F-86 Sabre & Mig 15 - 2 views by Buffalo1

Photography • Aviation • posted on Mar 23, 2009

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

Taken at an airshow in the late 1980s at Ellington Field in Houston, this is a scan of the two classic, and evenly matched fighters of the Korean War (1950-53). It all came down to who was flying. American pilots in the North American F-86 won the honors with a 10 to 1 victory ratio (792 Migs down to 78 Sabres lost) over North Korean, Chinese and Soviet pilots. Some recent research suggests that US pilots overclaimed damaged Migs as kills and the actual ratio was 5 to 1. Either way, the F-86 pilots were very impressive. Soviet pilots of the 303rd Fighter Division claimed they got the better of the F-86 with over 600 Sabre kills, but their numbers don't match up with the 200 odd F-86s lost to all causes. There were probably only 10 Soviet aces in Korea as opposed to the 30 who were granted that title. This doesn't mean the the Soviet pilots were lightweights. They deserved the nickname "honchos" given by USAF pilots. Nikolai Sutyagin claimed 21 kills. UN aircraft lost records confirm 12 kills with 9 being F-86s - a "honcho" score for sure. Soviet Mig pilots also claimed the B-26, B-29, F-51, F-80, F-84, and British Commonwealth Meteor as kills that can be confirmed by aircraft lost records. (BTW: Never contest the kill count with the airman who shot them down. You will not win the argument and will be at least claimed as a "damaged" by the time the flier is done punching.) Mig 15s and Sabres flew on into the 1990s with air forces around the world and saw more combat in the Middle East and Vietnam.

Comments (19)

)

Buffalo1

4:27PM | Mon, 23 March 2009

Oh, the photos were taken with my trusty Canon AE1 with a 200 mm zoom lense. That's a USAF F-15 sitting in back of the Mig. Both aircraft were sitting in a restricted area.

proteus2

4:34PM | Mon, 23 March 2009

Impressive, man ! Thanks ! P

)

bmac62

5:00PM | Mon, 23 March 2009

Those are two wickedly great looking airplanes. Your notes are right on the money...everything I've read agrees with what you've read:) Glad you posted these.

)

rawdodb

5:30PM | Mon, 23 March 2009

Gorgeous planes Impressive shot!!!! THe F86 has always been a favorite, The Mig, an Impresive advisary! Beautiful Shot of both!!!!

)

RodolfoCiminelli

5:59PM | Mon, 23 March 2009

Splendid and spectacular shots my friend...!!!

)

Osper

7:06PM | Mon, 23 March 2009

Nice shots.

)

erlandpil

5:44AM | Tue, 24 March 2009

Good capture erland

)

debbielove

9:13AM | Tue, 24 March 2009

Impressed! I could not get ANY more so!! Stunning, mate! My trousers swell with excitement just looking at them....Ha! Ha! I know what it's like talking to pilots! RAF and USAF pilots frequented my Dad's pub. A couple of the USAF pilot's had flown in Vietnam! Tall tales flowed at the American Barbecues I went too! Those were happy days! Rob.

)

texboy

10:23AM | Tue, 24 March 2009

Good stuff, bud! I was more than likely there when you shot these....never missed an airshow at Ellington...back when you could lug in a cooler full of Lone Star and risk heatstroke!!

)