Evening star., 1951-10-23
Reds Lose II Jets in Big Battle; :
Vondenberg Declares Russians
Are Flying MICS Over Korea
Air Force Chief Cites
Victories, Denies
Losses Are Concealed
By Martin S. Hayden
North American Newspaper AIliones

By Mortin S. Hayden
North American Newspaper AIliones
Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg
charges that Russian pilots" are
flying the Red jet planes in the
running Korean battle of MIG
Alley and said that "our boys are
knocking their socks Off"
The Air Force chief of staff
made his revelation in an inter-
view in which he bitterly denied
that United States air losses are
being concealed, or that they have
been so great as to force curtail-
ment of Korean war or European
air operations.
when our Sabre jets tangle
with the MICS" Gen. Vanden-
berg said, I'VE can hear their
pilots on the radio and they all
speak Russian. There sure as
hell are no Chinese or Red Ko-
reans flying those MICS. That's
undoubtedly why they stick to
MIG alley. well behind their own
lines. If they came down around
Pusan, they know we'd find some
dead Russians in the planes we
shoot down. and. incidentally, we
would shoot down a lot more of
them if they would get a little
farther away from the Manchu-
rian border and safety"
Emphasizes Official Figures.
Gen. Vandenberg emphasized
official figures released at the
Pentagon yesterday on United
States Air Force end enemy losses
in Korea. They showed 80 enemy
aircraft either destroyed" or
probably destroyed" between last
June 80 and October Is. During
the same period. the U. S. A. F.,
in 34.722 aggressive combat mis-
sions" G.e., eliminating flights of
reconnaissance, observation, cargo
and transport planes) lost only 50
combat aircraft to enemy action.
OF those lost. only 10 were shot
down by enemy aircraft.
'Those," Gen. Vandenberg en-
phasized, "are up-to-date and ac-
curate figures"
1T is true we sometimes delay
our loss reports for a day or so.
We do that where we have a
chance to get out one of our boys
who is down in enemy territory or
when one of our crippled planes
crashes behind our own lines
where the enemy wouldn't know
about it. But each month we give
out a report that is complete and
up to date"
Gen. Vandenberg called pure
bunk" a press association report
yesterday that United States
losses have been SO great as to
force operational curtailments.
Planes Called Virtually Equal.
1T is true" he said, that be-
cause Of lack of engines, Jet opera
tions were curtailed for a while
last month in Europe. But that
was because somebody pulled a
boner and engines headed for
Europe got begged down at West
over Field in Massachusetts,.
1T is also true that we have
limited the Far Eastern Command
to a fixed flow of supplies and
parts geared to their proven needs
under ordinary operational sched-
ules."
Performance reports reaching
Gen. Vandenberg's headquarters
show that the United States Sabre
Jet and the Russian MIG are
virtually equal" with the Soviet
plane having a slight advantage
at high attitudes and the Ameri-
can plane the best at anything
below $4,000 feet.
Pilots and Equipment Better.
But we're knocking their socks
on, ne says. "The reports show
that. when We meet in MIG alley
the enemy usually has a 2-to-1 to
4-to-l advantage in numbers of
planes. while we have a 14-to-1
advantage in planes shot down
'Inere are two reasons for this.
First, our pilots are better
trained; most of them are pro-
fessionals led by men with lots
OF World War II combat experi-
ence. Second, the equipment on
our planes is better, particularly
the gun sights"
But the Korean success. saws
Gen. Vandenberg, is still no reason
for American optimism" over its
comparative air power.
I said some months ago." he
recalled, "that we were trying to
do a global air job with a shoe
string air force. That is still
true"