U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 5 (of 5): Operations in West KoreaUnited States. Marine Corps
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 5 (of 5): Operations in West Korea
United States. Marine Corps
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
[457] Their respective locations were: 7th Division, at the
extreme right of I Corps sector; and further east, the
3d Division occupied the corresponding right flank of IX
Corps sector. VMF-311 concentrated on the 7th Division
targets while VMF-115 efforts were devoted primarily to
the 3d Division.
Hitting an all-time high in the annals of memorable days, this,
the seventeenth of April not only further proved MAG-33’s ability
to cripple the enemy’s already diminishing strength but it also
allowed VMF-115 to set records in total airborne sorties launched
in a single day plus a record total ordnance carried and expended
in one day by jet type aircraft.[458]
[458] MAG-33 ComdD, Apr 53, p. 51.
VMF-115 alone, with 30 pilots and 23 aircraft, had flown 114 sorties
and delivered 120 tons of bombs on North Korean targets.
A sample of the intensity of this maximum day was a series of three
early-morning interdiction strikes led by three VMF-115 pilots that
launched the effort. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Joe L. Warren, Major
Samuel J. Mantel, Jr., and Major John F. Bolt, the 23 attacking Panther
jets lashed the objective with 22.35 tons of ordnance and 4,630 rounds
of 20mm ammunition. The three missions destroyed half of the buildings
and inflamed 95 percent of the target area in the enemy supply
concentration point T’ongch’on on the Korean east coast.
By contrast, wing operations in May were considerably hampered by the
bad weather peculiar to this time of the year in Korea. Restricted
flying conditions were recorded for 18 days of the month. A total of
153 CAS sorties were flown for the Marine division before its 5 May
relief from the front lines. Of the wing’s 3,359 sorties[459] during
the month, 1,405 were for close support to forward units beating back
Communist encroachment efforts. The allocation of CAS sorties was
412 for U.S. infantry divisions (including 211 for the 25th Division
occupying the customary Marine sector); 153 for the 1st Commonwealth
Division at the Hook which the Communists assaulted on 27–28 May as
part of their overall thrust against western I Corps defenses; 412
sorties for ROK units; and 63, miscellaneous. Heaviest action for
Marine aviators took place towards the end of the month to thwart
enemy blows in the I Corps sector where Army and Turkish units were
attempting to repulse the Chinese.
[459] This figure does not include sorties by VMA-312
(carrier-based), VMO-6, or HMR-161, the latter two under
operational control of the 1st Marine Division.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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