Russian Lend Lease aircraft used (against us) in Korea?

[JohnB]

The latest FlyPast has an article by Warren E. Thompson about Naval aviation in the Korean War (excerpted from his new book) and it mentions a Corsair shooting doen an A-20 early in the war...presumably flown by a Soviet crew.
I'd never heard of it, has anyone else heard of Lend Lease aircraft (A-20, B-25s, etc.) being used in Korea?

Added info...The plane was in the south, not a case of our guys being where they shouldn't.

Last edited by JohnB on Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Rick65]

An interesting question that doesn't seem to have attracted response.

[shrike]

I seem to recall reading that many of the aircraft based at the airfield outside of Vladivostok, that was bombed - accidentally - by F-80's during the Korean War were lend-lease P-39's and or P-63's. it was one of the clues to the pilots involved that may have been in the wrong spot<G>

[John Dupre]

I have seen contemporary sources claim that North Korea had P-63's but have never seen that confirmed anywhere. Is it possible this was blue on blue exchange with a USAAF A-26?

[JohnB]

Is it possible this was blue on blue exchange with a USAAF A-26?

No.
The story relates that radar picket destroyers detected two unidentified aircraft flying east towards the US fleet which was in the Sea of Japan east of Korea.
Corsairs were scrambled and upon finding one, its rear turret gunner fired on the Corsairs.
The fleet admiral sent a message to get positive ID but to shoot it down if it fired again. At the the 25-mile mark it fired again and the Corsair brought it down.
At first it was assumed it was a Soviet IL-4, but years later, the article reports, Russians historians wrote an article on the incident and said it was an A-20.

[jdvoss]

The shoot down of the Soviet Navy A-20 Havoc on 04 Sept 1950is nicely documented in the Journal of the AAHS, Winter 2004, pp 262 -266. The article is entitled "Korean War First: VF-53 vs. Soviet Fleet Air Arm" by Joe Brennan. The shoot down occured off of the west coast of N.Korea by Lt. Laney flying a F4U-4B Corsair supported by AD-4N and AD-4W Skyraiders. According to Geust's book "Red Stars 4: Soviet Lend-Lease Aircraft", a number of Soviet P-39, P-63, A-20 and B-25's were still operating in the Far East in the early 1950's.