<text id=00he1411><title>MiGs Gain the Upper Hand</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>MiGs Gain the Upper Hand</hdr><body>
<p>Within a few days, the Chinese MiGs had shown their potential by gaining a degree of air superiority. They stopped all daylight reconnaissance by the RB-29s, outclassed the available Fifth AF fighters, and could destroy the fighter-bombers almost at will. Then the Sabres arrived to fight, and the air situation changed almost overnight.
</p>
<p>North American F-86A fighters of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, deployed to Korea from the US, entered action on 15 December. The wing's pilots were experienced, for many of them had been aces in World War II, and by the end of the year they had flown 234 sorties, got in 76 fights, and shot down eight MiGs. They also had developed the tactics for the new fighter, using a 'fluid-four' flight, and four flights spaced at about five-minute intervals on their fighter sweeps to the Yalu. They had first gone to battle at cruise speeds, to discover that it takes too long to accelerate to top speed for fighting. After that, the went into combat at high speed, with all the available energy they could store in the airframe. They made their kills from the classical six o'clock position, and they restored UN air superiority.
</p>
<p>From then, it was a seesaw battle as the Chinese sought to regain what they had just lost, and the USAF fought to hold the skies. The Chinese plan was simple: they would use the MiGs to regain air superiority, and under that protective umbrella build and rebuild the North Korean airfields under 'MiG Alley' and nearer the 38th parallel. That done. they would move in the MiGs being stockpiled behind the Yalu barrier, and the air war would be theirs.
</p>
<p>At the beginning of 1951, the Chinese advance had captured so much of Korea that the Sabres had to leave for Japan, their bases overrun. There they were helpless to aid, because they lacked the range to get to Korea and to fight there. In their absence, Chinese airmen seized control of the air over an area lying between the Yalu and the Chongehon rivers, from the west coast of Korea to roughly the mid-point of the peninsula. They owned that chunk of sky—in recognition, FEAF pilots called it 'MiG Alley' and the name stuck . On the ground, the Chinese were in retreat and once again air bases in Korea were available. The Sabres moved back on 6 March and began systematically defeating the Chinese MiGs. The Communists could not hold the skies, and in May they announced that an International Communist Volunteer Air Force would join combat. In came the first team, Russian instructor pilots, who introduced new tactics but were defeated handily anyway. The ground war stopped with the beginning of the truce talks on 10 July, and two days later the Communist air offensive quieted down.
