In 1951, a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 is shot down over Korea's west coast and plummets into the Yellow Sea. The jet is pulled from the shallow water by US and South Korean forces, transported by a British frigate for study. At a US Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio, the plane is poured over. One of the first discoveries of this incredible aircraft comes when the engine is inspected. Expecting to find a hybrid of Russian and German jet technology, the teams studying the captured prize receive a shock. The plane is powered by what appears to be a Rolls-Royce Neen II, designed in England. 1940. Since the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union have been in an alliance, using their combined might to carve up Eastern Europe. With France giving in quickly to the Nazis, England's newly appointed Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, knows that German troops will soon be clambering up the English beachfront. He decides to send a new ambassador to Moscow, and a Member of Parliament volunteers for the job. He is Richard Stafford Cripps. Born into privilege, Cripps' first love is chemistry, and following a stint as an ambulance driver during the Great War, he studies law and becomes a successful attorney, before an interest in politics lures him to run for office. Cripps joins the Labour Party, and in 1930 becomes Solicitor-General in Ramsay MacDonald's government, a position that includes the honour of becoming a knight. Though regarded by all as a brilliant man, Sir Stafford Cripps has a tendency to ruffle feathers and soon finds himself clashing with Labour over his political leanings. Some of his views are considered so extremely left-wing by the Labour Party that he's chased out. Now sitting as an independent, he finds himself on a trip to Moscow with a goal of aligning the Soviet Union with Britain. Stafford Cripps was certainly born into a life of privilege and his father was a Conservative MP. This no doubt stimulated his own interest in politics. But what I think really led him into his own particular line in politics was really his religion. We can't understand Stafford Cripps unless we understand that he was a committed Christian who had very fervent beliefs. In some ways they seem rather naive, they're certainly idealistic. He believed in the brotherhood of man. The crucial event for him was really the economic crisis of 1931, when Britain was hit by the so-called economic blizzard that swept away the Labour government and seemed to indicate that the capitalist system simply wasn't coping and couldn't cope. This led Cripps, from being a moderate member of the Labour Party, into adopting Marxism, which naturally involved a degree of sympathy with the Soviet Union. In 1940, while the Battle of Britain rages, Krips arrives in Moscow. While hope is high that he can steer Russia into an alliance with England, early results are not at all promising. Just days after Krips has a three-hour meeting with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Premier and The Prime Minister and Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov gives a speech on how successful the Russian-German alliance has been for the country. Kripps continually warns Stalin not to trust Hitler, but to no avail. The key episode was really from 1940 to 1941, when he went to Russia as Britain's ambassador. And what he found there certainly changed his view and formed what to many people will seem a surprisingly unfavourable view of Soviet Russia for such a left-wing figure. From his book, The Krips Version, Dr Peter Clark reads Krips' correspondence with his daughter during the politician's time as ambassador in Russia. He's talking about the regime and says that it has many difficulties, perhaps due partly because they're inherent in every form of dictatorship. And he continues in this way, "'If to all these difficulties you add the government "'by secret police and spies, "'which is the only method for a dictatorship, "'then in such a country as this, "'with a people of this kind apt to intrigue "'and brought up in underground revolutionary activities, you get perpetual change of personnel and liquidation of many of the more intelligent people, creating new difficulties of organisation. In the passage I just quoted, we see already, surely, that Cripps accepts that this is essentially a dictatorship, it is essentially a police state, that it is in many ways a deeply unattractive society. During the war, admittedly, he argued very strongly in favour of alliance with Russia as the best way to beat Hitler's Germany, but long before the end of the war, he was certainly no ideological captive of the communist system. Within a year, Krip's warnings about Hitler's trustworthiness become all too real, and Stalin must face the awful truth. Operation Barbarossa begins, as Nazi Germany storms into Soviet-controlled territory and pushes Stalin's forces back. It's a swift, fiery onslaught that knocks the Red Army back on its heels. It's a turn of events which suits Winston Churchill just fine. Not only does this new Eastern Front relieve some of the pressure on his troops, but it gives him and particularly Cripps clout with Stalin and amongst the Russians. A bond is forged over their common enemy and soon an Anglo-Russian alliance is formed. But Churchill may be on shaky ground at home. Not only do the Russian politicians embrace Cripps, but the British public do as well. After a broadcast to the nation on the situation in Russia, Cripps is suddenly one of the most popular men in the nation, even seen as a contender for the position of Prime Minister. At a time when defeats are plentiful, Cripps makes it known that he'd be ready to take up the post if Churchill is unable to manage. Churchill seizes on this. In March of 1942, he sends his new rival to India in order to broker a deal with Gandhi and Jinnah. If the Cripps mission is a success, India will aid the war effort against the Nazis in exchange for self-rule once the conflict is at an end. to be giving to the Indian negotiators during the trip causes it to end with no deal in place. The Indian Congress Party will not agree to aid England in the war. But aid is coming from another source. Through its Lend-Lease Program, the United States of America begins to send supplies to the Allied forces in exchange for gold. They supply vast numbers of vehicles throughout the war, and Britain is the main beneficiary of the deal. The Soviet Union is far behind the West in technological advances, and needs aid as well. Russia receives close to 15,000 aircraft by the war's end, almost 20% of all the aircraft that they use. The most prominent of these is the Bell P-39 Airacobra. It's best suited for low-altitude flight due to its lack of turbo-superchargers. Its unconventional layout, with