Red Scarfer War Stories
by
Col. William E. May, USAF (Ret)
A Lucky Fighter Pilot
I won’t say I’ve never told “War Stories”, I’m sure I have, but this is what I’m telling here. I’m not sure who I’m telling it to, but I want to tell it.
Runway at K-10. Note how close it is to hangars and the bay. The south side of the airstrip was on the water. Approximately 50 feet separated the entire length of the runway from the bay. A steel hangar was located at the south end of the runway and was separated from the runway by just 50 feet. Several Quonset quarters were located within 100 feet of the runway.
I’m thinking of a time in Korea in 1951. It was the first of March.
I had been sent to Korea from the Philippines early that year because I had flown P-51’s in WW II. I was a Major at the time and had not flown any fighters for 6 years. I checked out and flew a few missions with the 12th Squadron and was assigned to the 67th Squadron as the commander.
I had flown about 60 missions, mostly tactical reconnaissance, where you went out in two or four ship flights and sought out targets opportunity on the ground. Targets were usually tanks, truck convoys, airfields, troop concentrations and anything else of military significance.
On 1 March, I was leading a two ship flight on such a mission. My wing man was a 1st Lieutenant from Boston Massachusetts--on his first mission.
We were flying out of K-10, Air Force Base at Chinhae, south of Kaesong on the coast of South Korea. K-10 was surrounded by hills except for the coastal side.
A combat loaded P-51 would not clear the hills after take off, if take-off was in a northerly direction. On such take-offs, you had to orbit inside the hills until you had altitude and could clear the hills.
A combat loaded P-51 carried two 110-gallon napalm tanks, 6 five-inch rockets and 1800 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition. It was a little heavy and did not climb fast.
After we took off, we flew generally North to enemy territory. The Han River flows east and west and was the boundary, at this time, between friendly and North Korean forces.
We crossed the Han and we dropped down to three to five hundred feet and were following a road that went north. We did lazy criss-crosses over the road looking for targets. While doing this I felt a hit on my bird. I though it was ground fire, but had seen no flashes on the ground.
If you thought you had been hit, it was customary to pull up to 1000 feet; fly toward friendly territory and check the bird. There was a network of coolant lines on the bottom of the P-51 and a nick on any of them would cause you to lose glycol. If you lost very much, the engine would run hot and eventually quit.
I was not far from the lines and if anything went wrong, I hoped to get back to friendly territory. I checked the coolant gauge and all engine instruments and they appeared to be okay.
I was about to continue the mission when I smelled smoke. The guns cooked off.
Capt. John H. Spencer, Major Arnold “Moon” Mullins, Major Charles McGee and Lt. Col. William E. May review their mission prior to take off from K-10 in January 1951. Mullins was May's predecessor as Commanding Officer of the famed "Red Scarfer" 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron.
All six fifty caliber machine guns fired in a steady stream until the ammo was gone. Then I saw the fire under the left rudder pedal at the wing root. I jettisoned the napalm. The fire was getting bigger so I blew the canopy. That sucked the fire up in my face and I tried to jump. I was still buckled in.
By the time I unbuckled, my face and hands were burned and I was fighting to get out of the bird and away from the fire. I stood up and was sucked out of the airplane. I pulled the ripcord, the chute opened and I methodically pulled the rip cord all the way out of its “holder”.
I don’t remember passing out, but apparently I did because I had a ten stitch cut across my head. I don’t remember hitting the tail but I must have when I bailed out.
I seemed to have a lot of time as I floated down. I pulled my service revolver out of its holder and shucked it to put a bullet into the chamber. I knew I was over enemy territory and I didn’t know what I would run into.
I adjusted the seat on my parachute and undid the leg straps. I had never parachuted before and I didn’t know how hard I would hit the ground. In a 16 foot canopy chute, it was harder than I expected.
I landed in a rice paddy. My hands and face were shoved into the mud as well as my gun. I got out of the chute and ran through the paddy to a ditch west of where I landed. Beyond the ditch were two little hills with a few scrub trees, I walked north to a deeper part of the ditch and took inventory.
I expected to walk back. I was wet all over, but wearing G. I. wool underwear, a flight jacket, pile lined and a flight suit. If I didn’t get too cold, I had a chance to make it. I calculated I was over 15 miles behind the lines. I would have to swim the Hahn River, but it wasn’t all dismal.
My gun was caked with mud and the skin from the back of my hand. I cleaned as best I could with sticks, but it would never fire.
About that time, a Chinese infantryman, dressed in black fired at me from the opposite hill. He missed.
I tried to return fire but my gun wouldn’t shoot so I laid it down and moved out of his line of fire.
My wing man was circling overhead and the soldier never showed himself to me again. As my wing man circled my position I could hear automatic weapons fire at him on the north and east side of the circle. Don’t know what kind of automatic weapons, just automatic.
Later, I learned that he had turned on his IFF, an emergency radio transmitter. The signal was picked up by the ships radio aboard the USS. St. Paul. This was a heavy cruiser that was anchored in Inchon Harbor. The ship’s helicopter was about to make a ship to shore run when the pilot was told of my bailout and volunteered to rescue me.
A flight of four aircraft, from my Squadron--the 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron-- were in the area, heard the radio chatter, contacted the Navy copter and agreed to lead him to where I was located. How lucky can you be?
The copter and crew were not in the rescue business, did not have or know about the grid maps that we fighter pilots used. The pilot of the chopper probably could not have found me without some help.
They arrived in the area with four P-51’s and the chopper. The 51’s made several passes and strafed the area.
After the strafing runs, the copter flew over me. I stood up, waved, and then hid in the ditch. I was still worried about the soldier who had shot at me. I was trying to be seen by the rescue team and not by the enemy.
I was scared.
They had passed over me and I didn’t know if they would come back. When they did start back toward me, I got a smoke flare out of my flight suit, and activated it by pulling off the cap. I stood up, waved my arms and threw the flare straight up as far as I could. The chopper pilot saw it, came back and hovered over my position. He lowered a rope that I looped under my armpits and was lifted up into the chopper.
We made a short trip back to the St. Paul.
Talk about a happy, relieved fighter pilot. That was me. The medics aboard sutured my head wound, treated the burns and sent me off to bed in good
condition.
A couple of days later, I left the ship and began the trip back to the U.S. I had flown over 200 missions in two wars and this was my only physical injury. I am a lucky fighter pilot.
© Copyright 2008 Todd May. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without permission in writing from the author. Used with permission by BelleAire Press as a tribute to those American servicemen and women who served during the Korean War.