<text id=00he1410><title>The Fight for Air Superiority</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>The Fight for Air Superiority</hdr><body>
<p>FEAF began the war with 32 all-weather F-82Gs and 365 F-80Cs. The theater could not support more, and more were not available anyway. There was a stock of North American F-51 Mustang fighters in service with Air National Guard units in the US, and 145 of them were scraped together for Korean service. Out of necessity, FEAF agreed to a step backwards, and six of its F-80C squadrons converted to F-51s.
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<p>The early air fighting was sporadic. The NKAF was weak, unskilled and inexperienced, but the Chinese across the border were aggressive. In August they began firing anti-aircraft at UN planes patrolling the Yahl area.
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<p>On 3 October, Premier Chou En-lai said that Chinese troops would defend Korea if the UN forces crossed the 38th parallel. In spite of this warning, and of all the signs that the USAF was encountering, MacArthur told Truman at their Wake Island conference on 15 October that it was very unlikely that the Chinese would interfere. Besides, he assured Truman, the Chinese had no air force. FEAF had just submitted new intelligence estimates crediting the Chinese with at least 300 combat aircraft, including jets. Three days later, an RB-29 crew counted 75 fighters on the field at Antung, on the Manchurian side of the Yalu.
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<p>Three Chinese Yak fighters finally crossed the Yalu on 1 November and bounced a T-6 and a single B-26; one of the fighters was shot down by the B-26 crew. That afternoon, six MiG-15s attacked another Mosquito and a flight of Mustangs, and all survived.
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<p>First blood of the jet versus jet war was let on 17 December during a maximum-strength attack against Sinui-ju, near Antung. F-80Cs of the 51st FOW were flying top cover for fighter-bombers, and were engaged by the MiGs. Lieutenant Russell J. Brown locked onto a MiG and shot the plane down for the first jet-age combat victory.