the engine behind the pilot, leaves little room for storing fuel. The standard load is carried in the P-39's wings. It's therefore limited to short-range tactical strikes. The most advanced fighters and bombers the Americans keep for themselves. It aggravates the Soviets to be given the older technology that they make do with what they're given. Of the equipment delivered, much of it is not suited to combat on the Eastern Front. Aircraft meant for tropical conditions are now used in a much colder climate. There are few spare parts and so crews must sometimes improvise as best they can. The Soviets learn to adapt the Western technology to their needs and uses. Skills that will serve them well in the years to come. 1945. First Nazi Germany falls and then so does Winston Churchill. The general election on July the 5th knocks the Conservatives from power and brings in a new Labour government, led by the wartime coalition government's Deputy Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. The public feels that the Labour Party will be more adept at helping England rebuild in the post-war period. Joining Attlee's cabinet as Minister of the Board of Trade is Sir Stafford Cripps. The election of a Labour government in 1945 came as a great surprise to the world, who imagined that Winston Churchill would inevitably win re-election, having won the war. I think it's important to realise the strong elements of continuity, especially in foreign policy, that went over from Churchill's coalition wartime government, in which Labour had played a big part, into the post-war Labour government. The main thrust of this new government is to rebuild the war-weathered country. It's about winning the peace by giving Britons a crutch to lean on. They use the 1942 Beveridge Report as a guide for reforming the country. Attlee brings about sweeping changes that will alter the country for decades to come. Free national health care, education for everyone up to the age of 15, social security, he works towards giving India and Burma their freedom. It's far removed from the direction that their ally America is heading. More and more nations adopt communism, and never comfortable with these ideals, America finds these new social developments within Britain curious and worrisome. Churchill was the sort of man Americans understood, and Attlee is no Churchill. He's small and modest, spares his words when they aren't needed. To Americans, the contrast is a sharp one that gives them pause. Labour's domestic policies seem much closer to communism than to capitalism. Foreign policy was largely in the hands of the Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the very strong Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. Now both of them in 1945 and 1946 were ready to take a much stronger line against the Soviet Union and its threat to the integrity of states in Eastern Europe than the Americans were at the time. So Atlee and Bevin had to argue with President Truman about the need to stand up to Soviet Russia. It wasn't really until events took their own course during 1946 that, in a sense, Truman came round to the rather harder line that the British government was already following. It's therefore somewhat surprising to find that in popular politics in the United States, Britain, simply because it had a Labour government, was then perceived as a weak link in the Western alliance. If you come down to the realities of the situation, you see that it's in fact British policy that is actually more consistent through the 1940s in taking a firm line in opposing Soviet expansionism. And Cripps, for all his previous sympathy with the Soviet Union, is firmly in support of the line of a government of which he's a leading member. America's astounding capacity for production kept Britain well-supplied during its darkest days following the Battle of Britain and supplemented their renewed manufacturing throughout the rest of the war. And now, very suddenly, the lend-lease program that booned to Allied nations throughout the war ends. America turns off the tap and stops the flow of resources into Britain. Not only that, they send the bill. Over one billion pounds to be paid back over a 50-year period. As America is entering a post-war boom in prosperity, Britain is withering under its immense debt and damaged infrastructure. Three-quarters of a million homes damaged or destroyed. One third of gold reserves spent. Food rationing becomes more stringent than it had been during the war. Coal, an absolute necessity for providing Britain with heat and manufacturing, is scarce. We shall only get it right if we can produce much more than we did before the war. That's the only way we can get the things we need. Food, clothes, entertainment, a little less struggle to live, a decent home and warmth. We want colour in our lives, a better education for the kids, bigger pensions for the old people and all the rest. No doubt we are in a bit of a tough spot, and it'll take a year or two to get out. But we've done it before and we can do it again. And while the post-war situation is tumultuous for the common people, it's a windfall for the Allied militaries. Germany's defeat sees its treasure trove of technological secrets scatter for anyone looking to pick up the pieces. The Allied nations rush into German territory to recruit the top scientists and to integrate these advancements into their own country's technology. Russian forces lay their hands on the Reich Air Ministry in Berlin and the many secrets within it, swept wings, rocket power and the jet engine. With this information, they can make a vast leap ahead and finally begin to catch up to the Western powers. And since the pre-war days, when Stalin assessed his nation to be 50 to 100 years behind Western technology, the Soviet Union has been making great advancements. One Soviet manufacturer, the Mikoyan-Goryevich Design Bureau, has been creating aircraft since 1940, establishing a solid reputation for creating fighter planes. Their first post-war design, the MiG-9, is powered by a copy of the captured German BMW 003 engine. As early jets go, it has a fairly conventional design, an all-metal fuselage with straight wings. For their second generation jet aircraft, they'll be incorporating some new ideas in aerodynamics. But for all the advancements that they'd like to implement, the power plant is not up to snuff. The German jet engine that the Russians discover has its flaws. The axial flow system, while powerful, is difficult to maintain. Engines quickly burn out and must be replaced. Their short lifespans plagued German ground crews throughout the war, and though the Soviets pursue the creation of their own jet engine based on this technology, they find themselves facing the very same problems the Germans had. Germany's most advanced jet engine design is proving