. The following morning Col. "Pop" Polifka, Col. Jake Dixon, Major Woodyard (I think), JB and I, and perhaps Les Asbury met in the P.I. Section to look at and discuss the photos. Col. Polifka, who was widely regarded as being "Mr. Reconnaissance," stated emphatically that what was needed was a high-speed, on-the-deck photo run over Pyongyang. This would be with all cameras -- forward, left & right oblique and vertical -- running to confirm and identify this new intelligence. He then pointed his finger at JB and said, "JB, you know exactly what's needed. Do you think you could fly this mission?" Good soldier that he was, JB couldn't say anything but, "Yes sir".

The mission went off as planned but even with the element of surprise at 50 feet and .8 mach, he caught plenty of flak. Fortunately he didn?t get hit. A couple of hours later in the photo lab it was Oh S**t Time! One of the side oblique cameras had malfunctioned. So, another meeting was called. This time Col. Polifka said, "JB, you did a fine job of flying that mission, but it needs to be flown again, and I know you can do it".

So, JB tried it again. This time the North Koreans were not surprised and JB was shot down and became a POW. Of course at the time, we didn't know that. He was listed as Missing in Action. I packed up his personal effects and wrote a letter to his wife, Cherrie. It wasn't until the war was over that I learned that JB had survived.

Lieutenant JB Smith I was shot down on 21 January 1951; just about a month after Bruce Shawe. I had a chase plane with me but it didn't help. We got little or no help from the staff to plan missions. Mostly we were told the targets and getting there and back was up to us.

My mission was to take oblique photos of the city of Pyongyang at an altitude of 500 feet. Three parallel photo runs were required. I planned the mission myself with my chase pilot. We were to fly up the Han River to the northeast as low as we could get. A short distance from Pyongyang, my chase pilot was to zoom up and fly more or less straight ahead as a diversion. I was to rack up in a steep left turn going up to 500 feet, roll out level and start the cameras. Sounds like a good plan. It didn't work.

I turned on the cameras, and like the football announcer says, BAM! -- I took a hit. The airplane was on fire immediately and the flames were being sucked in through the pressurization ports by the rudder pedals. I had a fleeting thought of going in with the airplane, but the fire convinced me I should bail out. I jettisoned the canopy and tried to roll over and fall out, but couldn't tell what the attitude was for the smoke. I finally struggled out, pulled the ripcord and it was only a few seconds to the ground. I lit in the outskirts of Pyongyang surrounded by soldiers and civilians.

Copyright (C) 2000 JB Smith

The 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was an organization that will always have a special spot in my heart as there were so many of us in it who had been in the 15th Photo Recce Sq in North Africa and Italy during "the Big War". So, I?ll tell you how I managed to return to the unit in Korea.

Although I took a P-38 fighter replacement squadron to North Africa early in 1943 I was reassigned to the 90th Photo Recce Wing as I had graduated from the old Observation School at Brooks Field and flew with the 70th Observation Group for a few months. After checking out in the F-4/5, I managed to stay alive while flying over southern Europe and the Balkans. Late in 1943 we moved to Italy, the Wing Headquarters set up in San Severo and the squadrons were scattered around. Mine, the 15th PR, was attached to 15th Air Force Headquarters at Ban. We did long range target mapping and bomb damage assessment using the F-5.

On the evening of 31 December 1943 there was a big party in the officers mess at 15th Air Force Headquarters. It was more than just a New Year's Eve party, it was a farewell party for General Doolittle who was moving to England and a welcoming for General Twining, the new 15th AF CG. There was more food and drink that night than we had even seen during the past year. I was lucky to get a short "milk run" on 1 January but the next day I went out to map railroad yards in the Po valley around Milan. The flak was quite heavy but not very accurate at first. After about four runs down the valley one of the guns put a round off to my left and just above. It took out my left supercharger and a few other items, including a goodly bit of the left side of my face. It was a beautiful clear day so I shut the cameras down and headed for Corsica, the nearest safe haven as the Germans had evacuated the island. I couldn't try for home as the right engine was heating up. Got the bird down okay, saved my film and a week later they had me back at Ban. I thought that after my face was patched up they would send me home; however, all that I got was a Purple Heart, another Air Medal and instructions to stay close to our operations shack at the airport as Col. Roosevelt had so ordered.

