The Bandido
"Star Light, Star Bright, Which Direction Will I Fly Tonight" (Chapter 5 continued)
First missions were supposed to be easy, but it’s hard to imagine easy in combat, especially when flights attacked anti-aircraft emplacements. F-86s flying out of K-14 going to the Yalu were constantly harassed by four 85mm guns placed outside the village of Yonan in North Korea. While the fighters made altitude, the guns attempted to end their foray to fight Russian MiGs. Tasked with destroying the emplacement, the 8th Squadron responded:
“As always, there was a moment of drama when the curtain was drawn back from the map on the briefing stage. A red piece of yarn pinned on the map showed the course of attack for each planned sortie. On this mission, I did not like the approach to the target as it required us to fly a rectangular route around it on three sides before attacking from the west. No effort was made to conceal our course or intentions. Those about to be attacked had plenty of warning we were coming and were prepared for us.” - George Clapham
Once the briefing wrapped, pilots pre-flighted their fighters and departed. Arriving on target, the four broke into twos with Lead and Element Lead taking a wingman. On this sortie, Col. Orr (wing commander) covered the new guy, Quintus Fuller. The attack was no higher than two hundred feet above deck. Along with anti-aircraft, each flight was susceptible to small-arms and automatic weapons while making a pass, with no element of surprise.
With napalm being the weapon of choice, Col. Orr and “Quinn” were first. Committed, they initiated and delivered, but Quinn’s plane was hit and started trailing smoke. Per George: “Quinn entered a shallow turn to the right and started toward the south.” With the first two fighters clear, Element and Four commenced, firing guns to reduce small arms and automatic fire. Their napalm delivered; they exited the target area. George then flew up on Quinn whose plane was burning intensely: “Pieces such as inspection plates and parts of the airframe were falling off. The fire was growing rapidly.”
George instructed Quinn to bail out, placing him in a situation where he might survive if everything worked. Once ejected, a bullet creased his forehead. Descending, Quinn was then in a life-or-death fight to get out of North Korea. George stayed low to fly CAP while Orr and Four “climbed and circled,” radioing for a helicopter. Within minutes, other flights appeared. On the ground, with intermittent walking and running, Quinn headed towards the water, trailing his gear. His will to survive was on hyperdrive. Not having been killed while descending, a fighter pilot on the ground became a trophy hunt. The enemy’s plan was to cut him off, forming a line between Quinn and the water.
As the line formed, two enemy troops chased. When one was within a hundred feet, it appeared they were going to catch up. George then set up a perpendicular attack, killing the one closest. Passing, he pulled up, turned, and noticed the other soldier. Instead of chasing, the slower runner was putting ground between himself and Quinn, not wanting to feel the wrath of George’s guns. In the interim, the helicopter arrived and picked Quinn up.
Yes, first missions were supposed to be easy. However, the unusual thing this time, along with Quintus, the helicopter pilot and his medic were on their first mission also. I’m certain each wondered what they’d gotten into if the first was easy. Back on base, Quinn was plied with liquor as he regaled. The next day, he was back in a cockpit.
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Combat was not the only arena claiming pilots’ lives. Sometimes innocuous flights brought repercussions. Al Plecha, on a test hop, developed engine problems. Without altitude or speed, unable to glide back, he was forced to bail. Going for the canopy release, it wouldn’t budge. Al tried everything to eject, pull a chute, and get picked up. Sadly, he augured. Korea was life and death while maintaining fighter-pilot bravado, never knowing when the gig was up.
Now, early 1950s pilots joined hoping to fight, or at least most thought. During training, unless something went wrong, a pilot went home. In hostilities, pilot attrition mounted and more second lieutenants found themselves in theater. And in combat things changed quickly. But fighter pilots are aggressive, especially combat-tested ones. They must feel invincible; their lives depend on it, but they can go too far. Their luck might run out. The plane takes a hit, or they take the hit, and 1950s fighters did not fly themselves.
There were missions when pilots ran into targets and like the hunter becomes the hunted, the pilot wondered if only seconds remained. One such mission involved John Taylor’s flight. After Korea, one of his pilots became a lawyer, a U.S. Congressman from Virginia, and owned a car dealership. You might have known him as Stan Parrish. As George Clapham put it: “He once joked he was hated three ways.”
Chet: John Taylor was one of the greatest combat leaders I ever had anything close to being a friend to. John was good! The only thing was, what was safe for John, wasn’t safe for new second lieutenants. Every mission was so important to John; he didn’t back off anything. Stan was one of those people that everything had always gone right for. A good stick and rudder man, but on one mission that John led, Stan got pretty well shot up by a quad fifty while attacking a trap where he took most of the battle damage. He did get back as far as K-14, but crash landed, wheels up.
He opened the canopy before he touched down and landed adjacent to the runway. The canopy slammed shut, and the airplane began to burn. The firemen got to it, chopped open the canopy, got him out, and were fifty- to seventy-five feet away when it blew. Stan went from the golden boy who could do no wrong in recognizing his mortality. He would not quit flying when he should have. Colonel Holt (squadron commander) was tasked to send two experienced crew members with at least thirty missions to the 31st to do some in-flight refueling type missions out of Misawa and Shitosi, Japan. I was asked who we needed to send. I said I think we need to send Stan and one other. I was watching Stan go down. I was afraid he was going to kill himself if he wasn’t careful.