Soviet Aces over Korea

[Taz]

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot pilots.
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During the time that the "Honchos" (the nickname given by the Sabre pilots to excellent MiG pilots) were in Korea, between April 1951 and January 1952, they shot down or damaged beyond repair 142 UN aircraft against 68 losses, an overall 2:1 kill ratio.
Their most successful month was October 1951, when the Soviet MiG-15s bagged 7 F-86s, 6 F-84Es, 2 RF-80As and one F-80C, one Meteor and 10 B-29As -24 victories - and suffered only 8 MiGs lost. During that period over 30 Soviet MiG-15 pilots became aces.
Officially, there were 51 Soviet aces in Korea.The Russian aces dominated the struggle for air superiority over "MiG Alley" in the April 1951-January 1952 period, and earned the respect of their Americans adversaries.

INDEX:
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1. Capt. Nikolai Vasilievich Sutyagin "Casey Jones"
2. Col. Yevgeni Georgiyevich Pepelyayev "Big night boy"
3. Capt. Lev Kirilovich Shchukin "The Russian Lion"
4. Capt. Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko
5. Capt. Ivan V. Suchkov
6. Maj. Stepan Antonovich Bahayev
7. Konstantin N. Sheberstov
8. Grigorii U. Ohay
9. Mikhail S. Ponomaryev
10. Dmitri A. Samoylov
11. Pavel S. Milaushkin
12. Dmitri P. Oskin
13. Mikhail I. Mihin
14. Aleksandr P. Smorchkov
15. Grigorii I. Pulov
16. Serafim P. Subbotin
17. Capt. Semen Alexeivich Fedorets
18. V. N. Alfeyev
19. Fiodor A. Shebanov
20. Grigorii I. Ges
21. Anatoly M. Karelin
22. Arkadii S. Boitsov
23. Nikolai Ivanovich Ivanov
24. Nikolai M. Zameskin
25. Boris S. Abakumov
26. Grigorii N. Berelidze

[Taz]

The Top Ace of the Korean War
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Kills: 21 (12)

Plane Types: 9 F-86s, 1 F-84, 1 Meteor. Shot-up Glenn Eagleston.

Recived the: Hero of the Soviet Union, 10 October 1951, #9282

Unit: 17 IAP (Fighter Regiment) , 303 IAD (Fighter Division) of the Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, the Soviet Air Force.

Nikolai Sutyagin was born on May 5 1923 in the village of Smagino Buturlinsk, in a peasant family. He started his military career in 1941, and the following year he graduated from the Air Military School in Chernigov; in August 1945 participated in the short Soviet-Japanese war, which ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Sutyagin served in the 17th IAP of the 303rd IAD when the Korean War began, and in May 1951 the Division was sent to Manchuria to reinforce the 324th IAD. He flew his first combat sortie on early June 1951, and his score began to rise:

19 June 1951 - First victory, the F-86A of Robert H. Laier (MIA).
22 June 1951 - his 2nd F-86 kill, his victim is Howard Miller (POW); he aso claimed a 3rd Sabre on this day.
24 June 1951 - his most impressive victory when shot up the F-86A of Colonel Glenn Eagleston (CO of the 4th FIW), who had to belly land in Suwon. Eagleston's Sabre was written off.
26 June 1951 - his 5th kill, the F-80C of Bob Lauterbach (KIA), officially becoming Asov (Ace).
29 July 1951 - shot down the F-86A #49-1098, his 6th kill (his 5th kill confirmed by US records).
9 August 1951 - claimed an F-80.
25 August 1951 - together with the CO of the 17th IAP, Mayora (Maj.) Grigorii Pulov, intercepted what they identified as Australian Meteors and both claimed one Meteor each.
26 September 1951 - one of his more succesful days: in two separate sorties the 17th IAP engaged Meteors of the RAAF No. 77 Sqdn and Sabres of the 336th FIS, and he scored in both furballs: first shot-up the Meteor of Ernst Armit (written off later that day) and later shot down the F-86A of Carl Barnett (MIA).
10 October 1951 - awarded with the Golden Star, he became Hero of the Soviet Union.
November 1951 - claimed to have shot down three F-86 and one F-84 (none confirmed by US records).
3 December 1951 - bagged another Sabre (the F-86A 49-1184) and claimed one F-84.
15 December 1951 - shot-up one F-86E of the 334th FIS. The unfortunate pilot (William F. Prindle) crashed and died while trying to land at Suwon airbase.
6 January 1952 - two victories: the F-84E of Donald Grey (KIA) and the F-86E of Lester Page (MIA).
11 January 1952 - last victory, his 21st: the F-86E of Thiel M. Reeves (MIA).

