On 26 June, one day after 90,000 North Korean troops, armed with Soviet weapons, crossed the 38th parallel to invade South Korea, President Harry Truman directed U.S. military forces to assist South Korea. This began the Korean War, which came at a time when America was becoming more and more fearful of Communism. The fact that Communist China and the Soviet Union were backing the North Koreans added to American fears of a "Communist Takeover" of the world. Led by General Douglas MacArthur, American troops spent three years fighting in Korea. The war ended in stalemate in 1953 with the North Koreans north of the 38th parallel, a border that still separates North and South Korea. When North Korea invaded South Korea , the U.S. Air Force was less than three years old from its prior designation as the U.S. Army Air Forces, which ended on 30 September 1947. Thus the Korean War was its first conflict as an independent service. The Korean War was also the first war in which a world organization, the United Nations, played a military role. The Korean War marked the first battles between jet aircraft. Early in the conflict, Allied bombers and fighter planes based in Japan, Okinawa, and South Korea roared over North Korea unopposed. They supported Allied troops, killed enemy troops, and damaged Communist bases. The Soviet Union soon began to supply North Korea with MIG-15 Fagot jets, and dogfights became an important part of the war. As many as 150 to 200 U.S. F-86 Sabrejet, F-84 Thunderjet, F-80 Shooting Stars rose to meet MIG-15s flying from their fields in Manchuria. All the dogfights occurred over North Korea because Allied planes were ‘not permitted’ to cross the Yalu River, and the MIG-15's ‘never’ flew south of the 38th parallel. Most of the battles took place in "MIG Alley," an area between the Yalu and Pyongyang. The Allies used helicopters to carry wounded soldiers from battle zones to hospitals. Helicopter ...
