marine aviation in korea, 1950–1953...after arriving in japan and checking its aircraft and...

After the invasion of South Korea byNorth Korean troops on 25 June 1950,American forces were strung out

through the Far East. One American carrierwas available, along with one British RoyalNavy flattop, and that was the extent of navalairpower in Korea for a month.

As the small carrier task force pounded theNorth Koreans, the Truman administrationsent in the Marines. On 7 July, the ForwardEchelon, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW)and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade,consisting of the 5th Marine Regiment andMarine Aircraft Group (MAG) 33, stood up.MAG-33 included Marine Fighter Squadrons(VMF) 214 and 323, Marine Night FighterSquadron (VMF(N)) 513, Marine ObservationSquadron (VMO) 6 and two radar units. Thebrigade’s formation and departure had been amarvel of logistical coordination, activatingreserve components and creating new groundunits almost overnight. The brigade left SanDiego on 12 July aboard the escort carrierBadoeng Strait (CVE 116). Transportsquadrons VMRs 152 and 352 with long-range R5D Skymasters also moved men andmaterial into the theater.

30 Naval Aviation News September–October 2002

By Cdr. Peter B. Mersky, USNR (Ret.)

A VMF-214 Black Sheep F4U-4B launches fromBadoeing Strait early in the war. The Corsair wasinvaluable in Navy and Marine Corps squadronsthroughout the conflict in Korea.

MARINE AVIATIONIN KOREA, 1950–1953

After arriving in Japan andchecking its aircraft and equipment,the brigade set out for Korea,landing at Pusan on Korea’s extremesoutheast coast on 2 August 1950.The first Marine strikes of the warlaunched on 3 August, with VMF-214 sending eight F4U Corsairsflying close air support (CAS) forU.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK)soldiers near Pusan. Initially onboard Badoeng Strait, VMF-214transferred to Sicily (CVE 118),skippered by WW II Navy ace

Captain John S. Thach. By 7 AugustVMFs 214 and 323 were flyingcontinuous CAS sorties ahead of theMarine and Army troops on theground.

The WW II-vintage Corsair,rockets and napalm were aneffective combination throughout theentire war, but especially during thisearly period. Short-legged jets couldnot loiter above the battlefield, andairfields in country were not yetavailable. Flying from carriersallowed more on-station time. Thus,

it fell to the veteran Navy andLeatherneck Corsairs to carry thewar in the beginning.

Marine helicopters were active,too. One of the first helicopterrescues by Marine aircrews occurredon 10 August 1950, when an HO3S-1 of VMO-6 flown by FirstLieutenant Gustave F. Lueddekepicked up Captain Vivian M. Mosesof VMF-323. Moses’s Corsair hadbeen hit by enemy ground fire andlost oil pressure, and he had to ditch.In a sad twist, Capt. Moses


Left, an F4U Corsair of VMF-212 is hoisted on deck offYokosuka, Japan, inSeptember 1950. Below,F4Us and F7F Tigercats waiton the frozen flight line atcaptured Yanpo airfield,North Korea, in 1950.

volunteered for another mission thenext day, only to be shot downagain. After being thrown from hisaircraft on crashing into a ricepaddy, he drowned. It was MAG-33’s first combat fatality.

VMO-6 also flew several OYSentinel artillery-spotting aircraft,nicknamed “Grasshoppers.”Although unarmed, these littleplanes flew a dangerous mission,and after taking ground fire severalspotter pilots retaliated. Capt.Francis A. McCaleb began carryinghand grenades, tossing them outover any small group of enemytroops that fired on him.

Inchon OperationsAfter intensive planning, a

massive allied operation against theport of Inchon on the west Koreancoast began in September 1950.

Inchon was the port facility for thecapital city of Seoul, now underCommunist domination. Theprojected amphibious landingrequired a lot of planning. The greattides moving on the harbor, withdifferences of as much as 35 feet,were of primary concern. In fact, thetides actually determined theinvasion date of 15 September whenthe flood tide would be highest.

The invasion force hit GreenBeach on the northwest tip of thesmall offshore island of Wolmi-doafter a lengthy softening up bycarrier aircraft. VMF-323 and VMF-214 Corsairs flew cover for theMarines, pouring machine gun fireinto enemy positions not 50 yardsahead of the assault forces. Men andtanks stormed ashore, but metsurprisingly light resistance. Theenemy had badly underestimatedAmerican capabilities, thinking the

dangerous tides and currents wouldtake care of the invaders.

Operation Chromite establishedan allied foothold that eventuallypushed the North Koreans back,freeing the South Korean capitalarea and proving the Marine Corpsamphibious operation was alive andwell. Chromite also upheld the hard-won doctrine of Marine CAS, theCorsair squadrons in particularreceiving high praise from Army andMarine commanders.