After the war Sutyagin graduated from the Air Academy in 1956 and the Military Academy "Genchtaba" in 1964. Promoted to Mayora-General and retired in 1978. He died on November 12 1986.

Eddie. (CO Russian Aces....)

[Taz]

The Number 2
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Kills: 19 (12)

Plane Types ( Main Kill/Comments): shot down F-86A #49-1319, The plane was sent to the USSR.

Recived the: Hero of the Soviet Union, 22.April, 1952, #9290

Unit: CO of 196 IAP (Fighter Regiment),324 IAD (Fighter Division) of the Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, the Soviet Air Force.

Yevgeni Georgiyevich Pepelyayev was born on March, 18th, 1918 in Bodaibo, Irkutsk.
Father - George Georgievich (1879-1946), was a chief mechanic.
Mother - Appolinarija Eduardovna (1887-1953).
Wife - Majja Konstantinovna. (born 1929)
Daughter - Elena Evgenevna (born 1948 ), an Engineer-economist, works in the Ministry of Railways.
Son - Evgenie Evgenevich (1953-1986), worked in trading.
Grand daughter - Majja (born1976), is a lawyer.

He went to FZU school , and studied in technical school after that.
Whilst Studying he worked in an aeroclub.
In 1936 on the recomendation of Komsomol he became a cadet at the Odessa school of military pilots.
Having graduated, he received a posting to the Far East, to the 29th IAP where V.P.Tchkalov and the twice Hero of the Soviet Union S.I.Gritsevets also served.
At the start of WWII he was second in command of a Fighter squadron Pepelyayev joined the 300th IAD.
It was sent to the front and Pepelyayev refused to accept his older brother Konstantin in the Unit.
However Konstantin, who was also a Fighter Pilot was killed in August, 1941.
At the end of 1943 he joined the 162nd IAP 1st air army, 2nd Belarus front. For his fighting skill he was appointed commander of a squadron
Very soon came the order for him to return to the Far East. Where he participated in the rout of the Japanese Armies.
After the war ended he was sent on the Maximum letno-tactical advanced training courses for commanders of the Air Forces, he served in Moskovsk military district.
He was retrained on jet fighters, and trained new Pilots to participate in aviation parades.

In December, 1949 Pepelyayev was appointed second in command of the 32th Guards IAP an elite squadron in WWII (Formed under order of Stalin)

In 1950 he mastered the newest jet plane the MIG-15

When war in Korea began, under the arrangement of the governments of the USSR, China and Korea the Soviet Air Force command made the decision to send 2 units to serve in the 324th air-division for the training of Korean pilots on the MIG -15.
16 "MIGS" were sent by rail to an air base in the Chinese People's Republic followed by all the staff of the division led by three times Hero of the Soviet Union colonel I.N.Kozhedub. Pepelyayev was the commander of 196 IAP.

By April, 1st, 1951 all units were stationed in Andong, China and there followed 3 months of rigourous training in preparation for combat operations.

Soon, above the airbase the first American "Sabres" started to appear. 4 MIG's had time to scramble and engaged them in combat.
The confirmed American losses is not clear, but up to February, 1st, 1952 the day of departure of the division, no "Sabres" made it to the base, they were all intercepted on approach.
In May, with the increase of the Soviet contingent and reciving new MIG - 15's they acclaimed immediate success. The activity and actions of enemy fighters-bombers had decreased, and day-time flights had been completely stopped.
There came the time of air supremacy for the MiG's and it's Pilots.

But they needed to capture a "Sabre" for inspection.
A group of Officers were sent to Korea with only one aim - to catch a "Sabre".
after they arrived it was realised by interviewing the veterans of the squadron that this task was not going to be easy, to down a "Sabre" was hard enough but to make one force land undamaged was nearly impossable.
During combat on October, 6th Pepelyayev damaged a "Sabre" No. F-86A #49-1319 enough to make it crash land in KNDR territory. The newest American plane, completely serviceable with all weapons and equipment was delivered to the USSR.

On April, 22, 1952 Pepelyayev was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union. It was a unique case.
I.N.Kozhedub even sugested to the six experts that he should be made twice Hero after this feat and because of his tally of 6-7 downed enemy planes in Korea plus the German machines in WWII.

After the Korean war he continued service in air defence, with various command posts.
In 1958 he graduated from the Military academy of the Joint Staff.
He joined the 133th air-division and during one of the flights he became deaf.
After dismissal from the army in 1973 he worked in one of the capital scientific research institutes.

