THE MOSQUITOES OF KOREA

"GUS" BREEN

Service Details

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Fly! Who me? My log-book told the story, AE (Gus) Breen. Two previousmissions, Qantas, Sydney (Australia) to Iwakuni (Japan), RAAF, Iwakuni to Seoul (SouthKorea) before jointing 1 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) on the infamous Hill355, "Little Gibralter", thence to 6147 Tactical Control Group, Chunchon,Central Korea, the home of the "Mosquitoes", the American aerial observationgroup. I'm sure my compatriots, Lieutenant "Bruce" Boys of 1 and 2 RAR andCaptain "Keith" Hatfield 3 RAR would agree that this was a posting'extraordinaire'. Three months flying as an Aerial Observer with the Americans, spottingfor the jets on their close air support strikes. Nervous? In hindsight, we were, just alittle, certainly excited. A three hour jeep-ride to the well established base on the edgeof the town to see a 5000 feet sealed runway, tented accommodation, mess andadministrative buildings all housed in Quonset Huts, the aircraft stowed in sandbagrevetments.

Australians were a rare breed in this part of the country, our slouchhats attracting more than their share of interest. We became a very popular photograph formany war-time albums. Our first appearance in the Officers' Club brought introductions allround, an unprecedented welcome with a rapid initiation into the wiles of rolling dice fordrinks. The acceptance and integration procedure took fully five minutes. It was EasterSunday 5th April, 1953.

Week 1 was something of an anti-climax with medical examinations, issueof flying gear, Ground School and in general learning the routine. To say that we were"chomping at the bit" to chalk up that first mission would certainly have beenthe understatement of the decade. Mine came on Friday 10th April 1953, Keith and I beingassigned to IX Corps sector based on the Chorwon Valley and the Iron Triangle, areas overwhich the Americans had been fighting for some time. Bruce went to I Corps embracing theCommonwealth Division.

Our aircraft were T6 Harvards, a two-seater World War II trainer (by nomeans a jet) with a climbing speed of a cumbersome 85 mph. Unarmed, except for twelvewhite phosphorous rockets used to mark targets, they were a heavy low-winged monoplane,over-burdened with two radio transmitters, cruising at 130 mph, with a ceiling of 8000feet. Our personal weaponry, a .45 Colt pistol, shoulder-holstered for effect. The jobduring this dawn to dusk vigil was to find, identify and mark targets across the Chineseforward defences (FDL's) then contact the jet fighter bombers and direct each jet, in turnonto its bombing run. After the hit and whilst the jets headed for home we cruised backfor a post-strike damage assessment. The targets were artillery, mortar, anti aircraftpositions, personnel shelters, trench-work, bunkers, storage caves, an occasional vehicleor tank and once for me some troops in the open.

The air-crews were all. American pilots, some World War II veterans butmostly young intrepid, no nonsense aviators who had trained on jets only to find the"No Vacancy" sign for jet squadrons.

Permit me a little nostalgia as I stroll down memory lane with"Jim" Sullivan, McKeesport, "Pa"; "Hal" Roth,"NY", "Duane" Billmeyer, "Royal Oak", "Mi","Bill" Roob, "Tabb", "Va" and "Earl" Marsh,"Pittsburgh PA". You remember names when you sit in the back-seat totallydependent on the guy up-front. Every of these guys was a character. Brave, skillful, fullof adventure and worthy of a book each. The Observers, officers and non commissionedofficers (NCOs) from the ground forces, the majority with no flying experience,mostly American but with an occasional "foreign order" from Australia, UnitedKingdom and New Zealand.

Would you care to "fly a mission"? The Operations Room NoticeBoard commanded centre stage, for, it was there that the crews' mission, aircraft numberand take-off time were prominently displayed, daily. A comprehensive briefing precededeach mission highlighting the previous night's front-line activity in each Corps sector.Map Reference and description of the target, time over target, fighter-bomber call sign,number and type of aircraft, bomb-load, recommended direction of attack, ground panelidentification, distance to and position of the nearest friendly troops and emergencyair-strip, ground controller (T.A.C.P.) radio frequency and finally, the weather. Absorbthis then move to the Parachute Room, a short truck-ride to the aircraft, an exchange ofpleasantries with the Crew Chief, aircraft inspection, taxi, cleared for take-off andanother mission was on its way. Five aircraft, one into each Corps sector. After abouttwenty minutes to the front line, we checked-in with the tactical air controller on theground (TACP), cruise the Chinese hills, slipping, jinking, an occasional falling leafturn, probing for activity, dodging flak, recording the findings. The fighter bomberschecked-in, four silver specks at 15000 feet. We talk to the flight leaders and ask themto circle. Describe the target area and have each jet identify. Call for colouredartillery marker smoke; it's off target. The wind is strong, it's up to the Mosquito(aircraft) Down for a smoke rocket run, more evasive action; weave; under 1500 feet; in,fire and out. Fast turn over friendly "real estate". Our captive audience, thejet flight, watched round one. Then it was their turn. Accurate target recognition fromthe rocket marker, then a call for flak suppression. Start the dive-bombing run,correcting each aiming point from the preceding jet's bomb burst. Clear the jetsbreak-way, firstly over the enemy lines, no hung bomb, then back over ours. Assess damage.Wait for the next flight or home for de-briefing. 17th May 1953 dawned fine and clear. Itwas a routine affair, concluding at 7.30am, we were relieved by "Keith" and hispilot Captain "Frank" E Winner in aircraft LTA 555 ("triple nickel").At base we learnt that our mates, "triple nickel", had gone down in flames, twoparachutes but no further news. A 20mm cannon shell had ripped through their wheel welland exploded the belly-tank. As Winner opened the forward hatch to bail-out the rearinstrument panel burst into flames, fire billowing from the cockpit floor. Keith "hitthe silk". Machine-gunned on the way-down, he tried to slip his chute towardsfriendly lines but didn't make it. Instead he landed some four hundred metres in front ofa ROK position, in the minefield. Keith has never had any pretensions to being an athleteof note but he claims his record over that quarter-mile still stands. He forgot that hisnylon flying suit had burnt so quickly, it had almost exploded. His hands, arms and legswere raw, his right ear skinless. Urged on by friendly shouts of "Hubba Hubba"from the South Korean (ROK) infantry and helped by them over the final stages Keithsurvived. Winner with a ruptured spleen, five broken ribs and a broken arm, shockinglyburnt, hung-up in a tree six hundred metres out, thankfully to be rescued by a ROKstretcher-party.

Nine days later 26th May, 4pm, with Lieutenant "Danny" Reale,I too survived a crash-landing on a U.S. artillery emergency "L Strip" when themotor quit at 30 feet, seating us none too elegantly in a paddy field. An abrupt end toMission Number 52. Each mission lasted approximately three hours or longer, if groundactivity warranted additional strikes. Aptly named by the Chinese for the distinctivedrone of their engine the "Mosquitoes" were revered by the jets and enjoyed aremarkable rapport with their ground-based or carrier-borne cousins. They were their"seeing-eye dog". Blinded by their own speed, with fuel consumption a built-inhazard the fighter bombers with their two one-thousand pounders found targetidentification almost impossible. The Mosquitoes filled that void, their record of 40,354missions, two US Presidential citations, one Korean Presidential citation in their briefhistory, being testimony of their effectiveness and efficiency. On 5th July 1953, sadly,our tour of duty was over. Each of us had flown 75 missions in around ten weeks. It wasback to earth, back to our Battalions, for Bruce and I , the "Hook" (a savagebattalion battle position) our home for the final three weeks of the war. Thanks for thememories!