FIFTY YEARS AGO....
Part 4.....Courtesy of THE HOOK Magazine
Replenishing at Sasebo between 5-11 September 1950, CV-47 launched pre-invasion strikes in the Inchon-Seoul area between 1214 September and furnished air cover for the Inchon landing on the 15th. In this bold thrust, the First Marine Division took the enemy by surprise, captured the port of Inchon and, with the Army's Seventh Infantry Division, captured Seoul and Kimpo airfield, severing communist supply routes to the south. Breaking the enemy stranglehold on Pusan, UN forces seized the initiative.
Between 16 September and 3 October 1950 PHILIPPINE SEA's aircraft furnished "deep support" of allied forces and bombed supply routes and airfields from Seoul to Pyongyang, before retiring to Sasebo on October 4 for a five-day respite. Early in this period, on September 17, 1950, 25-year-old ENS Edward D. Jackson, Jr. of VF-112, while pressing a low-level strafing run south of Seoul, flew through high-tension cables strung across the Han River. His F9F sustained extensive damage and he suffered painful facial lacerations and partial blindness. His wingman ENS Dayl E. Crow, "talked" him to the ship and into the groove. The LSO took it from there and brought him safely on board in a blind landing, as Jackson caught the number five wire.
An ominous portent of things to come occurred on September 30, 1950 when VF-113 pilots sighted their first Russian-built MIG15 jet fighter in the skies some 30 miles northwest of Seoul. PHIL SEA resumed operations on October 10, 1950, providing air cover for the invasion of Wonsan, as well as bombing enemy supply centers and routes from Wonsan to Chongiin. Ship and air group returned to Sasebo on October 23, resting in Japan until November 1950.
At that juncture, Chinese Communist "volunteers" swarmed south to aid the North Koreans. This massive intervention soon cut short PHILIPPINE SEA's stay in Japan, and she sailed on November 6th, rejoining TF-77 on the 9th. On that day, her plans bombed bridges spanning the Yalu River and supply concentrations in Hungnam, Songjin and Chongjin. Over the next few weeks her planes, as well as those from LEYTE (CV-32) and VALLEY FORGE (CV-45) pounded the enemy. On November 17th PHIL SEA teamed up with LEYTE in dropping both bridges across the Yalu and Hyosanjin.
The Chinese Air Force introduced a new element to the war with MIG-15s. These enemy jets posed a serious threat to the prop driven ADs and F4Us. On the same day that PHILIPPINE SEA rejoined TF-77 - November 9th 1950 - VF-111 encountered its first MIG and Skipper LCDR Amen, (flying a VF-112 Panther) became the first Naval Aviator to shoot down a MIG-15. During November VF-112 encountered several MIGS, and the Commanding Officer, LCDR John L. Butts (who had succeeded Weymouth upon his permanent assignment as CAG-11) teamed with ENS R.E. Aslund in damaging one of the swept-wing bandits. Faulty guns, however (a common and vexing problem from the extremely low temperatures at altitude), robbed Butts and Aslund of a kill.
On November 26, 1950, Chinese Communist forces smashed into the "greatly extended" UN forces in a surprise assault, driving a deep wedge between Eighth Army and Tenth Corps. The specter of isolation and annihilation loomed large as allied troops pulled back before the enemy onslaught. Between 2 and 25 December PHILIPPINE SEA's planes conducted close air support in the Chosin Reservoir area, covering the successful extraction of friendly forces (most notably the First Marine Division) to Hungnam and evacuation. Completing these operations on Christmas Day, 1950 PHIL SEA retired and reached Sasebo on the 26th, remaining until January 7,1951.