He was awarded with two Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War I and II Class, two awards of the Red Star, and many other medals.

Today he lives in Moscow.

[Taz]

The Number 3
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Kills: 17 (10)

Plane Types ( Main Kill/Comments): shot-up the F-86E of Francis Gabreski, downed 2 times.

Recived the: Hero of the Soviet Union, 13. November 1951, # 9279

Unit:18 GIAP (Fighter Regiment), 303 IAD (Fighter Division) of the Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, the Soviet Air Force.

He flew 212 combat sorties, participated in 17 aerial battles and was credited with 17 air victories (in simple words, he scored every time he engaged UN aircraft, 100% effectiveness), but he was also downed twice.
Lev Shchukin honoured his first name -'Lion' in Russian- chasing the US aircraft like a lion hunts an impala in the Kalahari. In his very first combat sortie on June 1 1951, he and his three comrades found a group of Mustangs and Shchukin bagged one. His victim that day was the F-51D of Harry C. Moore (KIA). A few days later (June 6) scored his second victory, the F-80C #49-737.

On June 17 1951 he participated in a big melée between 25 Sabres and 30 MiG-15s of his unit (18th GIAP of the 303rd IAD), while shooting down one F-86, but he was also downed.
The American pilot who shot Shchukin down was Captain Samuel Pesacreta, and Shchukin would stay in a hospital for about a month. He flew again on August 29, and on that day his flight surprised a group of Australian Meteors of No. 77 Sqdn; Shchukin had no problem shooting down one of them. The pilot -Ronald Guthrie- become a POW.

But Shchukin's most important victory happened on October 2 1951. During an intense dogfight he ran to help one of his buddies, Capt. Morozov, because a Sabre was beating him up. Shchukin could not save his comrade -who bailed out-, but he could catch the excellent Sabre pilot by surprise and riddled him at short range with the three cannons of his MiG-15bis Fagot. Badly shot-up, the F-86 disengaged, leaving a thick black smoke trail. Actually Lev Shchukin had damaged the F-86E "Lady Frances" of Colonel Francis S. Gabreski, XO of the 4th FIW, and the aircraft was written off immediately after landing.

October was a good month for this Russian Lion, because -besides having shot-up Gabreski- he blasted out of the sky four more UN aircraft: one F-80C on October 22 (Louis Esposito, KIA), one F-84E on October 23 (John Shewmaker, MIA), one RAAF Meteor the following day (Harold Foster, written off), and one RF-80A on October 30 (Grant Madsen, KIA). After such awesome performance, it was no surprise when on November 13 1951 Mayora Lev Shchukin also became Hero of the Soviet Union.

However, in an incredible twist of fate, Colonel Francis Gabreski and Lev Shchukin met each other for a second time, on January 11 1952, and this time the surprised one was the Soviet Ace: Gabreski forced him to eject, and Shchukin was severely wounded in the backbone when he landed. After a long rehabilitation he could walk again, but sadly was prohibited from flying. Promoted to Polkovnik (Colonel), he also graduated from the Air Academy in 1956 and became an aviation advisor in Egypt and Vietnam in the 1960's. Retired in 1977, today he lives in Minsk, Byelorussia.

The newspaper article reads:

Carefull, in the sky is flier Schukin.
We were silent fighters. Wearing Chinese gear. No insignia, no documents.
And god forbid we get captured.
Orders were to speak Korean and Chinese, squint our eyes, walk with arched back.

[Taz]

The Number 4
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Kills: 13 (7)

Plane Types ( Main Kill/Comments): shot down 5 F-86s, 1 F-84 and 1 Meteor, downed once.

Recived the: Hero of the Soviet Union, 10 October 1951 #9283

Unit:176 GIAP (Fighter Regiment), 324 IAD (Fighter Division) of the Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, the Soviet Air Force.