difficult to perfect. The new airframe designs that Mikoyan-Gurevich are creating will need something more advanced and reliable than the adapted German engine. To keep up with Western development, Russia will need a centrifugal flow jet engine, like Frank Whittle has developed in England. While not as powerful as the axial engine, it's reliable and has been a prudent performer. Rolls-Royce has continued to make developments using Whittle's ideas, and currently have the Nene-2 engine, which, despite its great power, has only thus far been used in prototypes of the Hawker Seahawk and the failed Supermarine Attacker. Without an advanced jet engine, Russia's aircraft development will be at a standstill. The Soviet aviation minister Mikhail Khronichev and designer Alexander Yakalev, suggest to Stalin that they purchase more advanced engines from another country. Stalin scoffs at Khronichev's idea. What fool will sell us his secrets, he asks. Despite knowing that his men will fail on their journey to purchase this technology, Stalin allows the trade mission to go ahead. MIG's Artem Mikoyan, engine designer Vladimir Klimov and others travel to England to tour Rolls-Royce's plant and to see other British aircraft developments. When the trade mission lands in London, they find a socialist government ready to embrace them. There's still much goodwill afforded to Russia, still seen by British eyes as an ally in the noble war against Nazi forces. That, and post-war England, needs money. The Soviet delegation tours the Rolls-Royce plant and is shown their latest engine developments, the Derwent and the Neem. They ask to purchase several of each. When the order comes across the desk of a Ministry of Supply employee, he warns Minister John Wilmot against selling the Soviets the technology. Britain is the absolute leader in jet engines. Russia is at least five years away from similar developments. Selling them one of the nation's greatest achievements would be, as Stalin has said, foolish. But the sale is pushed through by the President of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps. I think it was a socialist move to a socialist government, or an extreme Soviet government. We'd helped the Soviets before, or the Stalinists before, of course, at the beginning of World War II. But here I think this was going beyond the call of duty after the end of the war. And it certainly hurled them straight into the Premier League in aviation. Despite a distrust of Stalin after his time in Moscow, Cripps sees the world breaking into two spheres of influence and wants to bring those sides together. Not only that, the sale means a good deal of money for Rolls-Royce, at a time when big contracts are hard to come by. Cripps even offers to allow the Soviets to build the engine themselves under licence. The circumstances of the sale of the Rolls-Royce engines to Russia can't be divorced from Britain's economic predicament after the war, with a desperate need to increase exports. Cripps, as President of the Board of Trade, was the minister with primary responsibility for British trade. It's only natural, therefore, that he should have wanted to encourage expansion of British trade and opportunities for British exports in every direction possible. And certainly in 1946 he was taking the view that Russia was a promising export market as far as British manufacturers were concerned. I think it's only natural, given all the circumstances, that he would have wanted to approve the sale of aircraft engines which, after all, at that time were not regarded as classified or restricted, had not been put under any sort of military ban. And there's frankly no need to seek further for an ideological explanation of his decision to approve a deal that he saw simply as being in the British national interest in order to revive British trade. While Cripps' actions on the sale may have been honest, the Soviet delegations are less so. Rather than accepting the license, the Russian engine manufacturer Klimov begins to reverse-engineer the Nene from the examples they have purchased. The Russians begin producing a version, the Klimov RD-45. But creating a successful engine is proving difficult. England has a long history of metallurgy, dating back centuries. Small forges all over the British Isles have developed techniques to create strong metals from ores and minerals found throughout the Empire that are perfect at handling the high stresses and heat associated with the power of a jet engine. Russian metallurgy is not nearly as advanced, and they find this one of their main stumbling blocks in duplicating the engine. The Nene can run 500 hours between overhauls, but the Klimov copy doesn't last more than a hundred. They increase the size of the combustion chambers and turbine, and refine the alloys used to create the engine. This new model is known as the Klimov VK1. With the engine ready, they can now finalize designs. In April of 1947, the Council of Ministers issue a decree ordering Mikoyan-Gurevich to build two prototypes of a new jet fighter, one that will put the Soviet Union ahead of the field in aircraft design. The B-29 has been America's front-line bomber since the final year of World War II. It's a revolutionary leap ahead of other aircraft, with its pressurized cabin and computer-assisted gun turrets. And now that the United States has the atomic bomb, the Soviet Union needs the future capabilities to defend against a bomber entering their territory with one of these tremendous weapons. The Council of Ministers wants an interceptor for just such a situation. Mikoyan-Gurevich looks back at their earlier aircraft to see any lessons they can learn. Their experimental Canard plane, the MiG-8, had swept wings, a feature that they are interested in exploring further. Some captured German designs, like the TA-183 Huckebein, had swept wings implemented as well. Their latest jet, the MiG-9, has been promising, and they used this as the base to build from. Its engine troubles have been solved with the Klimov engine in place of the BMW powerplant. It will also receive newly designed wings, swept back at an angle of 35 degrees. After some additional refinements, this new creation, the MiG-15, has a top speed of over 650 miles per hour. Though early production aircraft have a tendency to roll, these problems are lessened by adding aerodynamic trimmers near the ailerons and rudder. It's also recommended that pilots stay below Mach 0.9 to lessen any other stability problems. Test combat trials are conducted with a captured B-29 as well as the Soviet copy, the Tu-4. To shoot down the Superfortress, the MiG-15 is armed with two 23mm cannons and a single 37mm cannon. In 1949, production stops on the MiG-9 and the MiG-15 enters the Soviet Air Force. 