past pictures
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01:12:13 - 02:02:13
01:12:13 -- PICTURES OF THE WEEK: Combat aircraft of the Korean War, 1950-1953. 1. Testing of the 12.7 mm machine guns of a U.S. Air Force Republic F-84E Thunderjet fighter from the 49th Fighter-Bomber Wing in Korea, 1951. 2. Four U.S. Navy McDonnell F2H-2 Banshees from Fighter Squadron VF-11 Red Rippers fly over the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge following a combat mission over Korea. Kearsarge was deployed to Korea with Carrier Air Group 101 from Aug. 11, 1952 to March 17, 1953. 3. A U.S. Navy F9F Panther attached to the USS Bon Homme Richard flies over Task Force 77. The aircraft carriers visible are the USS Bon Homme Richard, USS Essex and, the USS Princeton. 4. Two U.S. Navy AD-4NA Skyraiders drop their ordnance on a target. 5. A U.S. Navy F4U-4B Corsair of fighter squadron VF-113 Stingers flies over U.S. ships at Inchon, Korea, Sept. 15, 1950. The battleship USS Missouri is visible below the Corsair. 6. A Grumman F7F Tigercat. 7. A U.S. Air Force North American F-51D-20-NA Mustang of the U.S. Fifth Air Force's 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 18th Fighter Bomber Wing releases two napalm bombs over industrial military target in North Korea, in 1951. 8. F-82G Twin Mustangs 339th Fighter Squadron on a strafing run, 1950. 9. Four U.S. Air Force Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star fighters of the 36th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter Bomber Wing, return from a mission in August 1952. 10. Four U.S. Air Force North American F-86E Sabre fighters over Korea in November 1952. 11. A U.S. Air Force Lockheed F-94B-5-LO Starfire from the 319th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron over Korea. 12. A USAF Douglas B-26B Invader of the 452nd Bombardment Wing bombing a target in North Korea, 29 May 1951. 13. U.S. Far East Air Forces B-29 "Superfort" of the 19th Bomb Group over Korea. 14. Soviet four-seat, twin-engine medium bomber. 15. Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9 single-engine fighter. 16. Soviet Lavochkin La-9 single-seat, single-engine fighter. 17. A Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 at Kimpo Air Base, Korea after a North Korean pilot defected. 18. A Soviet Ilyushin Il-10 two-seat, single-engine ground attack aircraft in a damaged hangar at Kimpo airfield, South Korea, on 21 September 1950.
The war's origins traced back to 1910, when Japan annexed Korea. Just prior to World War II the Korean language was banned and Koreans were ordered to assume Japanese names. During the war the Japanese conscripted almost three million Koreans for forced labor, while by 1945 300,000 Japanese troops were stationed there. Following the Japanese defeat Korea was divided into zones of control between the United States and the Soviet Union, with the demarcation line being the famed 38th parallel. In June 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea, and within three months had seized control of more than 90 percent of South Korean territory. United States and other nations' forces under the authority of the United Nations launched a counter-attack which pushed back North Korean forces to gain control of most of North Korea by that November. By December the U.S. and United Nations' forces were pushed back to the original 38th parallel. Though the war continued for two more years, little territory exchanged hands after that.
The Korean war was essentially a proxy war between the United States, the Peoples Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The involvement of the United States was predicated on the suspicion that the communist move into South Korea might be a predecessor to China and the Soviet Union attacking Japan, which had been under U.S. control. Complicating the equation was the possibility that the attack was a feint to draw U.S. strength into the Pacific while the Soviets prepared for an invasion of western Europe.
Over the course of the war, 1,789,000 U.S. troops were deployed to Korea. More than 36,000 U.S. troops were killed and a further 92,000 wounded. A further 3700 were declared missing in action. There were 7,140 American POWs during the Korean War. Of these, 4,418 returned to the United States, 2,701 died, and 21 refused repatriation. British casualties were 1,078 killed in action, 2,674 wounded and 1,060 missing or taken prisoner. Estimates state that 46,000 thousand South Korean soldiers were killed and over 100,000 wounded; 215,000 North Korean soldiers were killed, 303,000 wounded and over 100,000 captured or missing; 400,000 Chinese soldiers killed and 486,000 wounded, with over 21,000 captured. The Soviet military played mostly a support and training role, though Soviet pilots did engage in aerial combat; Soviet losses are unknown. Total civilian deaths are unknown.
The war featured the world's first dogfights between jet aircraft, and was the first battle engagement for the three-year old U.S. Air Force (before that, a branch of the U.S. Army). Six-hundred-thirty-five thousand tons of bombs were dropped, as well as 32,557 tons of napalm. In total, the United States made more than one million aerial sorties over the course of three years.
01:19:13 -- PICTURE OF THE WEEK: From 1952, an IBM computer ad as found in National Geographic magazine. The slide rule had been the primary instrument for computation across both scientific and engineering realms, especially in aviation. At the time of the ad the slide rule was still king, and in fact would only gradually be replaced by the computer over the following two decades.
01:26:13 -- PICTURES OF THE WEEK: From April 1952, an ad for the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, better known as Convair -- a United States aerospace company which from 1943 through 1994 produced some of America's most important aviation technology, including the 10-engined Convair B-36 strategic bomber (known as the "Peacemaker") and the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile.
02:02:13 -- PICTURES OF THE WEEK: From March 1952, description of a potential space station as part of the Colliers Magazine series "Man Will Conquer Space Soon". The article was written by noted science writer Willy Ley.
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