The fourth highest scoring MiG-15 ace, Kapetan Sergei Kramarenko, began his Korean career (he already was a WW2 Ace with 6 victories) on April 10 1951, when he claimed one F-84 Thunderjet. He participated in the huge aerial battle over the Yalu River on April 12, between the MiG-15s of his unit (the 176th GIAP, 324th IAD) and 100 US combat aircraft (B-29s, F-86s and F-84s), when he claimed a second Thunderjet. More than a month later, he added another F-86 to his tally.
June 1951 was a good month. On the 2nd Sergei bagged one F-86A -probably Thomas C. Hanson's- officially reported as "accidentally" lost by the UASF. On the 17th he shot down another, which crashed in the waters of the East China Sea. But his most interesting victory against the Sabres happened on September 23: during an engagement over the "MiG Alley," Kramarenko accidentally separated from the rest of his unit and was jumped by three Sabres. In an attempt to evade them, he entered in a thick cloud cover. When he got out of the clouds saw that 2 F-86s went by one side and the remaining one got separated, then put this lone Sabre (the F-86A BuNo 49-1158) in the gunsight of his MiG-15bis Fagot and knocked it out. However, he was again jumped by the remaining F-86s, and so he dove towards the hydroelectric dam of Suiho, knowing it was protected by heavy flak guns. As he thought, when the 85 and 100 mm shells began to explode around the three planes, the American pilots gave up the chase, leaving Kramarenko to land in Antung airbase without further trouble. That day luck favoured the bold and brave.

On October 30 he shot an F-84E, #51-615, of the 49th FBW out of the sky, and was also involved in the major ambush that the 176th GIAP prepared against the Australian Meteors of No. 77 Sqdn on December 1 1951. During the ensuing battle the Russian MiG-15 Fagots slaughtered the RAAF formation claiming 10 Meteors (two of them were credited to Kramarenko). Actually only three Meteors were shot down and a fouth one was damaged; Kramarenko 1st claim was, most likely, the Meteor of Vance Drummond (POW).

On January 12 1952 Kramarenko claimed two Sabres, and one of them (F-86E BuNo 50-615) is confirmed (although the cause of loss was officially an "engine explosion"). A few days later, he shot down his 13th and last victim, the F-86E of Daniel Peterson, who was taken prisoner. But immediately after that, Sergei paid the price, because he was downed by an F-86E Sabre pilot of the 25th FIS/51st FIW, 1st Lt. James B. Raebel (who would score three MiG kills in Korea). Kramarenko bailed out safe and sound, and was kindly looked after by North Korean farmers until the rescue parties arrived.

After such brilliant performance (104 combat sorties, he engaged the enemy in 42 of them and downed 13 UN planes), on April 22 1952 Sergei Kramarenko was awarded with the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, together with Yevgeni Pepelyayev. Today he lives in Moscow.

[Taz]

The Number 5
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Kills: 12 (2)

Plane Types ( Main Kill/Comments): 2 B-29s

Recived the: Hero of the Soviet Union, # ?

Unit:176 GIAP (Fighter Regiment), 324 IAD (Fighter Division) of the Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, the Soviet Air Force.

On 7th of April 1951 an unknown number of B-29s escorted by 48 F-84Es of the 27th FEAF visited the Yalu bridges. A force of about thirty MiG-15s of the 176th GvIAP soon confronted Superfortress crews. Despite the efforts of the escorting Thunderjet pilots the MiG-15bis of Kapetan Ivan V. Suchkov passed through the fighter screen and blasted one B-29 out of the sky but lost one MiG of the formation to the F-84 escorts.


These images were captured by the guncamera of the MiG-15 Fagot piloted by Captain Ivan V. Suchkov (176th GvIAP, 324th IAD), and show the victory
scored by this pilot against a B-29 bomber of the FEAF(Far East Air Force) on April 7th 1951.

[Taz]

The Number 6
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Kills: 11 (5)

Plane Types ( Main Kill/Comments): -

Recived the: Hero of the Soviet Union, 13. November 1951, #9288

Unit: 523 IAP (Fighter Regiment), 303 IAD (Fighter Division) of the Voyenno Vozdushnye Sily, the Soviet Air Force.

Stepan Bahaev was born on February, 2nd, 1922 in the of village Dzvunreuki, today in the Grjazinskogoarea area, Lipetsk region.
His family were Russian peasants.
He finished 7 classes of the FZU school in 1940.
He then worked as a blast-furnace operator on Novolipetskom metal works, He studied flying in an Aeroclub.
Joined the Soviet Army in 1941 and graduated from Krasnodar military school of pilots in 1943.
After the war he continued service in the Air Forces, and took active participation in rendering international help to peoples of Chinese People's Republic and KNDR.
He flew 166 Combat sorties, with 11 kills to his name and one joint kill.
For courage and devotion to duty to the assistant commander of the 523rd IAP squadron he became a Hero of Soviet Union on November, 13th, 1951.
After returning to the Soviet Union he remained in service.
In 1959 he was promoted to major.
Died on the 05.07.95 in Bogoduhov, near Kharkov.

He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner (four), OGPW 1st and 2nd Class, the Red Star (twice). A memorial plaque is mounted on his house of birth in Lipetsk.