About a week later, while I was snoozing in the sun, a B-25 landed and taxied up to the shack. The pilot cut the left engine, stuck his head out the window and called to me. It was Col. Roosevelt and he told me to get aboard as he wanted me to go with him to Algiers and bring the plane back. That worried me a bit as he was a rated navigator but not a pilot and I had been warned to never let him take the controls whenever he was flying with me. I was relieved greatly when I climbed in and he moved over to the copilot?s seat and told me to take over. We arrived at Maison Blanc Airdrome without any interruptions by roaming Ju-88?s and I told Roosevelt that I would take the B-25 back to San Severo the following morning. He really shocked me then when he said that I was to fly him and the Allied Forces staff to England in a special B-17.

It took a few days to prepare for the flight but the morning of our departure was quite an event. I had no idea that we had so many dignitaries in the theater. Our passengers were Gen. Smith, (Ike's Chief of Staff); Col. Roosevelt; Kay Summersby, (Ike's secretary); a dozen other senior officers; and a sergeant handling the dogs of Eisenhower, Smith and Roosevelt. We managed to complete the flight with only minor problems and in due time I returned and delivered the B-17 to a group near San Severo. All of which is minor history except that it was while I was away that Col. Polifka took command of MAPRW.

Col. Polifka visited our squadron early in March 1944 and brought with him orders promoting me to Captain. He laughed when he gave them to me and said that I would have to work four times as much from then on as the orders were dated 29 February. Neither of us knew how true that would be as it did not happen again until he promoted me in Korea in 1951. At that time, when he gave me the promotion order, he reached in his pocket and brought out a set of oak leaves. I went right back to my tent and scratched "Pop" on the back of each and they are in a display case here in my office.

To get back to Italy, I flew my 50th mission of 15 March 1944. It was long one, to look at the ball bearing plant in Regensberg, Germany and to make a short run over Cassino on my way home. The heavies of 15th AF hit Cassino early in the morning, the mediums of 12th AF were to follow up in the afternoon and a few photos would help to decide which did what. I got in and out of Regensberg without much opposition as the 8th AF was striking north of there. I breathed a sigh of relief as I passed over Rome and began my descent to pass over Cassino at a lower altitude as the German fighters were supposed to be on the ground refueling. Apparently there were three Bf-109?s that didn?t get the word and they proceeded to cut me to pieces before breaking away. They did leave me one good engine, I managed get to a field north of Naples and the war was finally over for me. Was in a hospital at Naples for a month, aboard a hospital ship for a second month and landed at Norfolk three days after D-Day. And a sad part was the fact that I didn?t get to see Col. Polifka again before they shipped me out.

I went through a varied group of schools and assignments after WWII and was in the 18th Fighter Group at Clark AFB when the Korean War started. We were flying the F80C at that time but the Group had been equipped with the F-51 until shortly before I joined them. They put us back into old Mustangs from Air Guard units, mine had been junked by the North Dakota National Guard. Again, I managed to get through a tour that included walking back from North Korea as a FAC with the 21st Infantry. After my last mission I caught the first available courier flight to Tokyo and checked into the personnel center at Fuchu to wait for my ticket home. I should have hidden under my bed until they had my ticket ready. Instead, I went into town to one of the R&R hotels for some decent food for a change. While sitting in the bar counting my blessings, in walked "Whitey" Meyers who had been in the 15th PRS in Italy. He told me that he and Col. Polifka had just come over to form a recce wing. I mentioned that I had just finished a tour in Mustangs with the 18th FB Gp and was on my way home. I also told him that Frank Bullard, who had been with us in Italy, was in the 18th Gp and would finish his tour in a few weeks. We sat there talking until the bar closed and I went back to Fuchu.

Three days passed and I still didn't get a Pan Am ticket but was given orders to report to the 543rd Tac Support Gp at K-2. I rode the courier to K-2 and after landing there I walked down the ramp to find my destination. When I found it I was truly shocked as there was a squadron of photo Mustangs parked in front of the building. The length of a combat tour had just been extended to 125 missions and I was afraid that I was going to have to do 25 more before I could go home. I entered the building and to my most pleasant surprise saw Col. Polifka sitting at a desk. He said, "Come on in, Dewey, I've been waiting for you. I hear you have been flying Mustangs". I replied, "I saw those Mustangs out front and I would prefer to never have to get in one again, you just can't do it to me. Other than the past months in them with the 18th Ground I've flown nothing but jets since I got out of the P-38. If you had some jets it would be different situation." He laughed and said that he had been waiting for me to say that as a squadron of RF-80?s had just been delivered to Komaki and that K-2 would be my new home.

