This is from an interesting article about air combat in Korea:
As in the [case] of Spitfires during the Battle of Britain, F86s were fighting against heavy odds in Korea. Approximately 800 MiGs were based in Manchuria and China. The Soviet Union had supplied China with more sweptwing fighters than the United States had even produced. It was common to encounter 150 or more MiG-15s twice a day against no more than thirty-two Sabres. The 4th Fighter Wing, with a World War II record of 1,016½ enemy aircraft destroyed, had fought steadily rising odds, eventually reaching as high as ten to one. When the 51st Fighter Wing converted to the F-86, these odds dropped to seven to one.[1]
Even the Sabre was not a slam dunk superior A/C over the MiG-15, which retained a significant advantage at very high altitudes. The radar gunsight added later to the Sabre changed the odds significantly.
The article also describes the superiority of the F-104 Starfighter, which came after the F-86 though it did not see service in Korea.
Here’s a cool cockpit view of the Sabre.
See also my earlier post — 15 years ago! — about “Soviet fighter pilots in Korea.”
Notes
[1] “A Fighter Pilot’s Airplane.” By James Jabara USAF, Air Force Magazine, 8/1/60.
