F-84 Thunderjets over Korea

Flight Journal, Oct 2003 by Thompson, Warren E

Republic's straight-wing ground-pounder

THE REPUBLIC AVIATION CORP. NO LONGER EXISTS, BUT IT DESIGNED AND manufactured three legendary aircraft that will be remembered for generations. The P-47 Thunderbolt in WW II, the F-84 Thunderjet in the Korean War and the F-105 Thunderchief in the Vietnam War wrote and rewrote a lot of the record-breaking statistics that made it into the record books, and the tales of their exploits seem endless. After WW II, designs for jet fighters were of the straight-wing variety, and sweptwing technology was just around the corner.

The P-80 Shooting Star was the first straight-wing jet fighter to go into mass production, and the F-84 followed closely behind. When the Korean War began, the F-80 was available in large numbers in the Far East, and it rapidly became a high-profile player in the media's coverage of the "all-jet war." Six months into the conflict, the F-84 appeared in Korea, and by war's end, it was the dominant fighter-bomber aircraft. It held its own against the sweptwing MiG-15 when necessary, but its forte was to haul two 1,000-pound bombs deep into North Korea and take out assigned targets. The F-84 was built to absorb plenty of punishment, and it did just that, bringing its pilots back to home base so they'd be able to fly again!

FLYING CLOSE FORMATION WITH A MIG-15

During the early months of 1953, the peace talks at Panmunjom were going at full tilt, and the frontline positions were stabilized; gains or losses were described in terms of a single hill or ridge. The UN's air arm prevented the Chinese from building up enough supplies and equipment to mount an effective offensive. The F-84s and F-80 Shooting Stars pressed the attacks, and the overwhelming numbers of MiG-15s were under pressure to crack through the F-86 Sabres' top cover and take out the F-84s and F-80s. For the Soviet-bloc MiG pilots, this posed a dilemma because it was almost suicide to tangle with the Sabres, especially when they were flying in strength. Nevertheless, MiG pilots would come down from their lofty perch, make a firing pass at the fighter-bombers and then zoom back up out of reach. Quite a few did not make it.

The USAF's 430th Fighter Bomber Squadron was based at Taegu, and quite a few of its missions were the reconnaissance and interdiction types. Some called for the bombers to strike targets between Pyongyang and the frontlines, which meant that the primary worry of Thunderjet pilots was intense triple-A fire. All of a sudden, a change of pace was ordered by the 5th Air Force. Lt. Leland Speakes was one of the 430th pilots involved in a special mission. He elaborates on the details and explains how well-laid plans can have a bizarre ending.

"They got us up early and herded us into the briefing room. Only then did they open the curtain and show us the long line that extended from Taegu to the Sui-ho Dam on the Valu River. At the time, this was the third-largest hydroelectric dam in the world, and it furnished electricity to most of southern China and all of North Korea. Sixteen F-84s were to go on the mission and one spare-in case of an abort. I was to be the spare, so I felt that my chances of taking part were slim to none."

The Sui-ho Dam was one of the most heavily defended targets in North Korea, and the pilots who made up the strike force were told that they would be extremely lucky to come off the target without damage. As the Thunderjets taxied out and turned onto the main runway, a pilot radioed that he had a fire-warning light, so the "spare" was required to plug the gap.

"We roared down the runway loaded with two 500-pound GP bombs that had delay fuses. It was a great opportunity to participate in such an important mission, but it was also a chance to tangle with some MiG-15s at a very low altitude. We assumed battle formation and leveled out at 35,000 feet. Because of the anticipated heavy flak and the chances of encountering MiG-15s, we started to let down shortly after we passed over Pyongyang at a rate that would have us on the deck by the time we reached a point on the Yalu River just west of the dam.

"Dropping into trail formation, we flew right up the river and, suddenly, there it was-a huge concrete dam as large as Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. I was number sixteen in a formation of sixteen, so I saw some of the first bomb drops. We aimed for the six generator houses, but some of the bombs missed and bounced off the concrete like basketballs. But others went into the generator shacks, and that was exactly where we were supposed to put them."

The antiaircraft batteries around Pyongyang were considered to be lethal, but nothing could compare with the number of guns compressed into such a narrow piece of real estate. Many of the pilots later commented that they didn't see how any aircraft could have penetrated the airspace over the dam to release their bombs. Nevertheless, the F-84s managed to do considerable damage, but coming safely off the target didn't mean you were home free.