International: You Kill Us

The Russian-built MIG jet fighter that dropped onto Korea’s Kimpo airport was all crated and on its way by air transport to Ohio’s Wright-Patterson field last week when the U.S. Defense Department handed down its ruling: the MIG was not a legitimate prize of war because it had been surrendered by its pilot after the armistice. The crated aircraft was grounded en route —reportedly at Okinawa—and the U.N. command announced that it was canceling its offer of $50,000 reward for additional MIGs. Furthermore, it offered to return this one to its “rightful owner” if the owner would step forward and present proof of ownership. The plane had already revealed enough secrets to compensate for the $100,000 it cost, but the Air Force rushed a team of test pilots and engineers to examine it and test its performance in the air. Though the Air Force had studied several MIGs part by part, this one was the first specimen in shape to fly.

At least as interesting as the captive MIG was the chubby North Korean pilot who flew it in to win General Mark Clark’s $100,000 reward. Soon to be reunited with his mother, who fled North Korea months ago, and assured of asylum in the U.S., Senior Flight Lieut. Noh Keum Suk told air intelligence officers that the Communists had been busily bringing MIGs from Manchuria into North Korea ever since mid-August. Lieut. Noh said that he himself had seen at least 80 partially crated jets rolling south on flatcars. “We made the armistice only to improve our military position,” he reported a North Korean political officer as saying. U.S. airmen, who have been picking up MIG pips on their radars during the last fortnight, were not surprised. Lieut. Noh further revealed that, during the fighting, three Communist air divisions in North Korea were entirely manned by MIG-flying Russian pilots who wore Chinese uniforms.

One U.S. airman had a tactical question: Why didn’t the MIG pilots try evasive tactics when U.S. Sabre jets got on their tails? The North Korean explained that the Communist pilots preferred to hunch behind the protective armor at the backs of their necks rather than turn their vulnerable broadsides to the Sabre-jet fire. “Whenever we turn,” he said wryly, “you kill us.”