Black Tuesday Over Namsi: B-29s vs MIGs—The Forgotten Air Battle of the Korean War, 23 October 1951

By Earl. J. McGill

A gripping true account of warfare in the skies over Korea, when American bombers and North Korean jet fighters would change the course of air combat.
 
On October 23, 1951, an hour and a half before sunrise, nine B-29s of the 307th Bombardment Wing took off from Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan, on a bombing mission against Namsi—a North Korean airfield under construction in the heart of the shooting gallery known as MiG Alley.
 
In under six hours, they would engage in a battle that would forever change the conduct of strategic aerial bombardment. Six of the nine aircrafts were shot down; the highest percentage of US bombers ever lost on a major mission. Unfortunately, this event that many experts consider the epic air battle of the Korean War—and perhaps the greatest jet engagement in the history of aerial warfare—has become another forgotten fight in a forgotten war.
 
Here, Earl J. Hill presents the facts and circumstances of the mission from first briefing to final landing using historical documents, firsthand accounts of aircrew members and ground personnel from both sides, and photographs of the mission and its aftermath.
 
This is the story of those who clashed in the skies above Namsi, the events leading up to it, and Black Tuesday’s historical impact on the aerial warfare tactics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781908916082

Book preview

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Originally published by Heritage Books 2008

This revised and expanded edition published by Helion & Company 2012

eBook Published 2012

Designed and typeset by Bookcraft Limited, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Cover designed by Bookcraft Limited, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Printed by Gutenberg Press Limited, Tarxien, Malta

Text © Earl J. McGill, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret.) 2008, 2011

Images © as individually credited.

ISBN 978-1-907677-21-2

eISBN 978-1-908916-08-2

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Front cover: This photo captures the feeling of flying a combat mission, a sense of loneliness in the company of others as they drive on toward the target, not knowing what awaits. (Courtesy of Glen Morris)

Rear cover: Earlier daylight combat mission photo of #44-86295, Baker Lead, commanded by Lt. William Reeter on Black Tuesday. (Courtesy of Alan Reeter)

For details of other military history titles published by Helion & Company Limited contact the above address, or visit our website: http://www.helion.co.uk.

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Dedicated to all b-29 flight and ground personnel who served in the forgotten war

of an event that too many refer to as The Forgotten War find here remembered a story of great and common men, of bounty and sacrifice, of life and death, of America, Korea and a freedom so costly won. Find here a story to tell to your children so that they too may know and understand how high to carry the torch.

John N. Duquette, Lt. Col. USA (ret.)

Every Man a Tiger Website

History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events … There is a fundamental incompleteness in your grasp of such events, since you do not see what’s inside the box, how the mechanisms work … the generator of historical events is different from the events themselves, much as the minds of the gods cannot be read just by witnessing their deeds.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Black Swan

Contents

List of Illustrations, Maps and Diagrams

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1.   The Mission

2.   The Korean Air War

3.   The Combatants

Secret Soviet Involvement

America’s Retreads

4.   The Machinery of War

Radio and Radar

SHORAN

Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA)

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

5.   Prelude to Disaster

6.   Target: Namsi Airfield

7.   Black Tuesday, October 23, 1951

8.   Aftermath

9.   Analysis, Conclusions and Reflections

Appendix I     American B29 Crew Rosters

Appendix II    Casualty Lists

Appendix II    Soviet Crew Rosters

Appendix IV   Biographical Sketches of Selected Combatants

Notes and References

Bibliography

eBooks Published by Helion & Company

List of Illustrations,

Maps and Diagrams

Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I know you are with me. Late evening during the walk-around lull before take-off

Route to Target

B-29 # 44-27347, Baker Three on Black Tuesday, being preflighted before a mission

Rolland Miller, left gunner on Able Lead

Nick Kourafas, Able Lead bombardier

Paul Stainbrook (l) and Dewell Turner (r)

Baker Three enlisted crew members in 307BW tent area

Photo of Able Lead Crew taken before Capt. Clarence Fogler took over as aircraft commander

Baker Lead crew receives a last minute briefing from the aircraft commander, Lt. William Reeter, before starting engines

Able Three crew officers get-together before going overseas

Able Two crew, commanded by Capt. James Lewis (front, left), shortly after Black Tuesday mission. Note cannon hole in vertical fin

Fred Meier’s Diary, 21–23 October 1951

Fred Meier’s Diary, 23 October 1951, pages 2 & 3

Fred Meier’s Diary, 23–28 October 195

At the start of the Korean War #42-65272 was one of 22 operational B-29s assigned to the Far East’s 19th Bombardment Group

Kadena AFB, c. 1951

Records indicate that the first B-29 bombing raid of the Korean War was carried out by The Outlaw, Lucky Dog, Atomic Tom and Double Whammy.

