Introduction
Truckbusters From Dogpatch
by
CAPT Tracy D. Connors, USN-Ret
Precious achievements, particularly those that changed history and protected freedom for subsequent generations, should survive all the erosions of time.
Despite the layering of other, more recent conflicts, the deaths of participants, and the shifting focus of media or historic attention, enough basic elements of the historical record remain to enable us to establish the combat record of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing during the Korean War as among the most illustrious of any U.S. military unit throughout our history.
The 18th Wing’s record is particularly noteworthy in light of its performance as a U.S. Air Force unit, since the Korean War was the first to be fought by the newly established, independent Air Force. During three years of continuous combat in the Korean War, the component squadrons and support units of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing—
• Faced unrelenting sortie rates maintained in the face of weather;
• Overcame seasonal assaults of heat and cold;
• Maintained and flew aging aircraft, unsuited for the various missions it and its pilots were called on to fly; and,
• Sustained an operational level of flexibility and adaptability that is unparalleled in U.S. Air Force history.
For example, the 18th Wing is the only known Air Force flying unit to be asked to convert from one type of aircraft to another—while engaged in combat and without “standing down” from required combat mission completions—not once, but twice and while operating from crude “forward operating bases.”
If anything, the intervening half century since the 18th fought so valiantly in Korea has improved our ability to evaluate its contributions by placing them in the context of fifty years of subsequent military history and evolution. We can more accurately assess the legacy it established for subsequent Air Force components, and indeed, the sons and daughters who today continue to serve in the 18th Wing.
American military progress and achievements have been significant over the intervening half century, and have enabled those that uphold freedom to generally prevail against oppressive governments and ideologies. We must not forget, however, that such progress was gained as a direct result of the richer heritage to which today’s fighting men and women were born and inherited—a heritage established and advanced by pilots and airmen like those of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing during the Korean War.
Truckbusters From Dogpatch records and documents the record of achievement established by the 18th Wing during 37 months of arduous, costly combat—and chronicles the events, accomplishments and sacrifices by some of the bravest “characters” in American military history who bequeathed an important heritage to subsequent generations serving in the U.S. Air Force. It tries to convey a better understanding of the personalities behind the facts and data.
It is not intended to be a comparative study of “props vs. jets” or to compare one unit’s statistics to another and thereby declare a “winner.”