Page 280 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

280 airpower in 20 Century doCtrines and employment - national experienCes
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Between 22 April and 24 June 1951 2 Sqn flew 1130 combat sorties, which could
be divided into the following missions: interdiction (84,4%); close support (8,4%);
rescue (3,6%); and counter-air, essentially aimed at airfields (3,6%). 31
The squadron’s interdiction effort concentrated on the Main Supply Route (MSR)
with the targets being the road and the railway line between Pyongyang, Sariwon,
Kaesong and the MLR. Target selection sought the destruction of the communica-
tion routes at points difficult to repair or by-pass (such as bridges, railway tunnels,
cuttings, marshalling yards and routes built up through damp ground or rice pad-
dies). Supply dumps and troops concentrations en route to the front was also selected
as targets. Close support strikes were mainly in support of the US I Corps in the
Western Sector. From the middle of June onwards, 2 Sqn F-51 Mustangs were also
called upon to attack North Korean airfields in what essentially was a counter-air
campaign.

Aircraft Armament

The standard armament per aircraft against road and railway targets was two
500lb (227,3kg) G.P. bombs, six 5 inch (127mm) high velocity aircraft rockets
(HVAR) and a maximum load of .50 ammunition. For attacks on supply areas and
for close support missions the G.P. bombs were usually replaced with two 110 gallon
(416,35 litre) drop tanks filled with napalm and fused with modified white phospho-
rous grenades. Four aircraft missions sometimes consisted of two aircraft armed with
napalm and two armed with G.P. bombs. After the primary target was bombed with
either G.P. or napalm bombs, the secondary ordnance was available for targets of
opportunity. This secondary ordnance sometimes proved useful when an interdiction
mission was diverted by the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) to render close support
to the ground forces.
Aircraft attacking airfields used the 500lb bombs to pothole the runways, and
V.T. fused bombs and rockets for flak suppression. The use of proximity fuses was
made possible by the development of an L-bracket which prevented the ordnance
being carried on the external wing racks of the fighter-bombers from arming prema-
turely. The bombs could now be dropped safely from high above the bursting flak,
32
to explode at an altitude where they caused optimum damage. Bombs with six hour
delayed fuses were also placed on the airfield runways during the last raid of the day
against the North Korean airfields in order to harass the repair crews operating under
cover of darkness.

31
South African Military Archive Depot (SAMAD), War Dairies and Missions SAAF (Korea), Box
14, Debriefing Forms SAAF220, 22 Apr 1951-30 Apr 1951; Box 15, Debriefing Forms, SAAF220,
1 May 1951-31 May 1951; Box 16, Debriefing Forms, SAAF220: 1 June 1951-24 June 1951.
32
Futrell, et al., United States Air Force in Korea, p. 331; Republic of Korea, The History of the United
Nations Forces in the Korean War, Vol.1, Seoul, 1972, p. 422.