Atomic Tom was the only one of the four to survive the war

Double Whammy

Lucky Dog

Although nose art was absent from 307BW B-29s, other units such as the 19BG encouraged the practice

A 19BG B-29, fired up and ready to go

In spite of massive aerial bombardment on 2 September 1950, American forces were on the verge of defeat in an area that became known as the Pusan Perimeter

After destroying most of the strategic targets in North Korea, two of the B-29 groups, the 22nd and 92nd, returned to the US during October and November 1950

92BG-325BS in loose formation after bombing N. Korean target.

The 92BG and 22BG returned to the US during October and November 1950 because of a lack of strategic targets

92BG single

On April 7, Captain Iv`an A. Suchkov of the 176th GIAP penetrated the F-84 bomber escort and shot down a 307BW B-29

BW B-29 at bombs away, snow-capped North Korean mountain can be seen in background. Note how the bomber pitches up after releasing its load of 500-pound bombs

On August 25 1951, B-29s dropped 300 tons of bombs on the marshalling yards at Rashin—the author’s first mission

A pair of 19BG B-29s forming-up over the rugged snow-covered Korean mountains

Lt. Col. Aleksandr Smorchkov (l) and Maj. Dmitriy Os’kin (r).

On Black Tuesday they were credited respectively with shooting down one and two B-29s

Randolph Field, West Point of the Air

The crew cranks up the survival radio on survival trek out of Camp Carson, CO

Baker Lead Aircraft Commander, Lt. William Reeter

Crew of the 19BG, sometimes referred to as an arm of MacArthur’s Air Force, lived in typhoon-proof huts they called hooches, while the 307BW, on loan from SAC, was relegated to a tent city

WWII nose art that evoked nostalgia for loved ones or home was replaced with names like the enigmatic FUJIGMO

Korean War nose art often expressed the true sentiments of the crews that flew the aircraft

In case they were forced down, members of the flight crew carried Blood Chits to identify them as Americans

The general mission briefing covered navigation, bombing, radio procedures, ordnance, tactics and intelligence, which included current escape and evasion information

After final briefings the crew would board a canvas-canopied six-by-six Army truck that would take them to their assigned B-29

SHORAN’s Achilles’ heel proved to be its predictability. There were only four possible arcs for bombing a specific target

Ray Coia, SHORAN operator at his workstation on Tok-Cho-Do

SHORAN Beacon Unit on Tok-Cho-Do. From the air, the Quonset huts resemble discarded 55-gallon drums

Pilots maintained position on the SHORAN arc by constantly turning the aircraft to keep the needle on the PDI centered

This strike photo of Sariwon Airfield illustrates the accuracy of the SHORAN bombing system. The bombs can be seen impacting 484 feet from the aiming point on the heavily cratered airfield.

Sheet metal repairman peers through AAA-inflicted hole in the wing of a B-29

Two crewmen examine AAA damage to flap and engine nacelle after mission

AAA flak damage to B-29 radome

B-29 Crew Positions

B-29 Cockpit Area. The bombardier sat foremost in the greenhouse between the aircraft commander (l) and the co-pilot (r)

Ground crew pose for photograph while aircrew gunners check upper forward turret

The engineer’s position

Left gunner’s position

Right gunner’s position

Tail gunner’s position

Five hundred pound bombs await loading into a B-29 bomb bay

Bombs under B29. Detail

Five hundred pound bombs lined up on a B-29 hardstand, awaiting loading

Fragmentation cluster bombs were used for front line support

B29 controls diagram

A dramatic moment during pre-flight for a night mission

Ground crewman stood by with fire extinguishers as each B-29’s huge R-3350 engines was started

Okinawan women clean up area around hardstand

S/Sgt Lloyd Stott and Sgt. Charles Turnstall making the top turret guns safe on #44-86395, following a mission

MiG-15s and B-29s can be found on display together throughout the world, such as this pair at the Pima Air Museum near Tucson, Arizona

