Nebel des Krieges

Sorry for the cryptic, "Sarge-esque", title, but if I'd have just entitled it "Fog of War" you might have blown it off with a "Whoop-de-doo, juvat's going to wax poetic how confusing combat is.  What does he know, he's never been in it." and then gone off to read some fictional website, say CNN or something.

So, given that you haven't left yet I'll continue, I was struggling to find a subject and failing, then decided to review my old standby to see if there wasn't a story or two left to tell on it.

Still have a few left to cover here, but....

Well, turns out there are still a few.  Today we will be learning about Lt Col George A. Davis.  While I've heard about virtually all the names on this monument to Medal of Honor Recipients, located on the parade field at Lackland AFB (sorry, not into the whole Joint Base-XYZ thing), I've never heard about Col Davis at all until now.  I mean, his Home of Record, as well as his cenotaph, is in Lubbock, TX  where I'd gone to College and got commissioned.  One would have thought there would be some little tidbit of history available.

None that I recall.  STxAR, how about you?

In any case, this guy should be remembered.  Here's a few of his stats.  266 combat missions in WWII totaling 705 combat hours with 7 confirmed Japanese kills.  He followed that up with an additional 59 combat missions in the Korean War for a total of (let me take my shoes off to help me add...) 325 combat sorties.  During that war, he shot down a total of 14 aircraft making him the only Jet double ace, the first ace in two wars and the leading ace in the Korean War.  He also became a double ace in only 17 days. That short period was certainly helped when  4 of those kills were in a single sortie.

Now, admittedly the F-86 he was flying in that engagement significantly out-performed his adversaries.

F-86 

Source

TU-2 Bomber (3 Kills)

Source

Although the last one in that engagement was a bit more formidable.

Mig-15

Source

On that sortie, after shooting down the three TU-2's, then Maj Davis was exiting the fight when he noticed one of the other members of his squadron under attack by 24 MiG-15s.  Maj Davis dove to attack a two ship that was commencing their firing pass, destroying one of them and allowing the other F-86 and he to exit the fight successfully.  Maj Davis landed from this sortie with 5 gallons of fuel left.

One of Maj Davis' kills from gun camera.

Source

That sortie seems, to me anyway, to have met the "...above and beyond the call of duty" criteria for the Medal of Honor.  Enormous victory, then re-engaging the enemy against extreme odds to protect a squadron mate, but...what do I know?  The Air Force awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross for that sortie.

At this point in his tour, Maj Davis was averaging one kill per 3 sorties. The Air Force, being a brand new service. not  having reached its fifth birthday, has been advertising him extensively.  Accordingly, the Chinese, and surreptitiously the Russians, want to take him out.  For that reason, the US policy was to rotate Aces out of the combat area as soon as possible after achieving that goal not only to preserve their combat skills and knowledge and pass it on to others through training, but to deny the communists a propaganda victory.

So, in January of '52, Major Davis is informed that the Air Force wants to rotate him home.  Unfortunately, they can find no one suitable to assume his command.

At this point, you know how this is going to end...don't you?

On February 10th, Major Davis is leading a 4-ship in an Offensive Counter Air mission in support of F-84s on an Interdiction mission (in English, He's flying cover to keep the bad guys from attacking the good guys who are going to drop bombs on the bad guys.  Yes, Beans, I tend to see the world in black and white.)

His element lead develops an Oxygen problem so has to RTB (they're flying at 38K', oxygen is required).  Maj Davis and his wingman continue the mission.  Shortly thereafter, they see a 12 ship of MiG-15s below them, but above the F-84s.  Maj Davis dives to attack, closes on one MiG and shoots him down, continuing the attack, he manages to get a shot at another MiG also shooting him down.  Continuing the attack, he tries to pull behind a third MiG, but MiGs from the trailing elements get behind his, now slow,  F-86 and shoot him down, killing him.

There was  some controversy over who actually shot him down,  A Chinese pilot, Zhang Jihui is officially credited with the kill, although the Russians say it was one of their pilots who shot him down.  But, but, but...There was no Russian involvement in the Korean War,  Right?

In any case, Zhang is shot down also, in fact, his parachute lands within a few hundred meters of Maj Davis' wreckage, and Maj Davis' wingman did not claim a kill.  This post postulates that the 2 F-86's he insists he shot down were, in fact, MiG-15s from his trailing flight and that one of them had shot down Maj Davis and that Maj Davis had shot down Zhang. It's confusing, but then Air to Air Combat, even in practice, is extremely confusing.

While Sarge and I were assigned at Kunsan, the ROKAF squadron there flew F-86s.  We would frequently engage in mock duels against anybody that was airborne in the Republic.  The first time I was bounced by one of the ROKAF F-86s,  and had my first glance at the attacker, I thought was it actually was a MiG.  They are very similar looking, especially from Air to Air kill ranges.  It would be easy to make that mistake. I'd say the hypothesis above is at least plausible.

So....Nebel des Krieges...Neh?

However regarding Maj Davis, it makes no difference who got the credit.  An excellent Fighter Pilot and Leader was lost.  My Wikipedia source goes in to the politics of the incident.  Read it if you're interested.  Those politics might be the reason for my total lack of awareness of this man.  IMHO, the Air Force should have tried harder to follow their rotation policies which might have preserved his life, but a Warrior's got to do what a Warrior's got to do.

Rest in Peace, Warrior!

Source

Lt Col Davis' Citation:

Maj. Davis distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.

While leading a flight of 4 F-86 Saberjets on a combat aerial patrol mission near the Manchurian border, Maj. Davis' element leader ran out of oxygen and was forced to retire from the flight with his wingman accompanying him. Maj. Davis and the remaining F-86's continued the mission and sighted a formation of approximately 12 enemy MIG-15 aircraft speeding southward toward an area where friendly fighter-bombers were conducting low level operations against the Communist lines of communications.

With selfless disregard for the numerical superiority of the enemy, Maj. Davis positioned his 2 aircraft, then dove at the MIG formation. While speeding through the formation from the rear he singled out a MIG-15 and destroyed it with a concentrated burst of fire. Although he was now under continuous fire from the enemy fighters to his rear, Maj. Davis sustained his attack. He fired at another MIG-15 which, bursting into smoke and flames, went into a vertical dive.

Rather than maintain his superior speed and evade the enemy fire being concentrated on him, he elected to reduce his speed and sought out still a third MIG-15. During this latest attack his aircraft sustained a direct hit, went out of control, then crashed into a mountain 30 miles south of the Yalu River.

Maj. Davis' bold attack completely disrupted the enemy formation, permitting the friendly fighter-bombers to successfully complete their interdiction mission.

Maj. Davis, by his indomitable fighting spirit, heroic aggressiveness, and superb courage in engaging the enemy against formidable odds exemplified valor at its highest.

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Maj Davis was promoted posthumously.  Although the Chinese identified and recovered his body, it was never repatriated to the United States.