After the great gains of theInchon invasion, however, theMarines faced one of their greatestchallenges as they came up against anew and powerful enemy, theChinese Army at Chosin. Thewithdrawal from the ChosinReservoir in the bitterly cold earlywinter of 1950 is one of the mostterrible, yet heroic chapters inMarine Corps history.

By mid-November, the winterhad arrived, creating a new dangerfor friend and foe. CommunistChina had joined the fighting andthe Marines faced a huge force of 10Chinese divisions, comprising100,000 men. Outnumbered andfighting against the unexpectedChinese offensive, the Marines

Naval Aviation News September–October 2002 33

Left, Marine pilot 1st Lt. Gus Lueddeke hovers a Bell HTL-3during a simulated rescue using a sling. Below, a VMO-6 HO3Sleaves a front-line position carrying a Navy corpsman injuredwhile trying to rescue a Marine from a minefield in September1951. Bottom, an OY-2 Sentinel flies over a ridge in NorthKorea in June 1951. The pilot spotted fleeing Chinese troops,and shortly after this photo was taken, Marine aircraft bombedthe ridge.

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began to withdraw. This started anepic story of survival and couragewhose costly success would be duein no small measure to cooperationbetween Navy and Marine Corps airunits coordinating with thestruggling ground troops.

MAG-33 squadrons did their bestto hamper the enemy. VMF-312,which had arrived in theater withF4U-4s in mid-September,accumulated nearly 2,000 flighthours, while losing four aircraft andone pilot, even while moving toYonpo Airfield near Hamhunn on 1December. By 28 November, thesituation was becoming desperate asChinese troops harassed positions atHagaru-ri, where a 2,900-footairstrip had become crucial to theresupply effort.

An essential airborne asset towhat was called the ChosinBreakout was the air-supplyoperation by VMR-152 R4QPackets. These twin-engine, twin-boomed cargo planes made most ofthe supply runs to Marines trying toget out of the Chosin area—dropping some 1.8 pounds ofsupplies, including a 19-ton bridgein eight sections.

The first Marine jets arrived withVMF-311 at Yonpo on 10December, assigned to MAG-12,flying its first combat missions thatafternoon. The squadron was soonordered south to Pusan, from whichit flew missions all over Korea. TheMarines had developed CAS duringthe Philippine Campaign of January1945 and made this coordinationbetween aircraft and requestingground units their own special fieldof operations. CAS by F9F Panther

jets brought in a new discipline,which took into account the newtype’s high speed and reduced rangeand loitering capabilities. There wasalso concern about the Panther’sshallower dive angle because of thejet’s higher speed. This reducedangle increased the fighter’sexposure to its own bomb fragmentsafter delivery.

By January 1951, however, thePanthers were grounded because ofproblems with their Pratt & Whitneyengines, and the squadron was sentback to Japan. In February VMF-311 was reassigned to MAG-33 andrelocated to Pohang’s airfield. UntilFebruary 1952 VMF-311 was theonly Marine jet squadron in Korea.It was joined by VMF-115, and inMarch by Marine PhotographicSquadron (VMJ) 1 flying F2H-2PBanshees.

During the Korean War, theMarines initiated a new form oftroop insertion with the introductionof the helicopter. Marine HelicopterTransport Squadron (HMR) 161brought HRS-1s in September 1951


Above, film is loaded in a VMF-311Panther’s gun camera as the pilot foldsthe plane’s wings after a mission.Right, Maj. John H. Glenn poses by thetorn tail of his F9F Panther in March1953. Below, R4Q Packet cargo planeswere key to the resupply effort. Bottom,Korean farmers seem unconcerned astwo Panthers fly overhead whilereturning to their base.

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MSgt W. F. Gemeinhardt via Nicholas Williams

Backround photo by TSgt Ralph J. Austin

aboard Sitkoh Bay (CVU 86), andquickly began using the newlydeveloped doctrine of verticalenvelopment: moving Marinecombat troops and their equipmentto the battlefield by helo. The HRS-1, right, was an unusualhelicopter with its engine mountedin the nose, below and in front ofthe cockpit, and two clamshelldoors.

HMR-161 flew its first resupplymissions by mid-September,followed by its first airlift missionson 21 September in support ofOperation Summit, the relief of anembattled ROK unit. Besides 224troops and nearly 18,000 pounds ofcargo, the HRSs carried telephonewire to connect the reconnaissance

teams with the command post. ThatNovember, the HRS crews airliftedThanksgiving dinners to the men inthe field.

