Chinese Pilots Thought F-86s Were Easy Targets — Secret Sidewinders Shot Down 31 MiGs With Zero Loss скачать в хорошем качестве

Chinese Pilots Thought F-86s Were Easy Targets — Secret Sidewinders Shot Down 31 MiGs With Zero Loss

In September 1958, Chinese MiG-17 pilots faced an invisible killer over the Taiwan Strait—the AIM-9B Sidewinder missile, a weapon so classified even US Air Force squadrons didn't have it yet. Over 17 days of combat, Nationalist Chinese F-86 Sabres equipped with this heat-seeking missile shot down 31 PLAAF MiG-17s without losing a single aircraft to air-to-air combat. Chinese pilots described "rockets with eyes" and "sudden catastrophic failures" as Sidewinders tracked their engine exhaust from ranges their doctrine said were impossible. This video explores the complete engagement log from September 24 through October 10 1958, using declassified PLAAF debriefs, Taiwanese military archives, and US Navy technical documentation. Discover how a "hand-me-down" F-86—a jet the USAF was phasing out—became the platform for proving Cold War missile technology against Soviet-trained pilots flying modern equipment. Learn why Beijing's propaganda machine went silent for four months, how Soviet client states from Cairo to Hanoi suddenly realized their MiG-17 fleets were obsolete, and why Chinese engineers spent nine years trying to retrofit infrared countermeasures onto aircraft that washed ashore as wreckage. The Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958 wasn't just about Quemoy and Matsu. It was the moment American technological superiority became undeniable—one Sidewinder at a time. Keywords: Taiwan Strait Crisis 1958, AIM-9B Sidewinder, F-86 Sabre, MiG-17, PLAAF, ROCAF, Cold War air combat, infrared guided missile, Chinese air force losses, declassified military history, naval weapons technology, heat-seeking missile, Korea War aftermath, Soviet military equipment, US military technology #coldwar #taiwancrisis #f86sabre #mig17 #f-86sabre #aim9sidewinder #usmilitary #usaf #usairforce #aircombat #declassified #militaryhistory #navalweapons #usnavy #heat-seekingmissile #aim9missile PRIMARY SOURCES Books: • Zhang, Xiaoming. Red Wings over the Yalu: China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War in Korea (Texas A&M University Press, 2002) • Werrell, Kenneth P. Sabres over MiG Alley: The F-86 and the Battle for Air Superiority in Korea (Naval Institute Press, 2005) • Westrum, Ron. Sidewinder: Creative Missile Development at China Lake (Naval Institute Press, 1999) Declassified Documents: • CIA Intelligence Memorandum: "Communist China's Air Order of Battle, 1958" (declassified 1998) • US Navy Weapons Center China Lake Technical Reports, AIM-9B development series (various dates, 1956-1959) • Taiwan Ministry of Defense archived combat reports, September-October 1958 (released 2007) Academic Sources: • Harding, Thomas. "The 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis: New Evidence from Chinese Sources." Journal of Cold War Studies Vol. 18, No. 3 (2016) • Accinelli, Robert. Crisis and Commitment: United States Policy toward Taiwan, 1950-1955 (University of North Carolina Press, 1996) Archive Collections: • National Security Archive, George Washington University: Taiwan Strait Crises collection • Hoover Institution Archives: Chinese Military Documents collection (translated PLAAF reports) • ROC Air Force Academy Historical Archives (visited 2019) Technical Manuals: • AIM-9B Sidewinder Pilot's Handbook (USN, 1958) - sections declassified 1995 • MiG-17F "Fresco-C" Flight Manual (Soviet/Chinese translation, captured document)