April 12 mission

During the April 12 1951 mission the aircraft commander and bombardier aboard Dragon Lady were both killed in a head-on MiG attack

The gunners on Dragon Lady claimed five MiGs shot down within the span of 82 missions

Miss N.C. participated in the notorious April 12 mission to the Yalu

Ace B-29 Command Decision flew on the October 22 mission

Typhoon Ruth newspaper clipping

Uiju Airfield newspaper clipping

Cream of the Crop nose art, before censorship

Cream of the Crop was shot down the day before Black Tuesday

The pre-strike reconnaissance photo of Namsi Airfield showing the aiming points for each flight

The plan for Balck Tuesday

Target area chart

Timeline of Events—Black Tuesday 23 October 1951

The Balck Tuesday Bomb Run

Shortly after Rolland Miller, left gunner on Able Lead, snapped this picture, Able Three, #42-94045, commanded by Captain Robert Krumm was shot down by MiG-15s

Photograph of Shields’ B-29, Charlie Lead, taken by Smorchkov’s

MiG-15 gun camera on Black Tuesday, 23 October 1951, moments before Shields was shot down

Dewell Turner (l) and Gordon Mantell cleaning the upper forward guns

Captain John Wagenhalls, Bombardier of Charlie Three, … one aircraft from each flight was destroyed almost immediately in the first attack

A MiG cannon projectile sliced into the forward cabin of #44-86295 at the navigator’s window just below the upper forward turret. Captain Morton Edwards, the navigator, died of his wounds

Detail of the impact area around navigator’s window

Battle damage to lower aft fuselage on Baker One, 44-86295, commanded by Lt. William Reeter

Flap damage to Reeter’s B-29, #44-86295

Battle damage to left landing gear truck on Baker Three, 44-27347, commanded by Major William Griner

Flap damage to Reeter’s B-29, #44-86295

Capt. William Griner’s battle damaged B-29, #44-27347 shortly after making an emergency landing at Kimpo AFB on Black Tuesday

Battle damage to forward section of Griner’s aircraft

Flap damage to Reeter’s B-29, #44-86295

Detail of wounded flight crewman being helped

Wounded flight crewman being helped from rear of Baker Lead aircraft, #44-86295

Underside of horizontal stabilizer peppered with AAA flak. Griner’s crew counted over 200 holes in their airplane

The right side of Griner’s aircraft

Lewis, who had been flying in the Able Two slot, had a cannon hole just below the vertical stabilizer that a man could squeeze through

Wreckage reported to be that of 42-94045

Enlisted members of Able Lead crew waiting outside their tent to go on R&R

Able Lead crew after the Black Tuesday mission. Fogler is on far left next to Fred Meier

Photo taken the day after Black Tuesday from left gunner’s position on Baker Two, a.k.a. Dreamer. The pictured B-29, SAD SAC (T.D.Y.) and Dreamer both received extensive MiG cannon damage, and Our Gal (not pictured) was shot down

Dreamer after an emergency landing at Taegu on 24 October 1951. The badly damaged B-29 never flew again (Courtesy of Max Nelson)

General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, USAF, listens to B-29 flight crews shortly after Black Tuesday. The first thing the general said was, I want to talk to a tail gunner

Standard daylight bombing formations

One of the biggest differences in American and Soviet versions of the Korean air war was in the numbers of opposing aircraft shot down

Taken from inside the Baker Lead aircraft, this photograph shows, Able Flight in the proper defensive formation for daylight bombing missions

This photo captures the feeling of flying a combat mission, a sense of loneliness in the company of others as they drive on toward the target, not knowing what awaits

Preface

Black Tuesday Over Namsi chronicles the calamitous B-29 daylight-bombing mission flown by the 307th Bombardment Wing on 23 October 1951 against Namsi Airfield. What many experts consider the epic air battle of the Korean War and perhaps the greatest jet engagement in the history of aerial warfare, has largely become another forgotten battle in a forgotten war. The few accounts that exist have been reconstructed, for the most part, from disorganized and sometimes inaccurate US and Russian government records. Most are from the fighter pilot’s perspective and do not provide the information or insights into the 307th’s vital and tragic role on the mission that forever ended massed-formation precision daylight bombing.

