American Fighter Pilot Turned Korean War POW

choi

Jim Tuttle, Air Force Pilot Recalls Years as POW and His Career Built in the Air. Public Opinion,  Dec 4, 2011.
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_19466763?source=most_viewed

Note:
(a) Public Opinion (Chambersburg)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(Chambersburg)
(Founded  1869)
(b) Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambersburg,_Pennsylvania
is seat of Franklin County and a borough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_(Pennsylvania)
(c) The report says, "Dunning requested a position with the Army Air Corps. He graduated from training and received his pilot's wings in November 1944. * * * By that time [he graduated from West Point in 1950], a new military branch had been created: the United States Air Force."

United States Air Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force
(" Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U.S. military to be formed")
(d) The report also states, "He was flying the single-seat F-80 Shooting Star, the first fighter jet commissioned by the American military."

(i) Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-80_Shooting_Star
(Introduction  1945)

Quote:

"Designed with straight wings, the type saw extensive combat in Korea with the United States Air Force (USAF) as the F-80. America's first successful turbojet-powered combat aircraft, it helped usher in the 'jet age' in the USAF, but was outclassed with the appearance of the swept-wing transonic MiG-15 and quickly replaced in the air superiority role by the North American F-86 Sabre.

Section "1 Design and development : * * * Like most early jets designed during WWII (before the Allies captured German swept wing research data which showed the promise of much greater speeds), the XP-80 had straight wings, like previous propeller-driven fighters. It was the first operational jet fighter to have its engine in the fuselage, a design previously used in the pioneering Heinkel He 178 of 1939, and the slightly later Gloster E.28/39 demonstrator of 1941. Other early jets generally had two engines because of their limited power and mounted these in external pods for easier maintenance. With the advent of more powerful British Jet engines, fuselage mounting was more effective and would be used by nearly all subsequent fighter aircraft."

section "2.1 Korean War: * * * The first jet-versus-jet aerial victory in history was scored on 8 November 1950 when Lieutenant Russell J Brown, flying an F-80, shot down a MiG-15. Despite the initial claim of success, the speed of the straight-wing F-80s were inferior in performance to the 668 mph MiGs which incorporated German research on swept wings * * * that enabled speeds much closer to the speed of sound. The F-80s were soon replaced in the air superiority role by the North American F-86 Sabre * * * However F-80 pilots still destroyed a total of 6 MiG-15s in aerial combat. When sufficient Sabres were in operation, the Shooting Star flew exclusively ground attack missions. * * * Of the 277 F-80s lost in operations (approximately 30% of the existing inventory), 113 were destroyed by ground fire and 14 shot down by enemy aircraft.

(A) The point is F-80 was straight-wing, which was outperformed by swept-wing.
(B) later in Korean War, "the Shooting Star flew exclusively ground attack missions." section 2.1 (quoted above)

This explained why the Public Opinion report says later on: "After his arrival, he routinely participated in aerial bombing attacks on enemy installations, supply trucks and trains."

(ii) Heinkel He 178
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_178
(world's first aircraft to fly under turbojet power, and the first practical jet aircraft. It was a private venture by the German Heinkel company in accordance with director Ernst Heinkel's emphasis on developing technology for high-speed flight)

Heinkel (1922-1965 bought; based in Warnemünde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)  Wikipedia
(iii) swept wing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swept_wing

wing root
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_root
(is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft that is closest to the fuselage)
(iv) North American F-86 Sabre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_F-86_Sabre
(Manufacturer  North American Aviation [1928-1996; now part of Boeing]; Introduction  1949)
(e) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15
(Introduction  1949)

Quote:

"a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in daylight.

"The MiG-15 is believed to have been the most widely produced jet aircraft ever made, with over 12,000 built. Licensed foreign production perhaps raised the total to over 18,000. The MiG-15 is often mentioned along with the North American F-86 Sabre in lists of the best fighter aircraft of the Korean War

(f) The report remarks, "He kept the hunk of metal in his pocket."

hunk (n; Dutch dialect hunke; First Known Use circa 1813): "a large lump, piece, or portion <a hunk of bread>"
www.m-w.com
(g) Big Stone Gap, Viaginia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Stone_Gap,_Virginia
(h) Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter
(Introduction  1958; The poor safety record of the Starfighter brought the aircraft into the public eye, especially in [German] Luftwaffe service. The subsequent Lockheed bribery scandals surrounding the original purchase contracts caused considerable political controversy in Europe and Japan.)
(i) Convair F-102 Delta Dagger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-102_Delta_Dagger
(Manufacturer  Convair [formed in 1943 by the merger of Vultee Aircraft and Consolidated Aircraft]; 1956-1979)