Well, we got everything moved to K-2 and put the RF-80 squadron into operation. Things went fairly well considering that we had many new pilots fresh out of cadet school and about as many reservists who hadn't been near an airplane since VJ Day. I didn't see Col. Polifka for a couple of weeks until we met in the mess hail one evening. He asked when would I be ready to fly and when I told him that I had flown my first mission that day he wanted to know how successful it was. I told him that I didn't accomplish much as I had only 12 targets when I usually covered 20 to 25 per sortie in Europe during WW II. Then he told me that the old Wing we were replacing had been covering only one target per mission and that was the reason he had been searching for those of us he had known in WW II.

The war went on, some of it simple but most of it down right dirty. It went on, my 125th mission was flown on 29 June and all the way back to K-2 I sweated it out due to the memories of my last mission in Italy. As I pulled into my hardstand and saw Pop standing there with all the Wing PR people I realized it really was over and I had made it in one piece. Pop climbed up on the wing and as I raised up in the cockpit he took my hand and said, "Well, Major Ballard, you have completed two combat tours, what are you going to do next?" I replied, "If you will let me have a few days in Tokyo I'll be ready for a third tour". He shook my hand again and said, "I knew you would say that", and then in a whisper said, "But I'll be dammed before I'll let you". He climbed down, walked away and I never saw him again.

The next day we had a group of visiting congressmen who wanted to see how quickly we could respond to a request for photos of a front line target. I dressed in all the emergency gear that we never wore and was on "stand by" for the mission. I was "briefed", along with the visitors, and they followed me through a walk'around inspection, some even climbed up on the wings. I guess they must have distracted me a bit because I slipped and fell as I was stepping down into the cockpit, the stick was aft and it ripped into my belly. There was an air evac airplane loading at base ops, they put me aboard it and I got more than the "few days in Tokyo.

About a week later someone from 5th Air Force called to tell me of the death of Col. Polifka. There are no words that can truly express how I felt then, or even right now. Flying can be such a pleasant past time but it can take your friends away so suddenly, throw in a war and it can multiply your heart aches to such a great extent.

Major Ruff GrayOkay...you asked for it. En route to the port at Frisco for an assignment to 13th Air Force Headquarters, Clark Air Force Base, Philippine Islands (PI), I got as far as the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver and picked up the morning paper to read with my coffee and saw the headlines: "North Korea Invades". Arriving at the port, I contacted the assignment people to let them know that I was sure they would want to change my orders to a pilot slot in Korea. I was informed that the only people being reassigned were B-29 pilots and jet pilots. LeMay had my five pounds of flesh between wars and I had ended up with about 500 hours in the B-29 -- the first tri-motor since the Ford -- normal landing, three turning and one burning. I quickly stashed my Form 5 so they couldn't see the B-29 time and told them to give me orders to a jet squadron since I was a jet pilot. After some discussion, they decided that zero hours in jets didn't exactly qualify me for that role and that I would go on to The PI as ordered.

At 13th Air Force Headquarters, I was a personnel weenie shuffling papers and worked for a non-rated colonel and Lt. Col. -- neither of whom could understand why I should fly or why I wanted to fly. Two other guys and I had a standing lock on the first three T-6's that were in commission on Saturday mornings to practice formation, acrobatics, etc., in an effort to stay somewhat combat ready. I felt very keenly that my place was in Korea, and I volunteered for every slot that came through. In every case, they turned me down. The 18th Fighter Bomber Wing at Clark had deployed two squadrons to Korea, and only the 44th Fighter Squadron was at Clark with F-80Cs.

In the spring of 1951, HQ USAF recognized that the personnel accounting system and requisitioning system in 5th Air Force might be out of kilter when they realized that 5th had requisitioned more people than there were in the AF. So they set up teams from all over FEAF to go visit each base and unit in Korea and screen all records and get things back on track. When my team got to K-2 airfield in Taegu, I headed for "Pop" Polifka's office and told him my tail of woe. I had a letter on record volunteering for any flying assignment in Korea from L-5's to B-29's. Pop assured me that when I got back to Clark, there would be orders waiting...and they were!

I went down to the 44th Fighter Squadron and conned them into giving me a quick check out in jets. I got 20 hours flying time in 10 days and headed for Korea. When departing the base, I went by my old office to say goodbye and was told by my former boss that I wouldn't be going after all. It seems that the Commanding General of 13th AF had a VB-17 for his personal transport and that his pilot had rotated. They had checked the records and saw that I had more B-17 time than anyone else at Clark and would be assigned as his pilot. I went to the General and told him that he had been quoted as saying he would not stand in the way of anyone going to Korea and that I appreciated the honor but wanted to go on to Korea. He bid me good luck.

