<p>Another clever stroke was the offer of a $50,000 reward for the defection of any MiG pilot with his plane. Deliver it to Kimpo, the leaflets said, and get freedom and fifty thousand. Very soon after that, the best MiG pilots disappeared from the Korean skies. There is no proof, but psywar specialists believe that the Russians pulled their pilots out, rather than risk the international humiliation that would result if one of their own defected. A North Korean pilot made the break, claiming later that he had not heard of the offer. He took the money, though, and headed for California.
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<p>The Communist combat crews that were left were not very good, and 'MiG Alley' became Fifth AF territory in a series of turkey shoots. During May 1953, Sabres sighted 1,507 MiGs, and engaged 537 in combat. They shot down 56 and lost one Sabre. In June, the Sabres fought 501 of the 1,268 MiGs they saw, shot down 77, probably got 11 more, and damaged 41. No F-86s were lost. July was a repeat, but only 32 MiGs were shot down, while Fifth AF lost two Sabres.
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<p>Those fierce gunfights above the Yalu kept the Chinese air force out of the skies above the UN ground forces, and away from the USAF, Navy and Marine fighter-bombers and light bombers while they conducted their decisive interdiction strikes. The Chinese lost overwhelmingly; 792 MiG-15s went down, many with their pilots, and they only took 78 Sabres in exchange.
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<p>Air superiority was a determining factor in the Korean War. The Chinese finally yielded to it; either they feared an expanding air war, with more advanced weapons from the United States, or they felt the pressure of the existing air strength, or both. The air forces of the United Nations, and that was primarily FEAF and the Fifth, ruled the daylight skies above the Land of the Morning Calm, throttled the flow of supplies and war materiel, and slaughtered countless numbers of Chinese soldiers where they stood.