Astonishingly, virtually nothing has been published about this event. Official Air Force historical records mention it only in passing. Literature of the period too often emphasizes the gung ho aspect of Hollywood-type action movies than the grim reality of war. Most of what is written is, in fact, rife with exaggeration, myth, and downright lies. Some of this is most certainly the result of the way the war was reported; mostly by young, inexperienced airmen who thought this was the proper way to impress their commanding officers. A more serious hindrance to sorting out events that took place half a century ago is simply finding the records. Much of the Korean War paperwork was sent to the National Archives (NARA) in cardboard boxes, unsorted, and in no particular order.

In an effort to find an accurate account of the great air battle of the forgotten war, I employed several methods, but mostly a tool that was not available until recently, the internet search engine. My internet searches have yielded numerous informative pieces from combatants on both sides of the Korean War. Unfortunately, very few touched on the Black Tuesday mission. One short piece detailed events after the mission, and the only other references contained errors that have little to do with what actually happened. As for written material (except for John R. Bruning’s, Crimson Sky, The Air Battle for Korea), none of the published material, historical or otherwise, acknowledged the sacrifices of the airmen involved or showed appreciation for what they experienced.

This book is the result of several fortuitous occurrences. After viewing my B-29s in the Korean War web site, Rolland Miller, left gunner on the crew of the Able Flight lead B-29 on the Black Tuesday mission, emailed me. Rolland provided a great deal of information about the mission, including the email addresses of the navigator, Fred Meier, and Nick The Greek Kourafas, the bombardier. Together, we were able to assemble a series of Black Tuesday web pages. Then, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, Rolland suggested I write and submit an article to VFW Magazine. The editor, Richard Kolb, accepted and published the article, which also appeared again as part of the VFW anthology, Battles of the Korean War.

Research for the short version of Black Tuesday Over Namsi, published in the October 2001 issue of VFW Magazine, and subsequent contacts provided a treasure chest of previously unrecorded facts about the mission. Following publication, emails, phone calls, and letters began pouring in from other crew members that had flown the mission and from the children and grandchildren of those combatants who are no longer with us. Old scrapbooks, photographs and personal correspondence were opened for my inspection, some of them not shared in a lifetime. I felt privileged to be so honored. I also felt a growing sense of duty to write the full story of Black Tuesday with all of its ramifications, its historical significance, and especially because I felt, in no small way, that I owed my life to those who flew, fought, and were lost.

My contacts include experts on the Korean Air War, from both the Allied and the Soviet perspectives, and contain statements made by MiG pilots describing the attack. Together, both Americans and Russians have supplied never before published photographs of the mission and its aftermath, including the aerial photo of the Namsi Airfield that was used to plan the mission. This book also records, from verifiable historical documents, the broader events and conditions that led up to confrontation, plus the first-hand accounts of aircrew members and ground personnel who were there. The facts and circumstances of the event are further verified by reconstructing the mission from first briefing to final landing. With help from others who were actually there, I’ve assembled what I believe is a true and accurate account of that historically important but forgotten air battle, the story of a Korean War bombing mission on a day marked forever in the minds of Allied airmen who flew and fought in the Korean War as Black Tuesday.

Acknowledgments

Without the following eyewitness contributors, this project could not have lifted off the runway:

Fred L. Beissner, Jr: Co-pilot on Baker Two.

C. J. Christ: Co-pilot, Oct. 22 1951 mission.

Ray Coia: Radio Operator at Able SHORAN (Ground) Site.

Archibald Cummings: Flight Engineer on Baker Three.

Paul Dickerson (D): Right Gunner on Baker Three.

R. W. Gray: Commander, 15th TRS at Kimpo AFB, S. Korea.

Jim Higgins: Radar Operator on Charlie Two.

Stan Kavrik: Co-pilot, Oct. 24 1951 mission.

Nick Kourafas: Bombardier on Able Lead.

Francis Kroboth: Flight Engineer On Charlie Two.

Fred Meier: Navigator on Able Lead.

Rolland L. Miller: Left Gunner on Able Lead.

Edward Moore, Radio Operator on Charlie Two.

Max Nelson: Radar Operator, Oct. 24 1951 mission.

Walter H. Polk: Crew Chief on Baker Lead.

Dewell Turner: Left Gunner on Baker Three.

John Wagenhalls: Bombardier on Charlie Three.

Lloyd Wentworth: Navigator on Baker Two.

