As a aviation/military buff, I’ve been wanting to post something regarding aviation and military matters concerning Korea. After some thought, I’ve decided to post a brief history of ROKAF fighters from the 1950s to 80s and how their procurement was influenced by US-ROK relations.
1950s
The first ROKAF fighters were F-51 Mustangs. After the Korean War, the ROKAF received its first jets in the form of F-86F Sabres and later F-86D Dog Sabres, which became the first radar equipped fighters in the ROKAF. It was during this period that the ROKAF and the JASDF had similar capability in terms of fighter type. However, the Japanese Sabre fleet was much larger(480 vs S. Korea’s 192)
1960s.
During the early 60s, the JASDF decided to replace its Sabres with the F-104 Starfighter. S. Korea, at the same time, requested that the US supply it with F-104s to replace its F-86s. The US refused this request and although there is no public information regarding the reason for the refusal, the most probable reason was that there was a long line of allied nations waiting to receive the F-104 and S. Korea wasn’t exactly a priority.
So, instead the US supplied Northrop F-5A/Bs and the first of these arrived at Suwon AB on 1965. The ROKAF weren’t exactly happy with the F-5A/Bs but they introduced the ROKAF to the supersonic era.
But the ROKAF’s luck was about to change during the state visit by LBJ on 1968. During the visit, Pres. Park Chung Hee, requested F-4D Phantoms for the Air Force. LBJ, probably taking into account S. Korea’s contribution to the Vietnam, agreed and 18 F-4Ds were supplied. Now, the ROKAF had a Mach 2 radar-equipped multi-role fighter, which significantly improved the capabilites of the ROKAF.
1970s
On 1972, the US Ambassador to Korea visited Pres. Park with a request. The US was reducing its commitment to Vietnam and wanted to bolster the South Vietnamese armed forces. So, S. Korea was requested to turn over 48 F-5A/Bs (which were technically on loan) to the US so that they can be transferred to the VNAF. Pres. Park responded that he could not put the lives of ROKAF pilots at risk. So he offered to instead hand over 36 F-5A/Bs in exchange for 18 F-4Ds. The US Ambassador responded that the US originally wanted 72 but reduced the number to 48 and that F-4s cannot be supplied. Instead, he promised to supply trainers(probably T-38s). Pres. Park reminded the Ambassador that Seoul was close to the DMZ and that he didn’t understand how the US expected the ROKAF to fight the KPAAF in trainers. The US Ambassador responded that if the US couldn’t solve the Vietnam issue then it cannot help S. Korea. Pres. Park then reminded the Ambassador, that S. Korea had 2 division on the ground in Vietnam and was cooperating to the fullest with the US and that the US shouldn’t make one-sided demands. As a result of the tense meeting, 18 second hand Phantoms were transferred to the ROKAF, in return for 36 F-5A/Bs, which enabled the ROKAF to set up a second F-4D squadron.
Also there is an interesting story regarding Pres. Richard Nixon and Pres. Park. When Nixon was a private citizen, he made a visit to S. Korea. During the visit, he requested a meeting with Pres. Park, but his aides told him that the president was busy. When Nixon was elected president there was a flury of activity in the Blue House as the Park administration tried to get in good terms with the Nixon administration. But the story has it that Nixon wasn’t interested in mending fences with Pres. Park.
After Nixon left office, the ROKAF received 37 F-4Es and 146 F-5E/Fs. The F-4Es ordered by the ROKAF were the last F-4Es to be produced. One interesting note, with the exception of the F-4Es, all other fighter aircraft were supplied to the ROKAF at little or no cost as US military aid.
1980s
Chun Doo Hwan had taken power and was about to embark on his first state visit to the US. Chun was willing to do anything to look good in front of the US and as a sweetner, 36 F-16C/Ds were ordered during the visit on 1982. As a result the ROKAF got a fourth generation fighter capable of taking on the MiG-23 and the 29 that were about to enter service with the KPAAF. I don’t know if he consulted with the ROKAF brass regarding the purchase but the F-16 had been on the ROKAF shopping list since the late 70s when Pres. Park requested 72 F-16A/Bs, but was turned down by the Carter administration.
18 Comments
Do not forget the F-82 twin Mustangs that served over Pusan and shot down the first North Korean aircraft of the Korean War. They were an odd aircraft that was converted to night fighter roles later and then lastly based in Japan.
Hello, Mr. Min. Great post.
Have you ever seen the animation, Area 88?
Here it seems that no one was interested in the F5 series and preferrred the F4 phantoms.
In Area 88, the protagonist rides the F5’s and the pawns ride the F4’s.
