MiG Alley

MiG +‎ alley.

MiG Alley

1. (informal, historical, 1950s Korean War) A region of North Korea, close to the Yalu/Amnok River, where MiG-15 fighters would typically be encountered.
   • 2007 September 30, Andrew Salmon, “Dogfights and daring in Korea's deep blue yonder”, in South China Morning Post‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 March 2024, Latest:

     Along the Manchurian frontier was a 160km strip of land the US pilots dubbed 'MiG Alley'. Beyond it lay the North Korean, Chinese and Russian squadrons. From those airbases, MiGs sallied forth to attack the bombers striking North Korea.
     For the American pilots, MiG Alley was a hunting ground. In the 25 minutes their fuel allowed them over the area, they tore through the clouds at 1,000km/h.

   • 2015 March 20, Blaine Harden, “The U.S. war crime North Korea won’t forget”, in The Washington Post‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 March 2015, Opinions‎:

     Although the ferocity of the bombing was criticized as racist and unjustified elsewhere in the world, it was never a big story back home. U.S. press coverage of the air war focused, instead, on “MiG alley,” a narrow patch of North Korea near the Chinese border. There, in the world’s first jet-powered aerial war, American fighter pilots competed against each other to shoot down five or more Soviet-made fighters and become “aces.”

   • 2023 January 5, Richard Goldstein, Alex Traub, “Kenneth Rowe, Who Defected From North Korea With His Jet, Dies at 90”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-05, Asia Pacific‎:

     Seven decades later, that plane still exists, and resides at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.
     Its red star repainted, it is on display alongside an American F-86 Sabre jet, a remembrance of the dogfights of the Korean War in the swath of sky known as MIG Alley.

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