Aerial Combat

From the Navy and Marine Corps

standpoint, air-to-air action wassporadic, with the Air Force seeingmost of the engagements againstCommunist aircraft. At first, theenemy seemed reluctant to commitits few modern MiG-15 fighters, andsent in WW II veterans like Yak-9fighters and Il-10 ground-attackbombers. Flying from Bataan (CVL29), VMF-312 Corsair pilot Capt.Phillip C. DeLong shot down twoYaks on 21 April 1951, while hiswingman, First Lieutenant HaroldDaigh, accounted for two others.DeLong was already an ace in thePacific with 11 Japanese kills.Squadron aviators scored again on10 September 1952 when Capt.Jesse G. Folmar shot down a MiG-15 with his Corsair.


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continued on p. 37


Clockwise from left: VMF-312 aviators (leftto right) 1st Lt. Harold Daigh, 2nd Lt.Robert Howard, Jr., 1st Lt. Shelby Forrest,2nd Lt. Edward Leiland and Capt. PhilDeLong celebrate a quadruple shootdown.Maj. John F. Bolt shot down six MiG-15s inKorea to become the Marine Corps’ onlyjet ace, and the only Marine aviator toachieve ace status in two different aircraftand two wars. With the F3D-2 Skynight’snose compartment open in preparation formaintenance, the large search radarantenna and the small lock-on radarantenna which made the F3D-2 a skillednight fighter are visible. From the cockpitof their Skynight, Lt. Col. Robert Conley(right) and radar operator SSgt. Connorindicate their nighttime shootdown of aMiG-15.

The maneuverable MiG-15 was a formidableadversary. Left upper, Soviet volunteer pilotsinspect a MiG-15 for use in Korea. Left lower,well over 30,000 Po-2 biplanes were built andfound work throughout the Communist world.During the war the Po-2 was used mostly as anuisance raider in Korea, carrying light bombsand machine guns to harass the enemy atnight. Right, an F7F Tigercat crew chief sendsoff his plane and pilot.

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Other aerial kills by Marinecrews included Po-2s used as nighthecklers by the enemy. These smallbiplanes were very hard to locate inthe dark, because their woodenconstruction greatly reduced theeffectiveness of the Marines’ radar.

A new phase of the air waropened on the night of 3 November1952 when an F3D-2 Skyknight crewfrom VMF(N)-513 shot down thefirst enemy jet at night, a RussianYak-15. Painted flat black with redtail code letters and side numbers,the Skyknights were intended asescorts for Air Force B-29s that hadbeen harassed by enemyinterceptors. The F3Ds proved theirworth and never lost a B-29 toCommunist fighters, shooting downseven enemy aircraft, including sixMiG-15s.

Marines also flew exchangetours with the Air Force’s F-86squadrons. Major John F. Bolt hadbeen a Pacific ace with six killsflying with Pappy Boyington’s

Black Sheep of VMF-214. After 89missions with VMF-115, he got a90-day assignment with the 39thFighter Interceptor Squadron, 51stFighter Interceptor Wing. DuringMay and June 1953, he shot downsix MiG-15s to become a two-warace, and the Marine Corps’ only jetace.

Flying Sergeants:Enlisted Aviators inthe Marines

Although many countriesnumbered enlisted pilots intheir squadrons, the UnitedStates military had generallyruled that only commissionedofficers could be pilots. Therehad been many Americanenlisted aviators just before

WW II, but by the end of the war,most of them had acceptedcommissions.

Navy and Marine Corps enlistedaviators were called Naval AviationPilots (NAPs). The Marines had 131NAPs in 1952, and not just intransport squadrons. NAPs flewhelicopters and jets, seeing heavyaction in Korea. Flying sergeantsflew Corsairs and F7F Tigercats atPusan and Chosin, Panthers in closeair support against the Chinese, andOY Sentinels in dangerous artillery-

spotting missions.Several of these NAPs had

actually been commissioned officersin WW II. After mustering out in1945 and 1946, many of the formerCorsair and SBD Dauntless driversregretted leaving active duty. Whenthe Corps found itself short ofaviators to fly its new jets and toman its remaining squadrons, itdeveloped a program wherebyformer Marine officer aviators couldreturn as master sergeants (E-7s) ifthey reupped 90 days or less afterleaving active duty. After the 90days, the former aviator could rejoinas a technical sergeant, a gradebelow master sergeant.

When VMF-311 brought its F9FPanthers to Korea, several of itspilots were enlisted. Master SergeantAvery C. Snow was the first NAP to


Above, MSgt. Paul Miller takes advantage of personal time to read aletter in his quarters at the K-3 airfield in South Korea. Left, five mastersargeant Naval Aviation Pilots of VMJ-1 pose with a squadron Banshee,left to right: J. R. Todd, Sam Cooper, LeRoy Copland, Marv Myers andRed Truex.

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complete 100 combat missions in a jet. He had beena captain with Marine Torpedo Bomber Squadron232 during WW II. Another new NAP was MasterSergeant Lowell T. Truex, also flying photoBanshees, who was a commissioned fighter pilot inthe Pacific.