I take it you know much better about fighter jets, so I ask you,
…
what’s the difference in combat capabilities between the F4 and the F5?
Thank you.
F-82s never served with the ROKAF.
Thank you wjk.
The F-4s are more capable than the F-5s because of their more capable radar, better range, and the ability to carry more ordnance. However I wouldn’t discount the F-5s, because they are a lot more manueverable and would give the F-4 pilots a hard time in a dog fight.
Oops, sorry. I had read about them last month and realized after I posted that they did not serve in ROKAF.
This is a neat post mins.
Thank you, R.Eglin.
Great post!
The ROKAF had a very interesting beginning. A group of former Japanese Imperial Air Force pilots formed in August 1945 the Association of the Foundation of the Air Force, convinced that Korea needed an air force for its defense. On 5 May 1948 they formed the Air Unit of the Chosun Constabulary, but they still had no aircraft. In July, their name changed to the Army Air Base Command and in September received 10 L-4 liaison aircraft from the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division. The US Army followed this with 10 L-5 aircraft.
The ROKAF was formally established on 1 October 1949 and consisted of the 1st Flight Wing, Air Base Comand, Women’s Air Squadron, Air Force Academy, Air Force Hospital, and seven air bases (Yoju, Kimp’o, Suwon, Kunsan, Kwangju, Taegu, and Cheju). In May 1950, South Korea bought through donations 10 AT-6 trainers, modified for ground support. By the end of the Korean War, the ROKAF had 10 L-4s, six L-5s, six L-16s, 17 AT-6s, 78 F-51Ds, and one C-47.
One small correction to my post, the original pilots were a combination of former Imperial Army and Navy pilots–Japan did not have a separate air force during the war. Sorry.
thanks again, Mr. Min.
Haksaeng, I always wondered about that.
Why was the Air Force not a separate body in the US as well as Japan in World War II?
didn’t the British and Germans have a separate air force much earlier?
Greetings Mr. Koehler and community of Korea enthusiasts and well-wishers. Much appreciate The Marmot’s Hole bill of fare. To take the RoKAF to the current day this article on the Korean Aerospace Industries T-50 Golden Eagle seems useful: http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/ty.....0/T-50.htm
With reference to wjk’s first query above, I would offer that as the future USAF developed in size and importance from the Army Signal Corps Air Service, its tie to the U.S. Army was at a progressively higher level, until by the start of WW2, the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Forces were tied together only at the War Department, much as the U.S. Marine Corps was tied to the U.S. Navy at the Department of the Navy. The Department of Defense, subsuming the War and Navy departments, together with the creation of an independent Air Force, only came about with the National Defense Act of 1947.
Min,
All in all a good post. Do you happen to have an update on Korea’s possible procurement of the F-35? I know that the F-22 is out of the question for the time being.
Great post. I lived in Daegu from 2000-2003, very close the airport that also served as a ROKAF installation. Based there was the last squadron of Korean F-4Es. I vividly remember the noise of the F-4s during engine tests and take offs. When there was an exercise, a standing air patrol was established. The noise would wake the dead!
I understand the base at Daegu has switched to F-15 which will certainly help the locals get some sleep.
I also recall seeing an F-4 in the war musaem in Seoul. It really was the culmination of the 1950s mantra of “bigger is better.” The thing reminded me of the old adage “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.” To design something so huge as a fighter, without a gun no less, was not the greatest idea.
When I was in the Peace Corps (1974-76)in Kunsan, the ROKAF F-86s used to make mock bomb runs on the town on the monthly national defense exercise so that the local AAA batteries could train on them. It is an interesting feeling when you see a fighter diving at you and then pulling up just a couple of hundred feet over your head. The US had F-4Ds at Kunsan then and had their nukes poised to go North if necessary. No Sunshine Policy then.
Thank you WangKon936.
To answer you question, the ROKAF has finalized its requirements for the third phase of the FX Project. For reference, phase 1 was for 40 F-15Ks and phase 2 was for 20 F-15Ks.
The third phase calls for the procurement of 60 single or twin engined 5th generation stealth fighter with an internal weapons bay, which leaves the door open for the F-22, F-35 or Korea’s proposed indigenious 5th generation fighter, the KFX.
The procurement process is expected to begin on 2010.
Also, here’s a link to a post regarding the “sanitized” version of the F-35. The version that the ROKAF will get should it order the F-35.
http://bemil.chosun.com/brd/vi.....;num=38648
A1 Sky Rader! Douglas sold them to the ROK
WJK, sorry, I forgot to respond to your question (#9); my apologies.
