18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in Korea

BLIND FLIGHT - - Without Instuments: No See, No Gage = No Fly

Taejon Area, South Korea, July 1950

As has been previously noted in this series of reports, the condition of our initial fleet of derelict F-51 Mustangs left a lot to be desired; especially when it came to Instrumentation ... the mandatory instruments needed for flying at night or in clouds...

On one of those late-July 1950 missions, I recall having to round up a flight of four airborne airplanes in order to be able to fly 'night instruments' to permit our safe return to Taegu's base under dark,smokey, low visibility conditions.

Normally, in order to safely maneuver an airplane in the dark or under adverse weather conditions, a prescribed, minimum variety of operable, reasonably-accurate flight instruments are required: a magnetic compass, despite it's erratic, fluctuating indications, is mandatory. A gyro compass is more useful, because it compensates for the wild gyrations of the magnetic variety. To keep wings level and determine angles of bank, an attitude gyro indicator was part of standard equipment. Airspeed and altitude indicators are vital to maintain flight, and to keep from running into mountains in the dark, or in the clouds. Rate of Climb/Descent indicators are nice to have, but not so vital as those indicators noted above.

But our dilapidated "aerial tugboats" did not come equipped with all of those basic niceties, and the lack created additional, unexpected problems for our 'Dallas Squadron' pilots.

A couple of days after passage of Typhoon Gloria's severe, rainy weather on July 22, 1950, Captain Jerry Mau and I started out as a two-ship flight, hitting enemy ground targets south and east of Taejon in the late afternoon. Smoke and haze from burning villages made visibility extremely poor, and by the time we'd run low on ammunition and were ready to head for home base, the sun had gone down and it was turning quite dark.

1st Lieutenants Chuck Hauver and Phil Conserva had been attacking North Korean tanks in an area a few miles northeast of Taejon at about the same time, and were a short distance behind us as we tried, with considerable difficulty, to follow the road and railroads thru the smoke and haze back to our base at Taegu.

None of Jerry Mau's gyro instruments were operating properly; he had only a magnetic compass in his airplane to depend upon, so he signaled me to fly the lead position while he flew close formation on my wing. I radioed him that I had only a gyro compass, but no dependable artificial horizon gyro or magnetic compass that would enable me to cross-check and reset my gyro compass... we would still have a tough time flying instruments and navigating in the dark. Hauver and Conserva were having similar problems: Phil had an artificial horizon gyro, but his pitot-static system was fouled up and he had no altimeter, and his airspeed indication was unreliable. Chuck had the altimeter and airspeed indicator, but nothing else could be depended upon.

When we overheard Chuck and Phil's plight, I radioed to suggest that we get together before it became too dark, so that we could perhaps have one complete set of navigation and flight instruments between the four of us.

I made a couple of wide 360 degree circles with my navigation lights on, and they were soon able to swing inside the turn to join up on us.

Since Phil Conserva had the only operable attitude gyro, we put him in the lead and, with my gyro compass, I flew his left wing. Chuck Hauver flew his right wing, and Jerry Mau, with no operable navigation instruments, tucked in close on Chuck's right wing. Phil kept the formation straight and level while I gave him directional information as needed... such as "turn 5 degrees left or right", and Chuck gave us periodic verification checks on our airspeed and altitude. Upon arrival over our unlighted Taegu airstrip, Phil, having no altitude or airspeed instruments, dropped back onto my wing and landed in formation with me, as I called out airspeeds as we came down the final approach. Hauver and Mau were able to land individually.

The condition of our airplanes improved very gradually during those first few weeks before the arrival of the USS Boxer, because our maintenance crews had to use their 'baling wire' ingenuity and to 'scrounge' spare parts, to just keep us in the air. They spent many, many long, long nights getting and keeping those first derelict P-51 Mustangs into reasonably safe, combat flying condition. We pilots sincerely appreciated their heroic efforts, but always wished they could do even more!

Duane E. 'Bud' Biteman,
Lt. Col, USAF, Ret
‘...One of those Old, Bold Fighter Pilots’
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