For the decades following the Korean War, It was no secret that the 'North Korean' air force was helped by Soviet pilots. It was also assumed that the majority of men who flew the MiG-15s in Korean markings were Chinese. We have now come to realize that this was not exactly the case at all. Nearly all the MiGs that were met by UN forces were flown by the Soviets, who routinely cycled through various units from elsewhere in the Soviet Union.

It is also the case, as it was in WWII, that the various victory scores of pilots on both sides was a bit on the optimistic side. As is often the case in the heat of battle, planes thought to have been shot down frequently were only damaged and able to bring their pilots/crew safely home. Of course, it may be that the plane was a total loss due to the damage incurred, or it may have been repaired and put back into service. It is with the hindsight of 50 plus years and the ability to go through the unit records of both sides of this conflict that a more reasonable truth of the situation can be seen.

The authors have spent many years going over data on both the US and Soviet side of the conflict to bring to us what is probably the best book on the subject of Soviet pilots during this conflict. As you'd expect from an Osprey book, the events of the day are divided into sections of time, with each one portraying the occurrences of that slice of time. This includes pilot stories, combat reports and some great period photos of the men and planes involved. It is great to be able to get the other side of the story for a change and equally interesting to see how similar the lives of the Soviet crews were when compared to US pilots. It also brings to light that the Sabre and the MiG-15 had about the same air to air kill ratio.

It also shows that the day fighter MiG units (and there were night fighting units as well) were chronically short of men and aircraft throughout the entire conflict. Meanwhile, UN air power increased dramatically during this time. MiG pilots also had the additional task of fighting B-29 formations and did so with such success that it forced the UN to resort to night bombing.

In addition to the excellent photos, there are several pages of color profiles of the planes flown by the various aces involved. It is a superlative book on the subject and one that I can recommend to you without reservation.

June 2008

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