I remember back in 1950 when I was assigned
command to my old unit from the war, the 56th Fighter Group. In June we began to switch out F-80s in favor
of the new North American F-86A Sabrejets. This was very exciting for us, because the F-86 was
the hottest fighter in the Air Force arsenal. The light swept-wing concept gave it a boost
in speed and manoeuvrability, but a series of compressibility problems breaking Mach 1 in
a dive required pilots to be highly trained. As commander I had to get
qualified on the new jet, so I was sent to Nevada to be trained by George
Welch, the North American lead test pilot. We flew together early on in the experimental
stages of the Sabre's development. Compared to the propeller planes,
flying jet fighters was something else.. Wowww! This has some serious handling capabilities
and rate of climb. I love it! This is impressive! Yes. It is a very powerful plane, However the
boys and I found out during testing that you will rarely climb above 48.000 ft, while that isn't
the best the speed is still crazy good. The boys on the ground took advantage of flight research
data seized from the German’s at the end of WWII. And, this data shows that a thin,
swept wing could greatly reduce drag and delay compression problems. Also,
a new, more powerful engine gives this plane a tremendous boost in performance
making it 100kts faster than the P-38. Formation to the left! Roger formation to left! Welcome to the transonic era baby! I think you already have an idea about how the plane handles. Now It’s time that I
show you the best part. Follow me! I think it's about time you finally cross the
sound barrier. Follow me into a step descent....
George, wait!!! Can you confirm that you said with
a steep descend you can cross the sound barrier? Sure you can you just.....
Alright let's do it! What the hell are you doing.... I
haven’t explained everything to you yet! ufffff....hahahaha! Alright
babe... show me what you can do... You will lose **** ***eness approaching Mach .**. George did you see something?
I did i reached Mach 1. Yeahhhh!! Man I can't believe it was that simple...
I wish we had this bird four years ago... Damn! Why the controls are not responding? Something is wrong George! I've
got no control of the plane... Put your boards out! Put your boards out! Oh really? Ufffff there we go...... Did you shit on your pants? Your
enthusiasm never changes! haha...
Always keep in mind the limitations of this
aircraft during a strafing run or a dog fight, otherwise the only thing this plane will kill
is you. Also Take care of your wingman , it's difficult enough for me to follow you
in this thing, let alone someone else. I could not wait to do it... I was
longing for that moment for ages. While I was getting proficiency
with the new Sabrejet, an event occurred that would change the
lives of millions of people, myself included. Let’s RTB and switch to approach
frequency. I’ll follow you. Roger. Returning to base.
Sky belongs us again. We need to celebrate it. I'll see you in the O'club.
On t he 25th of June 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea with 90.000 man and hundreds
of Russian-made tanks, following clashes along the 38th Parallel that quickly involved U.S forces.
The following spring I was sent to kimpo, South Korea, where I joined with the 4th fighter interceptor group formed with the best jet fighter pilots in the United
States Air Force, most of them WWII veterans. I was lucky to survive in two of the worst wars
the United States has ever been involved in and I was fortunate to be one of only 7 U.S
combat pilots to become an ace in two wars. I was honoured to fight against the
best pilots our adversaries had, and I was lucky to survive despite the odds. I am Francis Stanley Gabreski, also known as Gabby, and this, is my story... My job as deputy commander
in the 4th fighter group was primarily to fly with the men and learn
all I could about tactics and techniques. Most of the 4th’s missions were patrols