1950. North Korean troops cross the 38th parallel into South Korean territory. By July 5th, American forces have joined with the South Korean army. The United Nations also enters the fray under the guise of a police action. Soon, the conflict escalates beyond a ground war when the US calls for strategic bombing with its In addition, piston-engine fighters like the Mustang and the Corsair left over from the Second World War are joined by the jet-powered Gloster Meteor and the F-80 Shooting Star. With the South Korean forces bolstered by UN support, North Korea also looks outside its borders for help. In October, Chairman Mao Zedong of China, fearing that a US occupation of the Korean Peninsula would eventually lead to war with his country, sends a volunteer army into the fray. The North Korean and Chinese leaders ask Stalin for help, and while the Soviet dictator is unwilling to send in ground forces, he does provide aircraft in the form of the MiG-15 jet fighters, painted in Chinese colors to mask Soviet involvement. Soviet pilots are sent to train North Korean and Chinese airmen how to fly the fighter jets. They're taught simple Chinese phrases and dressed in Chinese uniforms and sent into the skies to combat and shoot down B-29s and engage the UN fighter forces. The piston engine planes like the Mustang and the first generation straight wing jets are no match for the abilities of the MiG-15. It's faster and can fly higher and longer than any of its opponents. The Soviet victories come fast and often. The American pilots use their years of dogfighting experience to counter the superior technology at their enemy's disposal, but it's not always enough. Soon, B-29s are forced to limit their bombing runs to night time. The first sighting of the MiG-15 in the Korean War, I think, had the same impact on pilots that, as did the first sighting of the Focke-Wulf 190 just after the Battle of Britain when it appeared in Europe and we had nothing really to compare with it for the next year. Its success was due to two factors, one was the jet engine they had, the Nien, and the second one was of course the data they had got from the captured German sources on the sweepback, wing sweepback. So it was a twin contribution, if you like. Soviet air superiority begins to change in December of 1950, with the arrival of an all-new fighter aircraft for the American forces, the F-86 Sabre. First developed as the straight-winged FJ Fury jet, its design has changed to incorporate 35-degree swept-back wings and automatic slats. The Sabre is not a leap ahead of the Soviet jet, but it does level the playing field. The discovery of an advanced British engine in the fuselage of a Russian-designed plane infuriates the Americans. This is not the first time the Soviets have made a huge leap ahead in military technology. The August 1949 detonation of Russia's first atomic bomb showed just how far they could advance technologically in a few years with some outside help. First, Klaus Fuchs, a German-born scientist brought in by England to work on the Manhattan Project has been arrested for providing the Soviet Union with atomic bomb designs. And at the moment, Donald Maclean, a high-ranking British Foreign Ministry official, is suspected by the FBI of providing the Soviets with a variety of information. As the British representative on the American, Canadian and British Atomic Secrets Council during the war, he's had access to nuclear secrets at a time when the quest for the bomb was known only to a few. It's in the autumn that UN forces finally get their hands on the MiG-15, dug into the ground. No chance to remove the entire wreck, they use grenades to separate the engine. The Americans are livid. How could England have handed over a piece of powerful technology to Stalin's regime? But they have little time to blame Sir Stafford Cripps for selling the engines to their enemies. He's been retired for close to a year due to failing health. In October, Winston Churchill's Conservatives edge out the Labour Party, knocking Attlee out of government. Churchill, as Prime Minister once more, makes Anglo-American relations a priority again, and with him back in power, there's little chance that the Soviets will find any socialists to sell them other technology. In the northwest of Korea, in an area along the Yalu River, the first large-scale jet versus jet air battles of history take place, in an area dubbed Mig Alley. When the sabers reach Mig Alley, they have only 20 minutes of fuel to engage the enemy with. The MiG-15s, with their bases nearby, can linger much longer. American pilots charge in at 40,000 feet, only to find the MiG-15s flying 10,000 feet above them. The MiGs hide in the sun's glare, then swoop in as a formation of Sabres are on patrol. The Russian fighter does have its share of weaknesses. The cannons it's equipped with, while powerful, have a low rate of fire compared to the Sabre's guns. It also has poor stalling characteristics. The Sabre pilot can force a MiG-15 into a dive that becomes a spin that cannot be recovered from. The combat experience of the United Nations pilots ultimately trumps the sophistication of the Soviet plane. By war's end, the UN forces have shot down 900 enemy aircraft, almost 800 of which are MiG-15s. But the aircraft has proven that the Soviets can use a blend of ingenuity and craftiness to match the West's innovation. Between the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland and China, over 16,000 MiG-15s are produced. In 1958, Rolls-Royce Deputy Chairman Whitney Strait is touring a factory in China when he sees an engine curiously similar to the Neen. Discovering that its origins lie in the reverse engineering of the Neen, he attempts to collect payment for the almost fifty thousand engines that Klimov made by taking and adapting the design and licensing it to other countries for the MiG-15 and later aircraft. Two hundred million million pounds is the compensation he is looking for. He leaves without one farthing. The man whose decision led to the jet engine being copied is long since gone. Sir Stafford Cripps dies in April of 1952, in the midst of the Korean War. And while he is remembered mainly for his contributions to Britain's war effort and the post-war cultural shift, he will forever be tied to the MiG-15 by that one decision. Cripps has always been, to a large extent, the prisoner of his own reputation, but it was a reputation that shifted over time. In the 1930s, his own high principles led him to take a very extreme political position on the far left of the political spectrum, arguing that only full-blooded socialism, or even communism, could offer an answer to the economic problems of the day. By the 1940s, Cripps's position is quite different from what it had been ten years previously. It took people, quite naturally, some time to catch up with the rather rapid evolution through which he'd gone. An evolution which is often