"Actually, NK shares a tiny bit of border with Russia too."
Approximately 75% of the pilots flying "North Korean" and "Chicom" Migs during the Korean Conflict were Russian. The Russians treated that war as a training situation, and cycled their pilots through on 6-month rotations. Which explains why with roughly equal airplanes (the MIG-15 may have been a bit superior to the F-86) their losses were much higher than those of the UN. Not as great as the US claimed, but still way, way higher.
Because of the tense world situation, Russia being on the UN Security Council and the allied force fighting for South Korea being UN, that the pilots were largely Russian was kept secret.
AND, the US pilots who were shot down and came down in the USSR or China were never returned. May still be alive in prison over there.
In the interest of political expediency, Eisenhower abandoned them.
Tragic.
Arf
Current Events » in reply to Geography
Which had a lot to do with the Korean Conflict.
The whole thread (27 posts)
- Andrew Sullivan on North Korea