along the south side of the Yalu river the border between North Korea and China which came to be known as MIG ALLEY. The assignment was to stop the Migs from interfering with our bombers and fighter-bombers as they pounded targets in north korea. Officially china was not involved in the war so our pilots were forbidden from crossing the Yalu
and invading Chinese airspace. A mix of excitement fear and
nervousness is tangible in the air today would be the first time most of us
encounter Migs. So far, our guys haven't been too impressed with the opposition that was a great confidence booster. Still, we should keep our guard up, everyone knows that there are some good Mig aces around. Can’t wait to meet those MIGs, I hear they’re revolutionary. Yeah me too. I heard there was a big dogfight a couple days ago. 45 Migs against 6 of us. They shot-down 4 B-29s Gabby, The Migs normally fly higher than us, right? Yes, their Migs can out-perform the Sabre above 25.000ft, to achieve this the russians made them
as this paper so they can't take a hit. They mostly use the technique of climbing to an
altitude we can't manage and circle in a perfect safety on their side of the river, then swoop down on top of us when we least expect it. If that’s going to be the case today,
we better split into pairs and defend in circles waiting for them at lower altitudes. Our strength is the F86 weight, which give us a speed advantage in a dive. Alright we are approaching the Yalu, keep your eyes open. Keep orbiting. Don't lose visual contact. Break up into pairs! Gabby I can’t follow you. I can’t follow you. Reduce thrust! Ahaha.... Good kill! Good kill! Damn Gabby! Where the hell are you? Gabby I've lost you... where are you? Give me a minute.... I'm chasing one! Another one down, yeah! I need help, I need help, I’ve got a Mig on my six. Descending through 14.000 ft… Damn my wingman... I've got visual on you... I got you, I got you... come on sir hurry up i can't
get rid of him he's moving in Oh! Nooooooo.... Come on...... eject, eject. EJECT! That’s war: a constant state of stress, and throughout this exhaustion you must
make decisions in a fraction of a second your muscles ache always tense from the adrenaline along with your heart pounding as if it'll burst! This feeds your taste for blood…
The need to be satisfied with getting another kill. It makes you sloppy. And a mistake in war is catastrophic. My wingman was shot down because of me. I was devastated, distraught & looking for revenge. I was so blind too eager to get a kill that I forgot about him... An unforgivable mistake! May 44 had been a great month for me but June turned out to be a different story... Up until now, Army air core policy had been very clear about the priority of fighter escorts bring the bombers back first and worry about shooting German fighters second. Seems our new CO (commanding officer) had a change of heart. all German fighters were to be hunted down wherever they may be whenever we could find them. I was leading the full group on a ramrod to Solingen that day. Lt. Norm Brooks was my wingman. We made landfall over German-occupied Europe at 27.000 ft and rendezvoused with the B-17s at 11:42. About half an hour later... The action started. Dropping tanks! There's a group just below us... I'm engaging! This sector is clear... Let's see if I can catch one by surprise I got it, I got it.. Yes, one down! Now for the second one... Booom! hahaha... That was a piece of cake! These rookies made it too easy.. What's that? Lone wolf? That's weird... [ __ ] That's a pony... Mustang on frequency flying to the East... Break, break now! Man... this kid is good! You will not escape. I'll take you down. You're not getting away... You're not getting away from me. What the [ __ ]! That's not possible. Easy Gabby, easy... god damn! This guy's climbing like a bat out of the
hell! How is he booming like that? No no no no.... Don't don't, stall, don't stall! What? S**t, f**k, How? How the hell? S**t, S**t, S**t,! Come on you can exit... Come on! COME ON! Wow...no, no, no, no, no! Come on, come on... PLEASE, PLEASE! I should have thought why... I heard stories in the O’clubs about German aces with more than 200 kills, but I could hardly believe that.