When I got to Tachikawa and reported in for transport on to K-2, some joker told me that I couldn't go until I had gone through the inbound personnel processing at some administrative unit. When he told me that it would take about 5 days, I declined his offer since I had been scrambling for about a year to get to Korea and start flying missions -- and I wasn't interested in wasting another 5 days. About that time, I saw Maj. Jim Martin in the terminal (whom I had met during my previous TDY in Korea) and went over to chat with him. I found out they had a C-47 leaving in a few minutes going back to K-2 and they had lots of room. A couple of hours later, I was in K-2. Guess the personnel processing unit closed down after the fracas was over, and for all I know, may have had me on the roster as AWOL.

When I reported in to "Pop", he told me about how the 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was taking a beating on their low-level frontline work in the RF-51 and he needed someone to go down to the squadron and try to get the morale up again. I thought that I wouldn't be very effective at that if I went there and was shaking all the time!! Needless to say, I didn't tell Pop that, but did say that since I was current in the F-80 and I'd like to fly it if possible. So he sent me down to the 15th TRS.

The squadron had a young, eager, good 1st Lt. as squadron training officer. His name was Herb Barnes and he had just finished his tour. Herb allowed as how I would have to fly a rather lengthy series of local orientation and training missions and fill out all the squares before I could start flying combat. The argument was getting pretty heated until I reminded him that I was flying combat recce sorties in the F-5 (P-38) when he was still in high school - at which point he washed his hands of me and told me to go ahead and kill myself. As I recall, we wagered a case of beer that I would get 100% coverage of all targets on my first mission.

And so I launched on my first mission with 20 hours jet time. By the way, the beer wasn't cold - but it was good.

Generally speaking, our photo recce missions were not especially hazardous to a pilot's health -- at least not routinely as scary as flying over Germany in WWII. But of course there were quite a lot of exceptions -- which is testified to by records of aircraft damage, and pilots MIA & KIA. One notable exception was the recurring requirement to photograph the MIG-15 base at Antung in China, on the northern bank of the Yalu River.

We were not allowed to fly north of the Yalu so we would use a K-18 or K-38 long focal length vertical camera that took 9" x 18" stereograph photos. Then, flying at high altitude (about 30,000 ft.) and parallel to the river, the pilot would bank the aircraft so that in effect the vertical camera functioned as an oblique camera.

The squadron kept a roster of pilots with the date they'd last made the trip. On the 24th of June my name came up, again. It would be my 94th combat mission. The trip was uneventful until I had taken my Antung photos and was enroute to the next of three or four other photo targets I had in northern North Korea. It was a perfectly clear day and it seemed that at 28M, I could see completely across the Korean peninsula. Actually, what I could see perhaps 50 miles or more to the east was a flight of B-29s with 8 or 10 fighters mixing it up. What I thought was that MIGs were attacking the bombers and that escorting fighters were defending. Since the fighters were just tiny dots a long way away I didn't really think they'd see me.

I was wrong about that. Probably though, I just happened to be on their route back to Antung. Suddenly, a flight of MIG-15s flashed over me. I immediately jettisoned my external tip-tanks and headed south and down. The MIGs split into two elements and took turns diving on me. I'd turn as hard as I could into whichever element seemed to be attacking. Each time I could see a string of white tracer cannon shells flash past me. I kept twisting and turning and thinking that at any moment I was going to be blown out of the sky. But, just as quickly as they'd arrived they were gone.

By that time I was probably down to about 20,000 feet. I certainly don't credit my survival with my expertise in evasive action. Had they stayed after me for a few more minutes, I've no doubt but what they would have shot me down. My assumption is that they left the B-29s because they were low on fuel, and they just couldn't afford to mess with me any longer. I think that later on in the war, having F-86s as an escort would be very comforting.

I completed my 100 missions about the same time that my scheduled tour ended, and like a lot of other recce types, I was sent back to Shaw AFB. From then on I was fortunate in that I had a continuous series of reconnaissance assignments until I finally retired in 1974. But in early 1950, I thought that being a photo Interpreter was a dead-end job that I'd never be able to get out of. I was wrong about that, too.

Copyright (C) 2000 Stanley R. Sebring