ABSTRACT
The Soviet Air Force was committed, after the Second World War, to developing advanced jet technology to defend itself against atomic bombing. The military standoff in Europe between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War never erupted into the Third World War. Once the Soviet demonstrates their ability to compete with US aviation and atomic technology, the stage was truly set for superpower competition. Soviet participation in the air war over Manchuria and northwest Korea was a carefully orchestrated ballet in which political and economic considerations dominated purely military concerns. The introduction of Soviet-piloted Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG)-15 jet interceptors onto the world stage during the Korean War proved the accuracy of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) projection. The airspace above Sinuiju was the focus for the epic air battles between Soviet-piloted MiGs and Bomber Command B-29s until the fall of 1951.