But after what just happened, I was realizing the harsh reality. I faced a fighter pilot far superior to myself. I felt small, ridiculous, and very vulnerable. It was a master lesson in skills and humility. While returning to base, I couldn’t get the German pilot out of my mind. I was so lucky to be alive!! I swore to myself that I would never, ever, underestimate an enemy again. Because in the end, there will be always a better, faster, and more skilled pilot than I am. sinclair finding company presents frank
springheiser with his comments on the news together with the latest headline news from
the associated press here is mr singer good evening the news from france tonight is good
better than it has been at any time since d-day american foods have captured stan lowe on
the western end of normandy battlefront and the british canadians have broken through
german defenses in the carl sector directly to the east of san lo the american capture of the
big port of chairboard was of immediate vital importance because it gave the invasion forces
a strategic space from which men and supplies could pour into the expanding beach but today's
developments are of great importance because of what they mean in the future from the capture
of stan lowe and the breakthrough southeastern may come the big drive that will carry the allied
armies to paris and from there on to germany on the morning of july 20th 1944 i awoke a
happy man later that day i would be leaving boxed air base heading back to the united states
within a week or so k and i would be married gabby what are you doing aren't you
supposed to be heading home for your wedding is this a chance to score a kill
or two i'm not missing this one besides mom will still be
waiting for me once i get back i'm sweet loving anyway all
right glad you're with us the day's mission was a flight to ramrod or
escort to russellheim near frankfurt germany it was a sort of mission i could not miss that
might give me the chance to score a kill or two one more shot one final mission
to close out my tour with a bang all i had to do was get myself back home today will be escorted by the 56th fighter group i hear gappy will be leading them this
guy is a legend scored more than 27 kills wow that's awesome good to hear
our asses are safe with those guys should be here soon right yeah we're
just about five minutes ahead of the schedule we should have him inside soon
all right from now on radio silence roger radio silence don't let the
germans chambers bug you and stay focused it's game for contrails or the
sun reflecting off the canopy do we are here we are hit we're going down we are going down oh my god i was not expecting
such an amount of flack defending the target what is our
status how many havocs have we lost uh it seems we lost three and five of
them are heavily damaged roger let's rtb keeps getting for no reason it's too quiet up here oh this is german airfield that's a
target of opportunity at two o'clock yes i see it give them some lead we'll
make sure you stay covered county i don't know i'll take care of them dammit i'll have to make another pass you know more than one pass isn't allowed don't do that you foreign oh no dave i can't believe it down uh oh winners that's how the day ended for
me my days of freedom were over i was captured and held as a german pow for
nine months i saw things i would never forget even though i've tried throughout the
years on may 12th liberation day had come and i was shipped back home just in
time to marry my gal on june 11 1945 the 51st fighter wing replaced its
f-80s with factory fresh f-86es when i assumed command in november 1951 in our new
location kilo 13 suwon air base south korea our new standard markings were yellow bands
with black borders around the fuselage and wings the much anticipated new e models
featured the improved tail surfaces better climb performance
and a higher service ceiling with this new jet we were all anxious to
start hunting migs and find out who the next ace of the base would be we need you to load the
fuel tanks on all aircraft asap yes sir right away all right sure fuel tanks are loaded copy
that starting engine russia all clear i'm gonna pack my bag in unclear that's taxi free to me so now and the rotation papers gabby what cruise altitude do you want to climb to well according to our last encounter the migs
usually fly between 28 000 and 35 000 feet i suggest we fly higher than that yes good
idea to all pilots at this altitude lane behaves a bit sloppy don't forget to use
the speed brakes during your attack dive the mission of april 1st 1952 sounded routine
during the briefing we would be patrolling the yalu river running interference for the f-80 and
f-84 fighter bombers operating north of pyongyang our instructions were clear patrol the area
look for migs and don't ever cross the river river yep that's it up to the north there's
a no-fly zone where chinese airspace begins it's cloud overhead it'll make our scan
more difficult but keep scanning below us the migs will be expecting us to be
lower so we have the only surprise don't foreign foreign now foreign boys becoming tough down there follow me by six freaking right right all right he's on me splash one big 15. good kill yes thank you hey gabby see that meg looks like
he's rtb i know him follow me joe are you with me yeah i'm here we're
about across the river i have a pending subject with this pilot joe return
to base i'll take care of him gabby i'm not gonna leave you no worries i'll be
all right return to base as an order copied inside i don't spend much time dwelling on the past
events of my life though i'm more interested in today and tomorrow but when i think about what
has kept me going through the years it comes down to three things duty faith and responsibility
we're not on this earth to fight wars but when it's necessary you do it for your country
when everything you do is contributing to the good of the nation that's duty duty is your job
performance and allegiance to your country to your flag and to your way of life when you're
on your own on the battlefield you need faith faith is another part of a person you
have to believe in your fellow man he knows what his responsibilities are and knows
what mine are but overall you must believe in something over and above that fellow man you can't
believe in nothing and still live a full life wars are not won by individuals
they're won by teams i am francis stanley gabreski also
known as gabby and this was my story guys do you feel good is let it go you