I owe special thanks to Fred Meier, Rolland Miller, and Nick The Greek Kourafas, the aircrew members on Able One who launched this project by providing firsthand accounts, documents, and personal insights into the Black Tuesday mission; to John Duquette who provided much of the material and most of the incentive for me to get into this project; to Alan Reeter, Jack Shields, and George Pyfrom, whose fathers flew the mission and are no longer with us; to Stephen Cookie Sewell, whose translations and interpretations provided the core of Soviet involvement chronicled; to Ralph Livengood (who passed away while this book was in progress) for B-29 Navigator, Korean War 1951; to Bud Farrell for his unwavering support and invaluable source of Korean War B-29 material in his book, No Sweat; to Diego Zampini for his unstinting assistance in providing firsthand accounts and impressions from the Russian perspective: and to Richard Kolb, editor of VFW Magazine, for his assistance in publishing the original article that inspired this book.

For additional support, information, and images that surfaced since the initial publication of Black Tuesday Over Namsi and found their way into this edition, I thank the following:

Paul Stainbrook, left gunner on Charlie Lead.

Vincent T. Scarano, Colonel USAF Retired, veteran of the April 12, 1951 mission to the Yalu River.

Trevor McIntyre, a young man with a passion for B-29s.

I must also thank Clyde Durham for his expertise and sharp eye for picking out mistakes in the manuscript. Clyde’s newspaper experience, combined with service as a B-29 gunner on 26 Korean War combat missions in the same unit I flew with, provided a unique and invaluable perspective that I was indeed fortunate to have available when needed.

pgxiv_01

The material contained in this book is the end result of seven years of research into a core event that lasted fifteen minutes. In spite of having taken place in a mere snippet of time, the air battle over Namsi has been clouded by misinterpretations and contradictions. In sorting through the many inconsistencies, I have endeavored to reach a consensus of truth by weighing the evidence and writing what I believe is closest to the truth. I apologize to those whose views may differ, acknowledging that any errors contained herein are mine and mine alone.

EJM

Abbreviations

pgxix_01

Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I know you are with me.

Late evening during the walk-around lull before take-off. (Courtesy of Fred Meier)

Introduction

An hour and a half before sunup on Tuesday, October 23, 1951, nine B-29s of the 307th Bombardment Wing lifted off from Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, on a bombing mission against Namsi, a North Korean airfield under construction in the heart of MiG Alley. Five and a half hours later they would engage in an air battle that would forever change the conduct of strategic aerial bombardment. Six of the nine would not return, the highest percentage of United States bombers ever lost on a major mission.

pgxiv_01

Following the mission briefing the evening before, Able Flight lead navigator, First Lieutenant Fred Meier, had scribbled in his diary, Supposed to go on R & R but briefed for MiG Alley mission. Namsi Airfield. In a letter to his wife, Libbie, he instructed her to cancel the Buick order, concluding, I don’t think you would have liked it anyhow.

The last bomber to take off replaced a B-29 grounded by engine trouble. The nine proceeded over the East China Sea to the assembly point where the formation divided itself into three flights of three aircraft. Due to lower cloud cover over the target, the formation would employ an electronic system, called SHORAN, recently developed so precision bombing could be conducted without actually seeing the target.

As the World War II heavy bombers lumbered toward Namsi, they passed through a maelstrom of radar-directed anti-aircraft flak. Two of the nine were severely damaged. Moments before bombs away, a swarm of MiG-15s, the newest, fastest jets in the Soviet arsenal, attacked the bomber force. Three B-29s were shot down over the target area and three more were so severely damaged they were forced to make emergency landings at a forward base. Only one of the remaining three escaped major battle damage. In the bloodiest air battle of the Korean War, six bombers and 27 lives were lost. Twenty crew members were wounded and eight taken prisoner. In percentages, Black Tuesday marked the greatest loss on any major bombing mission in any war the United States has ever engaged in and the ensuing battle, in a chunk of sky called MiG Alley, still ranks as perhaps the greatest jet air battle of all time. North Korean and Chinese pilots supposedly flew the

Reviews for Black Tuesday Over Namsi

[mburdette-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story told by a former B-29 crewmember who served in Korea. Unfortunately it is jumbled and disorganized in spots and some of the descriptions of the actions are ambiguous at best. This bit of aviation history deserves a good treatment, I'll hold on to BLACK TUESDAY til I find something better.