overshadowed in aviation circles by this gift to Russia. A decision that may have been motivated by all the right reasons, but strengthens the might of the Soviet military for years to come. The war began here, at the 38th parallel. Just how did this imaginary line become the fuse for a three-year explosion? On June 25, 1950, Communist North Korea crosses the 38th parallel into South Korea. What was once considered a pawn in Asian politics now takes center stage across the globe. Armed with Soviet weaponry, American advisors are pushed to the edge of the Korean peninsula, causing Harry Truman, in a decision that defines his presidency, to take action. Three days later, under authorization by the United Nations, American forces are sent back to Asia, where just five years before, they had battled Japan in a brutal struggle. By Truman's orders, airstrikes against communist forces on both sides of the 38th parallel are approved. And in looking for a plane to complete this mission, one of the greatest bombers in history is brought out of mothballs to fight another day. The B-29 Superfortress, the airplane that brought Japan down to its knees, the airplane that symbolized America's industrial strength, and the airplane that dropped the most infamous bomb in history, rises from the ashes. Its goal this time is to destroy the highly industrialized North the same way it decimated the land of the rising sun. To knock out bridges, dams and railways. To reduce the city centers of Pyongyang, Chongyin and Roshin into rubble. But unfortunately for the B-29, a fighter bearing the red star, incorporating swept wings and jet technology, writes the obituary for this mighty bomber, ending its impressive run as America's greatest aircraft. Following the defeat of both Germany and Japan, the American people celebrate after nearly four years of sacrifice and struggle. With the powers of Europe in economic ruins, the United States emerges as an undisputed superpower. At the same time, the Soviet Union, America's biggest ally during the fight against the Nazis, begins to flex its muscles across the globe. There was already a lot of animosity and tension and a lack of clarity about exactly how the two would stack up. And I think it's also important to keep in mind that nobody really knew a grand vision for Europe even as Nazi Germany collapsed. Following VE Day, communist states are established across Eastern Europe, presenting a direct threat to Western democracies allied with America. At Potsdam, it becomes clear that a new Cold War is taking shape between these two former allies. When I was in Potsdam, I thought I could get along with Stalin. How mistaken I was. Made 32 agreements, and he broke every single one of them. What are you going to do with an outfit like that? I found out as things developed that the objective of the Russians was to dominate the whole of Western Europe. With an iron curtain dividing Europe, President Harry Truman moves quickly to contain Soviet expansion. Billions of dollars in financial aid is provided to Western European countries, still in economic shambles after the war. Known as the Marshall Plan, a line in the sand is drawn between Stalin and America. Why must the United States carry so great a load in helping Europe? The answer is simple. The United States is the only country in the world today which has the economic power and productivity to furnish the needed assistance. From a Soviet perspective, it was a weapon that they just couldn't possibly equal. Money, $13 billion in 1947 when it's promulgated, is just something the Soviets couldn't even possibly counter in their wildest dreams. There's no doubt whatever in my mind that if we decide to do this thing, we can do it successfully. Next, in what solidifies the image of Americans as liberators, food and materials are flown into a blockaded West Berlin during the greatest airlift in history. And finally, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is established, with each member in this military alliance pledging to come to the other's aid in case of an enemy attack. Back in Washington, D.C., the Truman Doctrine of Containment calls for a radical change in how the military operates. By executive order, on July 26, 1947, the President signs into law the National Security Act, bringing the Army and Navy under one umbrella, known as the Department of Defense. In addition, the dream of Army Air Force Chief Hap Arnold comes true when the United States Army Air Force becomes a separate independent branch of the military. And with its creation, this new department has big plans on how to defeat the communists. With the growing Soviet threat, it becomes vital for America to possess a truly intercontinental bomber. In the factories of Convair, the gigantic B-36 Peacemaker, having a wingspan of 230 feet, six radial engines, four turbojets, and a payload of over 70,000 pounds, is wheeled out for the first time. With this behemoth, the United States can now fly straight into the Soviet Union to deliver a fatal blow. The B-36 was intended as a doomsday weapon against the Soviet Union. It would drop the atomic bombs which would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would have done that. That's why they call it the peacemaker, because it kept the peace because of its capability. As a result, its predecessor, the B-29 Superfortress, once the biggest plane in the world, now becomes a medium-range bomber. Another revolution in aircraft design also happens during this period. Propeller-driven planes are phased out by jet engines, giving pilots the ability to fly significantly faster with this new form of propulsion. The P-51 Mustang, an aircraft that ruled the skies over Germany and Japan, is replaced with Lockheed's F-80 Shooting Star, a jet-powered aircraft with a maximum speed of 600 miles per hour. While this research and development continues, on the continent of Asia, the balance of power shifts dramatically in 1949 when Mao Zedong becomes the first chairman of the newly created People's Republic of China. With this transformation, the United States' biggest ally in the fight against Japan becomes part of the Soviet sphere of influence, making it now one of America's biggest enemies. That same year, Stalin acquires the technology to develop the atomic bomb, destroying the United States' nuclear monopoly. The Soviet Union getting the atomic bomb followed quickly, chronologically, by the fall of China, are very, very close in chronological period. And they feed in the United States in particular this conception of communism rolling over, a monolithic communism spreading throughout Europe. And it breeds, obviously, this sort of hostility and ideological blinders on, if you will, that the McCarthy era comes best known to be associated with. But it's certainly a massive shift in American perception. With