It was the third week in June 1953 and it was definitely NOT a good week for K-13. The R&R C-124 courier flight crashed departing from Tachikawa on the 18th, killing all aboard. The loss of life was especially traumatic to the men at Suwon (K-13) since most of the men aboard were from the 8th FBG or 51st FIG. We lost three pilots from the 36th Squadron. And I was almost was one of them.
I had taken the R&R C-124 to call and check on my wife. She was about to give birth to our first born. Naturally I was late as she'd had our son on the 10th. This was the just the first of my `later' that would save my life. After calling home and finding I was too late, I went out to Kisarazu hoping to find an '86 to take back to K-13, but no bird was ready. So I hopped a ride to Itazuke, then to Tsuiki. Likewise, there was again no bird for me. So I hopped a C-119 back to K-13, arriving late in the after-noon of the 19th.
Literally upon arrival, they put me on the Able Able alert flight. I was still in low quarter shoes, khakis, and scarf. The Able Able alert was normally called off at dark and had never been scrambled in anyone's memory. I volunteered to act as Flight Commander so the appointed commander could take the evening off. I expected to sit in the Ops shack for a few hours and that would be it.
About dusk we were playing ping pong when the alert sargeant ran in and yelled "Go!" We couldn't believe it and thought he was kidding. He wasn't! We ran out the door to the airplanes and took off, proceeding under radar control to a crash site just north of the `Holy Land'. I didn't know who was down but later found out it was a buddy, Vic Hodges.
It was dark by the time we reached the crash site. I made a low pass over the burning wreckage. There was no sign of life, nor were there any calls on Dog channel. So I rejoined my flight and asked the Rescap commander to return home. They'd previously called the 35th back to K-13. The Chodo radar took charge and guided us south. The K-13 GCI took over and gave us a let down.
At about 1000 feet, just under the overcast, the radio suddenly sqauked "Here you are!" I said "Where?" As a junior birdman even though I had 95 missions, I hadn't thought to ask the controller where he was taking us. As it turned out, we were at X-ray Zebra, a point near the west coast of Korea. The controller had been accustomed to working with all-weather F-94s, and that was where they ended up for a GCA approach.
So here we were, Bingo fuel, at 1000 feet, dark as a coal miners you know what, in hilly terrain, 30 miles from home - and not sure what to do. We didn't have enough fuel to climb and make a let down. Nor did I think that we could get a GCA in time, at least not all four of us. So I asked the GCA guy to direct us to K-55 (Osan AB), and I could find my way home from there. He did and we did.
Fortunately, K-55 was lit up and easily spotted. From there, with a band switch procedure on George Willie and Sugar Willie, it was a piece of cake to get lined up with the runway. The radar controller was a bit reluctant to turn us loose, but he did just as we were on initial. We switched to the K-13 tower frequency. What do you know, they were landing to the south. So here we are in right echelon, at 1000 feet, at night - and going down the runway the wrong way!
Can you imagine my flight members thoughts? They were flying a night formation, following a leader that wasn't too sure of where he was, and now they were in right echelon and about to make a right 90/270 to the active. Visibility wasn't all that good. And, oh yes, there were mountains out there also. But they didn't say anything
It was a fine display of airmanship. Being able to maneuver at night like that. I can't commend them enough. I wish I'd told them then, but I hadn't. I just expected it. And we all made it. I'd like to thank whoever designed the band switch let down. It may have saved us that night. Another 36th pilot went down that day and was KIA. His name was Jim Escalle. He was flying an armed recce mission in my airplane "The Georgia Peach". At a later re-union, Vic Hodges, the pilot that we were covering, came up to me and hugged me. I hadn't seen Vic since Korea. He said that when I made that low pass over his wreck-age, the bad guys quit beating him and took him to the rear. He was repatrioted a few weeks later.
And this is "The Rest of the Story"!
The Downing of Jim Escalle
By Jim Escalle & Jack Senneff
On 19 June 1953, Mike Flight, a 36th FBS flight of Sabres, attacked a pre-briefed target in the `Charlie "Tare' area of North Korea. Following the dive bomb runs, the flight broke up into two seperate elements and went truck-hunting on the nearby roads.
Lt. Jim Escalle led the second element flying "The Georgia Peach", which was Bill Demints aircraft. Scanning for trucks coming down the main supply route, Jim's element spotted a small convoy of camoflaged trucks parked along a dirt road that jutted south of the main road from Wonsan to Pyongyang. The trucks were parked close to the "Imjim-Gang" River that snaked through a wide valley. There were steep hills on both sides and small arms fire was a strong possibility from both hills.
Jim initiated his first strafing attack from north to south, calling me, Lt. Jack Senneff (Mike 4), as he pulled off the target. I made my pass from the opposite direction. We spotted more trucks in the immediate area and Jim made a second pass. But I heard no call from Jim that he was off the target. I waited a few minutes and when I heard nothing, I started a run from east to west.
I tried to contact Jim several times on different frequencies. Mike 1 and 2 then joined in the search. The three of us orbited the area at 10,000 feet but saw nothing. After we returned to base, we reported what happened and Suwon immediately launched a second flight of Sabres to provide a hopeful ResCap to the target area. The second flight found the burning wreckage of Escalle's Sabre about 10 miles SSW of the second target area. They saw no signs of a parachute or of Jim.
Jim was listed as MIA later that afternoon and officially listed as KIA on 20 June 1954. Late that same afternoon of 19 June 1953, a second 36th Squadron pilot was shot down pulling off of another target in the `Charlie Tare' area. The pilot was Vic Hodges from Victor Flight.
My 2 1/2 month POW Vacation.
an abstract from a letter Vic Hodges wrote to his wife.
"This is a condensed version of my 2 1/2 month POW `vacation' in North Korea. As you know, I was shot down on 19 June about 7:15 pm. I was hit by flak just after pulling off the target. My F-86 went out of control so I ejected, pulled the rip cord and the chute opened. As I looked down, a ring of Chinese soldiers were maneuvering in a circle and I landed right in the middle of the ring. I wasn't injured and the Chinese treated me fairly well."
"I'd been shot down about 20 miles north of the 38th Parallel in the central part of North Korea.. They kept me there for a couple of days before putting me on a truck. There were several nights in that truck (nothing moved during daylight hours!) before I arrived at a place called Sinanju that was close to the Yalu River and the MiG base at Antung. I spent over five weeks there under continuous and intensive questioning."
"There were three other POWs close by in other small rooms, but I wasn't allowed to speak with any of them. However, I did manage to see them out of my darkened cell quite often. In early August, after the war had stopped, we were herded onto another truck and rode east for about fourteen hours, arriving at a camp on the Yalu River. I was in Camp Number 2 annex. We were kept seperated from the other POWs for two nights and a day. It was then that we learned that a ceasefire had been agreed to and that we would leave in about three weeks to be repatrioted."
"We actually started south by truck thirteen days later on the morning of the 19th of August. Rain delayed us for a day as it had washed out some of the wooden bridges that led out of valley. We arrived that night in Mampo and boarded a train. The train ride to Kaesong took about 42 hours and we stayed in `Tent City' until today, 5 September, before crossing the bridge into Freedom Village."
"Ten of my guys from the 36th Squadron including LtCol Ruby and my dog Figmo, will be coming up tomorrow afternoon to pick me up. I was sure glad to hear that because we're not allowed to leave the compound due to health reasons. It'll be good to see the guys tomorrow."
No portion of this article may be used or reprinted without permission
from the President of the F-86 Sabre Pilots Association or the editor of Sabre Jet
Classics magazine.
Return to
Classics
Page