Fury from the North: North Korean Air Force in the Korean War, 1950-1953 (Asia@War)

Mr. Dildy hits one out the park. After looking at some of the titles he had published, I was afraid this was going to be another generalist’s overview of the air war over Korea. I could not have been more wrong.Overall this is an extraordinary book with a lot of history packed into relatively few pages. After subtracting the 11 pages of bibliography and footnotes, the 14 pages of color aircraft plates and the two color maps you end up with just over 50 pages of well written text that is supported by an incredible level of footnoting from an extensive bibliography that includes a few US technical reports, the usual mix of English language books and a very large number translated Russian books.Although it’s a bit bantam sized in terms of text the author covers the entire spectrum of the air war over Korea exceptionally well. You will find chapters covering fighter vs fighter, the night bombing, the North Korean Hecklers, etc. There is also fair amount of coverage given to the use of radar and GCI by both sides. Given the size of the book there are a few minor areas that catch short shrift such as the ROK Air Force. However, the writing covering the North Korean/Chinese/Russian politics and squadrons more than makes up for it.Overall? Superlative book that only produced one little nit for me, on page 51 the author cites VMA-312 as averaging between 60-75 sorties per day while shipboard on a straight deck carrier with only 24 aircraft. Given the need to re-spot the aircraft before rearming and refueling, the need to perform maintenance, the need to leave station for underway replenishment while at sea, I find that number to be exceptionally high as a “daily sortie” rate. If it was a surge for a few days, that could make sense. Not as a sustained sortie rate.The one nit aside, this is an extraordinary book that is strongly recommended without reservations for aviation history buffs and modelers alike.

This is a book that many aviation historians doubted could be written. Despite recent developments, North Korea largely remains “the hermit kingdom” sealed behind a rigid state policy of secrecy and frequent xenophobia.Decades after detailed Russian information became available about Soviet participation in the Korean War, very little was known definitively about the North Korean Air Force. Chinese information, while often sketchy, has slowly emerged. But now U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Douglas Dildy has mined a treasure trove of primary and secondary sources in telling the most secretive aspect of the Korean air war.Fury From the North traces the growth of the Korean Peoples Air Force from inception in 1946 through the end of the “police action” in 1953. Most readers undoubtedly will be most interested in KPAF MiG-15 units but Dildy provides a full menu including piston-engine air operations both day and night.The book is logically organized into 12 chapters enhanced by more than 100 photos and excellent maps. Tom Cooper’s 24 high-quality aircraft profiles include an impressive array of types, from biplanes to seaplanes to jets.Augmenting the text are periodic tables of organization with unit aircraft assignments and bases.The 70-page text is supported by 10 pages of bibliography and notes, many of which make for intriguing reading themselves.Fury From the North is likely to remain the definitive treatment of the subject for years to come.

Apprezzo molto queste collane della Helion & Company; testi interessanti dedicati a tematiche aeronautiche specifiche dal giusto rapporto qualità prezzo.

Fury from the North was not a surprise for the aviation history enthusiast. We were waiting for a book like this many years. Books previously published, like Helions, Red Devils over the Yalu (Igor Seidov), Black Tuesday Over Namsi, B-29s vs Migs - the Forgotten Air Battle of the Korean War, 23 October 1951 (Earl McGill) and The Last War of the Superfortresses: MiG-15 vs B-29 over Korea (Leonid Krylov and Yuriy Tepsurkaev) or the exceptional Red Wings over the Yalu (Xiaoming Zhang), led the way to this book written by Doug Dildy one of my favorite writers. North Korea Air Force operations during the War was the piece that was missing from the puzzle. In its 12 chapters we are having a chance to learn about the birth of North Korean Air Force as well as it’s early operations with piston engine airplanes before moving to the jets and the venerable MIG-15s. War stories true or driven by the regime propaganda are very interesting, especially compared with the USAF version of those stories. The same goes for the political aspect regarding the alliance between Soviet Union, China and North Korea as well as the steps followed from its rising from an inexperienced air force to a proven combat force. The text is supplemented by excellent profiles created by Tom Cooper who is also the editor of @War series and writer of many titles as well as informative maps and tables. If you want to learn about the operations of a completely unknown Air Force in the West literature, grab this title. Satisfaction guaranteed.

This is a refreshing book describing the air war over Korea from not only on the UN side but from the North Korean/China/Russian perspective. Good photos included.

朝鮮戦争の航空戦が良くわかる。

First rate book, excellent information about genesis of NK air force.