Yes, the UK and Germany had separate air forces long before the US formed the US Air Force. The UK’s Royal Flying Corps was formed in 1912, and merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force in 1918. The Royal Air Force is the oldest independent air force in the world.
The German Luftwaffe started as a branch of the Army, being formed in 1910 as the Luftstreitkräfte. After WWI, it was disbanded as part of the Versailles Treaty obligations, but Hitler reformed the air service in 1935 as a separate service, the Luftwaffe.
wjk - The reason for the late formation of a separate air force in the U.S. was mainly due to politics and military doctrine.
The early airpower theorists such as Italy’s Giulio Douhet, Britain’s Hugh Trenchard and America’s Billy Mitchell were very charismatic and strong-willed characters who saw the aircraft as a unique instrument capable of changing the face of warfare with the capability to conduct strategic bombing behind entrenched enemy lines. But Army commanders of the time saw the aircraft basically as ‘flying guns’ to support the fighting of ground troops (what is now called close air support). Since airpower was/is a finite resource, the Army was reluctant to relinquish control of its planes to a separate service that wouldn’t regard air support as its first priority.
Hugh Trenchard was successful in pushing through his views and creating the RAF, but Mitchell, despite his best efforts, wasn’t able to create a separate U.S. air force. That came much later, and it was only after a defeat at the hands of Rommel at the Battle of Kasserine Pass that the U.S. came to realize the importance of centralizing control over its airpower.
This is just speculation, but the UK might have been more receptive of the strategic role of aircraft due to its location. A British military commander wouldn’t draw lines in the mud for armies to fight over - he would try to prevent ground forces from landing on Britain at all, and taking the fight to the enemy would entail aircraft taking off from Britain to attack continental Europe. This might have promoted a more strategically oriented mindset amongst Britain’s military and political leaders.
# 8 & 9, wjk:
“Why was the Air Force not a separate body in the US as well as Japan in World War II?…
didn’t the British and Germans have a separate air force much earlier?”
There must be military history books and theses galore on this subject; without knowing what they say, my guess is that questions of both domestic and intra-military politics played as much of a role as the issue of what doctrinal organization was/is considered “correct”.
By “politics”, for purposes of this discussion I mean who gets to control the manpower and the budget. In May 1918 the British Army generals and Royal Navy admirals were at the heighth of having plenty of both, yet the Germans were on the attack on the Western front and close to a breakthrough (the “Friedensturm” series of offensives).
So much so that I’m guessing the generals and admirals felt they probably couln’t adequate control everything using traditional organization structures, thus this contributed to the perceived need to set up an independent air service:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H....._Air_Force
So the British were first with a separate Air Force, in May 1918. Interestingly, the US Army separated its own air service from the Signal Corps that same month, making it into an independent branch of the Army (though not a separate service). Perhaps they were influenced by the British example; I’m sure the Army was having similar problems of control due to its rapid expansion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.....Air_Forces
The foundation of the German Luftwaffe in 1935 was under different circumstances as it was an “original” organization formed as of 1935 (the WWI Imperial German air service having been dissolved by the Versailles Treaty and Germany was not allowed any air force during the Weimar period).
Goering was of course a WWI German flyer, and having been one of the original supporters of Hitler he was allowed a free hand to organize the Luftwaffe the way he wanted to. Goering became IMO a prime example of a bureaucratic “empire builer”; Goering’s Luftwaffe controlled some organizations that in other countries were not normally the province of the Air Force (the extensive German anti-aircraft artillery units were part of the Luftwaffe, also the German paratroop units, also I think the Luftwaffe ran the POW camps for captured Allied flyers; in the US military, these were functions controlled by the US Army).
Also, Goering never allowed the formation of an independent naval air arm similar to the ones of the British and American navies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe
The details given above about the founding of the ROK Air Force are most interesting and deserve IMO further documentation; someone who knows should log into wikipedia and write up individual articles on these Korean founders, to supplement the wiki article about the ROK AF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R....._Air_Force
Assuming of course that they (or their descendants) are not currently under investigation as “collaborators” for their service in Imperial Japanese aviation units during WWII.
Of course, if any of them had any “kills” of US/allied (Chinese? Russian?) aircraft credited to them while in Japanese service, perhaps it would now serve to enhance their standing with large portions of the ROK public(?) Their story deserves to be told in any case, from a “western” perspective (by that I mean their own individual “take” on their experiences, both how they felt about it at the time and how they saw it in retrospect).
If they regret such service now, fine; if they remain defiantly proud of it why that would be interesting to hear about as well.