Master Sergeant James R. Todd was VMJ-1’shigh-mission man, completing 101 photo sorties. Hewas a second lieutenant at the end of WW II and wasmustered out in 1946. He returned in November,resigned his commission and reenlisted as a mastersergeant. Todd served in Vietnam, where he flew

Above, an F2H-2PBanshee photorecon-naissance plane awaitsits next mission inSouth Korea. Left, Maj.Tom Miller, XO of VMA-323, climbs out of hisAU-1 after a mission in1952. Among the manyreservists recalled toactive duty were twoprofessional baseballplayers who traded intheir bats and glovesfor the controls ofMarine aircraft. Capt.Jerry Coleman, belowleft, flew F4U Corsairswith VMA-323, andCapt. Ted Williams,right, flew Pantherswith VMF-311.

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C-117s, occasionally on dangerousnight flare-dropping missions.

Marine enlisted aviators were anintegral part of their service’scapability. In the Vietnam War,however, there were only a fewNAPs on active duty and fewerstill flying. By 1973, only fourNAPs were still serving and allfour were simultaneously retiredon 1 February 1973, closing acolorful era in naval aviation andMarine Corps history.

ReservesMost countries rely on a cadre

of regular servicemen, backed upwith a larger contingent ofreservists who can be called back toactive duty in a short time. Duringthe Korean War, reservists from allof the U.S. military branches weremobilized. The Marine Air Reservehad a small number of peopleparticipating, but a large number of“inactive” reservists were on therolls, and many of these were calledup by late 1950.

Many of the activated reservistshad seen action in WW II, but veryfew had any flight time in the newjets. Thus, the reservists filled outthe Corsair squadrons, performingvital CAS work. One such formeraviator-reservist played for the NewYork Yankees, another for theBoston Red Sox. Capt. JerryColeman played in Yankeepinstripes at second base after flyingSBD Dauntlesses with VMSB-341during the Philippine Campaign inJanuary 1945. Capt. Theodore “Ted”S. Williams played left field for theBoSox, but was better known for hishitting genius. Unlike Coleman,Williams had not seen action in WWII, but served as a flight instructor inthe States. Coleman flew Corsairswith VMA-323, while Williams got

the jets of VMF-311. (The Navy andMarine Corps fighter squadronsflying propeller-driven aircraft wereredesignated as attack squadrons inMarch 1952.)

Final DaysAs the spring and early summer

of 1953 proceeded, the Marinesquadrons of MAGs 12 and 33 keptup the pressure, flying countlesssorties against enemy lines andinstallations. Sometimes, theirattention made the differencebetween a Communist victory andan outpost remaining in Marinehands.

Flying was completely cancelledfor 12 days in July because of rainand heavy cloud cover, but therewere signs of a coming cease-fire.Even so, Chinese troops made one ortwo last-ditch efforts. On 25 July,VMFs 115 and 311 flew strikesagainst enemy concentrations.Finally, word came that 27 Julywould be the last day of the war.Even as the 7,000 men of the 1stMAW prepared to stand down, thewing’s aircraft flew 222 sorties on

that final day. Capt. William I.Armagost of VMF-311 flew the lastjet mission of the war againstChinese supply areas in the lateafternoon, 35 minutes before thecease-fire was to take effect at 1910hours.

After the armistice went intoeffect, the 1st MAW remained partof the Fifth Air Force to enforce theno-fly zone south of thedemilitarized zone. F3D Skynightsof VMF(N)-513 and radar-equippedAD Skyraiders from MarineComposite Squadron 1 and MarineAttack Squadron 251 flew securitypatrols to guard against Communistviolators. Aerial movement in andout of Korea was restricted to fiveairfields. Withdrawal of in-countryunits, either to Japan or back to theUnited States, was an ongoingoperation, coupled with introducingnew squadrons into the theater tocontinue post-armistice activities.

The war in Korea had given theMarine Corps in general, andMarine aviation in particular, amuch needed shot in the arm.Although its record in WW II spokefor itself, the Corps’ air arm hadbeen close to disbanding. But whenthe first shots were fired in June1950, the air Marines were amongthe first to be sent. They would alsobe among the last to leave.

Cdr. Mersky has written several books andmagazine articles on Navy and Marine Corpsaviation. He has been the book review editorfor Naval Aviation News since 1982. He retiredas the editor of Approach in 2000.


Right, VMC-1 AD-4W Skyraiders on theflight line at the K-3 airfield in Pohang,South Korea. Below, ground crewmembers maintain a VMA-121 Skyraiderwhich sports a notable missionscoreboard below the cockpit.

Fred C. Dickey Jr. via Nicholas Williams

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marine aviation in korea, 1950–1953...after arriving in japan and checking its aircraft and...

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