the tension escalating, it becomes clear that a showdown is on the horizon. The only question is, where? In this Cold War, instead of a direct confrontation between the two superpowers, proxy battles take place in faraway lands. And in 1945, very few could have guessed that a Third World War would almost break out over a tiny strip of Asian land south of the Yalu River. The nation of Korea, a protectorate of Japan since 1905, is liberated following the end of the Second World War, with the Soviets occupying the highly industrialized North and the Americans managing the agrarian South, with the 38th parallel being the dividing line. When we think about North Korea during the Korean War, it helps to remember that the Japanese had occupied Korea from 1905 until 1945, and had brought North Korea very far along toward becoming a more modern state. And indeed, in 1950, North Korea was probably in many ways in better shape than it is today. For five years, tensions escalate between the opposing sides, with war almost inevitable. In southern Korea, in the American zone, native communists, inspired by their brothers to the north, have succeeded in vastly complicating American plans for Korean self-rule. In 1949, the American Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, delivered a speech in which He attempted to convey a firm U.S. position toward the Soviet Union and listed allied countries that the United States would defend if there were trouble caused by Soviet aggression, and he left out Korea. Not very many Americans noticed that Korea was left out of the Dean Acheson speech, but the North Koreans noticed it. The hostilities brewing for half a decade finally erupt on June 25, 1950, when North Korean forces armed with Soviet tanks cross the 38th parallel, making American and South Korean forces hold on for dear life at the Pusan perimeter. We're pathetically weak in the Far East. The North Koreans wanted to reunite the peninsula. They always have, they always will. And they persuaded both the leaders in Russia and in China that they could pull it off in just a few days, so to give them a fait accompli before the United States could react, the peninsula would be reunited, and both Russia and Chinese leaders believed that the United States wouldn't respond. When North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, nobody in Washington was expecting that to happen, nor were we prepared for it. When Truman hears that his outnumbered soldiers are on the brink of being pushed into the Sea of Japan, the president moves quickly in getting United Nations approval to send troops to the Korean peninsula. When the Soviet ambassador walks out of the Security Council weeks before in protest, his absence clears the way for a resolution authorizing the use of force against this act of aggression. By the 27th of June, Truman orders General Douglas MacArthur, the head of SCAP in Japan, to mobilize U.S. ground forces for battle in what the president describes as a police action in order to avoid congressional approval. Backing them up, airstrikes against North Korean targets that include troop concentrations, supply depots, and rail yards are approved. Looking for a plane to perform this task, the newly created United States Air Force turns to its very best. The Korean War was being fought with the older aircraft in inventory, and that, in the world of bombers, meant the B-29. Boeing's B-29 Superfortress, a four-engine bomber responsible for the destruction of Japanese cities, is selected as the centerpiece in the bombing campaign against North Korea. Known as the billion-dollar gamble, having been built in the factories of Georgia, Nebraska and Kansas, this airplane proves decisive in weakening Hirohito's war machine as thousands of sorties decimate square miles of Japan. With cities firebombed by incendiaries, a controversial strategy approved by General Curtis LeMay, the most famous bombing mission of all time, is carried out on a B-29 when the Enola Gay drops the first atomic weapon in history on the city of Hiroshima, opening up a nuclear Pandora's box where just one bomb can wipe out an entire population. And I think it's useful to remember Einstein, right, saying I don't know how they're going to fight this war, but I guarantee you how they'll fight the next with sticks and stones. He understood in general terms the magnitude of what they were doing, but in terms of the immediate implications, political, military, or even scientific, it was unclear to much of the world. It was just big, and nobody really knew enough about it to say exactly how big it was going to be. Post-war, despite the superfortress being downgraded to a medium-range bomber, with many of them sold for scrap, the existing B-29s still carry out some of the Air Force's most historic missions. The Pakusan Dreamboat travels non-stop from Honolulu, Hawaii to Cairo, Egypt, in a record 39 hours and 36 minutes. Bikini Atoll, the B-29 drops the atomic bomb in a series of tests during Operation Crossroads. And finally, a specially modified Superfortress carries on its wings Bell's rocket-powered X-1, where on October 14, 1947, the sound barrier is broken by pilot Chuck Yeager. Now, B-29 stationed at Anderson Air Base in Guam are ordered to land in Okinawa. The B-29 was the only available alternative. SAC was not going to let its handful of B-50s, which it had acquired by that time, be assigned to this role. The B-36 would be an overkill, and they didn't want to risk that. They were the prime assets for use against the Soviet Union, They began pulling these poor, tired B-29s out of depots where they were stored, stripping them down and restoring them. And they also began pulling out the poor, tired reserve officers who had fought one war, were happily sent over now as dentists or students or cops or whatever, and were extremely upset about being recalled to fight the war. is to delay the enemy by maintaining air superiority, destroying bridges and railways. However, the B-29's greatest limitation is neither in its payload nor in its outdated equipment. Instead, it comes from Washington, D.C., where orders are given not to attack China or the Soviet Union, the two nations supplying the North Koreans with military equipment. There was a great fear that if you went too far, with military equipment. There was a great fear that if you went too far, you would provoke Russian intervention perhaps, and you might invoke formal Chinese intervention. Now the Chinese reaction, the Chinese did not declare war on us, they simply sent hundreds of thousands of troops and equipment south. So there was a desire to avoid the sudden extension of the war, and they felt that bombing across the Yalu might precipitate that. So, no matter how many sorties are flown north of the 38th parallel, in the end, the strategic bombing campaign is