From https://youtu.be/ktE_3PrJZO0?t=1608

    • TransTomboy [she/her, they/them]
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      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Another even funner story of the Mig 15 in Korea is that of April 12, 1951 or 'Black Thursday' as the Americans called it, where 30 Mig 15s attacked 48 B29 Bombers escorted by around 100 F-80 Shooting Star and F84 Thunderjet fighters and shot down 3 B29s and damaged 7 more with no losses of their own (The USAF however had a habit of claiming that aircraft too severely damaged to fly again or that crashed as a result of battle damage suffered 'Mechanical failures' or 'Landing Accidents'. Soviet sources claimed 12 B29 kills, however both sides had a habit of overclaiming victories.)

      The USAF ceased all B29 raids for 3 months, and even after restarting raids only flew in small numbers at night. The Soviets gave the B29 the nickname 'The Burning Barn' as a result of their operations against them.

      As an actual fun footnote, this may have also reduced the risk of nuclear war, as the US command MUST have realized that there was no way in hell an unescorted B-29 would be able to reach its target in Russia without getting slaughtered.

        • TransTomboy [she/her, they/them]
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          edit-2
          4 years ago

          A lot of it is quite recent, from the fall of the Soviet Union and declassification of various archives at the earliest, The whole 'The Americans actually got the First Jet Kill' is something that I was sold in all the (Admittedly American or English) aviation and history books I had growing up