The conflict on the Korean Peninsula was the first serious confrontation between the Soviet Union and the West within the framework of the Cold War.
In the early morning of June 25, 1950, there was a military clash between North and South Korea on the peninsula. This was the beginning of the Korean War. Under the pretext of fighting "communism," the U.S. government forced the United Nations to pass a resolution defending military intervention in the North Korean conflict. Throughout the war, 15 countries, including the United States, Great Britain and Canada, decided to join the Korean War camp, and the Soviet Union and China joined the Korean War camp.
One of the characteristics of the Korean War was the large number of group clashes in a limited space, resulting in a large number of casualties. For example, the U.S. Army lost more than 80 percent. No warring parties (about 1 million soldiers in the Northern and Southern Alliances) have no clear advantage, so it is impossible to resolve the conflict by military means. At that time, the Americans did not dare to use atomic weapons. According to the most conservative estimates, the U.S. military lost about 54,000 soldiers and officers in South Korea, more than 7,000 Americans were captured, nearly 400 were missing, and 22 chose not to return home. In this terrible war, both North and South Korea lost about 9 million citizens, 80 percent of whom were civilians.
The Soviet Union in the Korean War was mainly represented by the Air Force. About 26,000 Soviet pilots took part in the clash, all of whom were part of the strike groups of the three aviation divisions of the 64th Combat Aviation Regiment. Soviet pilots flew 63,000 sorties into the skies of North Korea and fought in about 2,000 air battles. The data show that throughout the hostilities, the Soviet aviation lost 120 pilots. Almost all of them are buried in the Russian cemetery in the Chinese city of Dalian. By comparison, the U.S. Air Force lost 1,609 men, 1,097 of whom were destroyed by Soviet pilots. The total combat losses of the Soviet Union in the Korean War were 466, of which 299 were killed (146 officers) and 167 wounded (mainly ground personnel). At the same time, not a single Soviet citizen who participated in the conflict in one way or another was captured.
The Soviet 64th Combat Air Force entered the war in November 1950 with the latest MiG-15 jet fighter. In many ways, the model was superior to the American F-80 and F-84 vehicles involved in the Korean War. According to experts, even the F-86 (Sabre), which entered service, had a hard time competing with Soviet fighter jets. The MiG-15 is better than the sabre in many ways: flight altitude, acceleration, rate of climb, maneuverability, and weaponry - 3 gun to 6 machine gun. The MiG targeted the B-29 heavy bomber, while the F-86 searched directly for the MiG itself. According to Soviet data, MiGs shot down 69 B-29s over north Korean skies, and the Americans believe only 16 Boeing were destroyed. As for the MiGs, according to the Soviet side, 335 of them were shot down, and the Americans claimed 792 fighters.
Although the Soviet Union inflicted little damage on humanity during the Korean War, it is widely believed that the Soviet Union's results were not as good as those of the United States. After all, the main goal — to build a unified North Korea — was never achieved.
One of the strengths of the conflict for the Soviet Union was to show the world the effectiveness of Soviet fighter jets and valuable combat experience for the military.