thedrifter
12-18-07, 09:01 AM
December 18, 2007
Television Review
Secret War in the Skies Over Korea
By ANDY WEBSTER
The Korean War has been called “the forgotten war,” and “Missing in MIG Alley,” on PBS on Tuesday night, illustrates a little-known chapter. It describes the rivalry in the sky between two types of fighter jets then on the cutting edge of military aviation: the Soviet MIG-15, used by the North Koreans, and the F-86 Sabre, flown by the Americans and the British.
The bulk of the dogfights took place south of the Yalu River on the border between North Korea and China, in a track of space known to pilots as MIG Alley.
The program, an installment of the “Nova” series, reveals that Soviet airmen were actually fighting on behalf of the North Koreans, a fact concealed by the Soviet and American governments at the time for fear of inciting World War III. (This secret may prompt viewer speculation about possible clandestine maneuvers today.)
Jet engine technology had been obtained from the Nazis, and the Soviets had acquired it from the British, of all people, in a trade agreement. But each side took a different approach to the engineering: The MIG had more powerful weaponry and could climb higher and faster; the Sabre had larger fuel capacity, could be flown with greater control, and used radar and an early computer to aim rounds at targets. The Western allies also developed the G-suit, which alleviated gravity’s pressure on pilots.
All of this, of course, is war-hawk nectar, ’50s-style Tom Clancy, blending digital dogfights, diagrams and period footage to stoke arms-race nostalgia. Then there are the cloak-and-dagger elements: The Soviets’ urgent desire to learn about the Sabre prompted efforts to acquire one, and “MIG Alley” describes, in testimony from allied veterans, the interrogation of captured Western pilots.
The program also depicts the efforts of children of downed pilots to learn their fathers’ fates: whether they perished or survived to be imprisoned in gulags (a possibility some apparently cling to). The issue has resonance for some families of Vietnam War soldiers, and it does for three people seen on camera: a Briton, Michael Baldwin, and two Americans, Ann Bakkensen and Danny Cope. Mr. Cope learns of the discovery of the remains of his father, Capt. Troy G. Cope; the others are not so lucky.
The program leaves you with the emotional impact of people desperately seeking to connect with relatives they never knew. Their need is profound to behold.
NOVA
Missing in MIG Alley
On most PBS stations on Tuesday at 8 (check local listings).
Directed by Emily Roe; Jonathan Grupper, Michael Barnes, producers; Paula S. Apsell, senior executive producer; David Dugan, executive producer for Windfall Films; WGBH Science Unit, series producer; produced by Windfall Films for Nova/WGBH Boston in association with National Geographic Channel International and FIVE.
Ellie
Television Review
Secret War in the Skies Over Korea
By ANDY WEBSTER
The Korean War has been called “the forgotten war,” and “Missing in MIG Alley,” on PBS on Tuesday night, illustrates a little-known chapter. It describes the rivalry in the sky between two types of fighter jets then on the cutting edge of military aviation: the Soviet MIG-15, used by the North Koreans, and the F-86 Sabre, flown by the Americans and the British.
The bulk of the dogfights took place south of the Yalu River on the border between North Korea and China, in a track of space known to pilots as MIG Alley.
The program, an installment of the “Nova” series, reveals that Soviet airmen were actually fighting on behalf of the North Koreans, a fact concealed by the Soviet and American governments at the time for fear of inciting World War III. (This secret may prompt viewer speculation about possible clandestine maneuvers today.)
Jet engine technology had been obtained from the Nazis, and the Soviets had acquired it from the British, of all people, in a trade agreement. But each side took a different approach to the engineering: The MIG had more powerful weaponry and could climb higher and faster; the Sabre had larger fuel capacity, could be flown with greater control, and used radar and an early computer to aim rounds at targets. The Western allies also developed the G-suit, which alleviated gravity’s pressure on pilots.
All of this, of course, is war-hawk nectar, ’50s-style Tom Clancy, blending digital dogfights, diagrams and period footage to stoke arms-race nostalgia. Then there are the cloak-and-dagger elements: The Soviets’ urgent desire to learn about the Sabre prompted efforts to acquire one, and “MIG Alley” describes, in testimony from allied veterans, the interrogation of captured Western pilots.
The program also depicts the efforts of children of downed pilots to learn their fathers’ fates: whether they perished or survived to be imprisoned in gulags (a possibility some apparently cling to). The issue has resonance for some families of Vietnam War soldiers, and it does for three people seen on camera: a Briton, Michael Baldwin, and two Americans, Ann Bakkensen and Danny Cope. Mr. Cope learns of the discovery of the remains of his father, Capt. Troy G. Cope; the others are not so lucky.
The program leaves you with the emotional impact of people desperately seeking to connect with relatives they never knew. Their need is profound to behold.
NOVA
Missing in MIG Alley
On most PBS stations on Tuesday at 8 (check local listings).
Directed by Emily Roe; Jonathan Grupper, Michael Barnes, producers; Paula S. Apsell, senior executive producer; David Dugan, executive producer for Windfall Films; WGBH Science Unit, series producer; produced by Windfall Films for Nova/WGBH Boston in association with National Geographic Channel International and FIVE.
Ellie