going to have finite limits in terms of an effective payoff. It is a controversial decision by the Truman administration that is hotly debated by American military leaders. When United States aircraft enters Korea, it becomes evident that after a period of post-war demobilization, they are not prepared for this conflict. The bulk of the forces that they had over there were three P-26 outfits that could go over and do some interdiction. And P-51s came in later. We had some jets that had a tough time getting over there and getting back to Japan. It was a very, very meager effort, but oddly enough, it was just sufficient to stall them to the point that the Pusan perimeter held and we had a chance to build up a little bit. The F-80, designed as a high-altitude interceptor, performs so poorly in ground attacks that Second World War Mustangs are pulled out of storage to close the gap. And with vital targets in China off limits for the B-29 and its counterpart the B-26 invader, the words of General Omar Bradley ring true. That Korea is the wrong war, at the wrong place, against the wrong enemy. Despite these constraints, the 100 plus superfortresses America has are put to work immediately. To stop the flow of supplies traveling south, B-29s are sent from Okinawa to bomb the highly industrialized north. Chongyin, Hungnam, Rashin and the capital Pyongyang are to be attacked mercilessly. A typical sortie carrying 40 500-pound bombs wreaks havoc and by September of 1950, North Korea is destroyed. Unable to employ fighters and having such weak anti-aircraft defense, the B-29 is able to complete its mission flawlessly. The B-29s did do useful work in destroying what little industry the North Koreans had, and they were invaluable in the interdiction role. And that's a role for which they had never been designed, but they were successful in it. By the end of October, over 30,000 tons of bombs are dropped, exceeding World War II records. While this air war ensues, on the ground, MacArthur pulls off one of the most spectacular amphibious assaults in history during the battle at Inchon, where 40,000 troops land successfully on the beaches. You talk about laying it all on the line. MacArthur had his whole career laid on the line there. He could easily have failed by reasons of a storm or some other miscalculations, but the Inchon invasion succeeded. And when they got there, what they found was that the North Koreans had become a paper tiger because of the interdiction. There were so many tanks and trucks destroyed on the road that the invading, we were now the invading armies, we were going up into North Korea. We were amazed to find how much destruction had been brought by air power and by such a limited amount of air power. Two months later, UN troops not only take back all of South Korea, but are told to cross the parallel to unite the two countries. Because of this decision, the Joint Chiefs of Staff orders a halt to the bombing of strategic targets in the north. By October of 1950, with UN forces now at the Yalu River, it appears the war is all but won by MacArthur's men. And I went home feeling very, very good about the situation. When I got to San Francisco, I made a speech on the subject and complimented him on what he had done and told the American people that I didn't think the Chinese were coming into Korea. And then, you know what happened. Days later, Mao's China comes to North Korea's rescue, launching a fierce counter-strike of 180,000 men, pushing coalition troops south of the 38th parallel. Chinese forces entered the war in November 1950 and reversed the tide of the war and defeated the U.S. soldiers and Marines who were in North Korea at the time and began a massive offensive and for a period of time appeared to be winning the war. Ironically, these forces enter the war zone through a series of bridges that were off limits for the B-29. With the Chinese firmly entrenched on the battlefield, a bitter war of attrition ensues for more than two years. With the situation being drastically altered, superfortresses are permitted to step up their campaign. On November 7th, 70 B-29s dropped nearly 600 tons on the city of Sinuiju. Two raids against Pyongyang in January of 1951 destroy 35% of the city. The B-29s had a capacity that the other elements of the Air Force lacked, and that was to a A major target came up as what happened when the later in the war the North Koreans established airfields to operate from in the South Korean area where they had occupied. B-29s could simply just take them out. They would go over and obliterate them. Now there were some losses incurred in this, but they were still an effective weapon for that kind of work. However, the aircraft's limitations are becoming evident during the Korean campaign. With improved anti-aircraft artillery forcing these planes to fly at altitudes above 18,000 feet, trying to hit a bridge or any other pinpoint target becomes a daunting task. Contributing to this sense of frustration, 500,000 North Koreans work at night to repair damaged rail lines and bridges, fixing them in as fast as two hours. And in what seals this bomber's fate, the B-29 meets its most fierce opponent in the Soviet MiG-15. A jet-powered fighter aircraft built in mass, incorporating a swept wing design to ensure greater speed, appears for the first time in combat. In order to mask Stalin's involvement, these planes are bartered to the Chinese whose pilots begin flying them over Korea. Using jet engine technology that oddly enough is given to them by the British, this aircraft proves superior over the battlefield, flying almost 200 miles faster than the F-80. In fact, China, one of the poorest countries in the world, now possesses an airplane more advanced than anything America owns. Unlike the Second World War where no Japanese fighter could reach the B-29's top altitude, the MiG-15's ceiling is at over 50,000 feet. This allows it to hover over the superfortress, waiting for the perfect opportunity to come swooping down. And with a maximum speed of just under 700 miles per hour, this Soviet concoction proves to be the perfect antidote to the B-29 menace. Even with F-80 and F-84 escort, they are no match for the MiG's 37 and 20mm cannons, with just a few hits being enough to bring down America's once mighty bomber. The role of the B-29 changed significantly with the introduction of the MiG-15. We didn't have fighters there that could defend it as escort fighters because the Republic F-84 and the Hawkeye P-80 simply went up to the MiG-15. There were targets instead of counters. And the B-29 itself, its firing mechanisms couldn't track the MiG-15s. They were so fast. So the role was changed from day bomber to night bomber. Encountering flak from MiG-15s, numerous superfortresses are easily shot down over Korea. As a result, future bombing missions are to be conducted only at night. And for the remainder of the war, the B-29s that you see in pictures from the Korean War have their undersides painted black. That is to make them more difficult to see by the enemy using searchlights. Even more frustrating for pilots is the policy prohibiting attacks against Chinese targets north of the Yalu, communist planes and equipment being shipped by the trainload from Russia can fly across the border with immunity. An American pilot could be flying along the Yalu and could look down and could see row after row of MiGs basking in the sun, but we were throughout that entire time and indeed throughout the entire Korean War bound by a rule that was made in Washington that we would not cross the border between North Korea and China. It is a controversial decision by Truman as the war enters its second year. General MacArthur and I came to grips over this thing. We fell out on that very thing. He wanted to chase these planes over the border here and bomb the Chinese back behind the Korean border as Well us to move and our army up and really fight a war here with communist China that we couldn't stand for because Russian China had a mutual defense back if we had crossed the Yalo River in communist China Our bomb Manchuria the Russians would have come to the aid of the Chinese and that would have immediately called on a third world war. The MiG-15 proves to be so dominating that the straight-winged F-80 shooting stars, F-84 Thunderjets and F-9F Panthers are easily outmaneuvered. This causes the U.S. government to call up North American Aviation's F-86 Sabre, the only fighter that stands a chance against the MiG. Despite its limitations, the Sabre proves itself during some of the greatest dogfights in aviation history. With these two planes going head to head, the Superfortress continues bombing dams, airfields and bridges, hoping to cripple what is left of North Korea's infrastructure. Despite this destruction, on the ground, a virtual stalemate continues. General MacArthur had a very aggressive desire and plan not only to use nuclear weapons to prevent further Chinese intervention in Korea, but also to turn loose the nationalist Chinese on the island of Formosa, known today as Taiwan, to invade China and create a second front. And it was not the wish of our leaders in Washington to expand the Korean War because they believed that that would lead to a world nuclear war with the Soviet Union. With Truman firing General MacArthur, the president sinks to all-time lows in popularity as the Korean War becomes a quagmire with no end in sight. By 1953, as Dwight Eisenhower enters the White House, a ceasefire that remains in effect to this day is signed between the two sides, ending the war after more than three years of fighting. We have stopped the shooting. That means much to the fighting men and their families, and it will allow some of the grievous wounds of Korea to heal. Therefore, I am thankful. It is, however, only a step toward what must yet be done. The task now is to put the ceasefire agreement into full effect as quickly as we can and get down to working out an enduring settlement of the Korean problem. Assessing the B-29's impact on the battlefield, the balance sheets provide mixed results. On the plus side, for an aircraft designed in 1940 who many thought would never be used again, it flies all but 21 days in a campaign lasting 37 months. With 21,000 sorties, dropping 167,000 tons of bombs, the Superfortress was able to wreak havoc on North Korea. However, with the armistice in effect, it becomes clear that the B-29's days as a frontline bomber are over. With 16 being shot down by MiG-15s, and close to three times that amount being written off in crash landings, this Second World War era aircraft's greatest days are finished. And with jet technology here to stay, the plane is used for only experimental flights, being phased out after a service career spanning three decades. Even its propeller-driven successor, the B-36 is put into retirement with the introduction of missile technology, making it relatively easy for the other side to shoot down a costly aircraft. Nonetheless, the legacy of the superfortress would live on. A new line of jet bombers that would rule over the skies for the second half of the century, the B-47 Stratojet and the B-52 Stratofortress proudly carry on the B-29's reputation as an aircraft that dominated over the battlefield. Aviation, the art of aeronautics, began with the dreamers, inventors and daredevils who dared to defy gravity. The journey of aviation was nurtured by pioneers like the Wright brothers, whose first flight marked a historic milestone. The role of aircrafts in world wars was groundbreaking, dramatically changing warfare strategies. This initiated a technological evolution in aviation, transforming the simplistic wings of a biplane into the thunderous roar of jet engines. Let's journey through the ages of aviation. Behind every great aircraft, there were great minds. These visionaries, like Sir Frank Whittle, the innovator of the turbojet engine, redefined air travel. Then there's skunkworks Kelly Johnson, the genius behind the SR-71 Blackbird. His designs combined speed, stealth and power, crafting machines that dominated the heavens. The contributions of these pioneers have left an indelible mark on the canvas of aviation, shaping the course of history and inspiring generations of engineers and aviators. Each epoch in aviation history gave birth to extraordinary aircrafts, each with their own unique features and roles. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a marvel of speed and stealth. The F-105 Thunderchief, a supersonic fighter bomber, was vital in the Vietnam War. The P-51 Mustang, a long-range fighter, was critical in World War II. The P-47 Thunderbolt, a heavyweight fighter, was used extensively in the same war. The A-10 Thunderbolt II, the Warthog, is a close air support icon. The Messerschmitt ME-262 marked a leap forward in aviation technology. Each of these game changers were instrumental in their eras and their legacies still resonate today. Beyond the game changers, there are those that have transcended their practical roles to become icons. The Concorde was not just an aircraft, it was a supersonic symbol of luxury and speed. The B-52 Stratofortress, a strategic bomber, is an icon of power and resilience. These magnificent machines and others like them have become much more than just aircrafts. They are enduring icons that encapsulate the audacious spirit, the relentless innovation and the boundless ambition that define the world of aviation. For more amazing aerial footage and to join us in this incredible journey, check out the Dronescapes YouTube channel. If you enjoyed this video, please remember to like and subscribe. And as always, thank you for watching. So, So, you
