UPDATE: Father of man in Bonaire murder-suicide defected with MiG in Korean War (Mig-15 defector)

Macon Telegraph ^ | 09/23/08 | Gene Rector

[TigerLikesRooster]

UPDATE: Father of man in Bonaire murder-suicide defected with MiG in Korean War

By Gene Rector - grector@macon.com

September 21 was already a monumental day in the life of Ken Rowe. The first one, in 1953, was a happy - even glorious - occasion. The second is devastating.

Fifty-five years ago, Rowe - then known as North Korean Lt. No Kum-Sok - flew a Russian-made MIG 15 to Kimpo Air Base in South Korea, defecting from his Communist homeland and delivering a treasure trove of intelligence data to the U.S. and its allies.

Just three days ago, also on Sept 21, Rowe's son, Edmund, 42, apparently shot his wife, Allison, 35, then turned the .45 caliber revolver on himself, according to Houston County sheriff's investigators.

The couple, married just last May, were found dead Monday morning in their home at 308 George Francis Court, in a new subdivision off Ga. 96 in Houston County.

Sheriff's Sgt. Al Elvins said preliminary evidence indicates the two Robins Air Force Base employees died Sunday evening. What led to the shooting is not clear, the investigator added.

"We're still digging into it," Elvins said this afternoon. "We're conducting interviews to determine what might have caused it."

Rowe said he was so shocked he couldn't think straight. "It's a rough day," he said during a telephone interview from his Daytona Beach, Fla., home. "I thought everything was going well. That's what everybody else thought."

[TigerLikesRooster]

I wonder where in U.S.A. he has been living. Sad to hear his family tragedy. Hope he can get through this.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[FlyVet]

On Chuck Yeager’s website there was the story of Yeager taking this MiG 15 for a test flight. It nearly killed him; apparently it was a very difficult plane to fly. The reason it was so maneuverable was that it was inherently unstable.

[nuconvert]

“I wonder where in U.S.A. he has been living. “

Daytona Beach, Fla, according to the article

[randomhero97]

Before my time but didn’t our F86s have a high kill ratio against the MiG 15?

[FlyVet]

Yes, because of pilot training. The 86 was much tougher and could take hits, like most American fighters. It was faster in level flight, and could out-dive the 15 big-time. American pilots learn to take advantage of weaknesses. Stay away from close-in dogfights.

IIRC The MiG 17 was also a nasty dogfighter in Vietnam, but again our pilots learned to stay away from that, and use speed and superior diving to their advantage.

[Bringbackthedraft]

Before my time but didn’t our F86s have a high kill ratio against the MiG 15? ........................... 10-1 ratio. We had a good share of WW II fighter pilots up there against a bunch of Russian honchos who were also veterans flying for the Chi Coms..

[randomhero97]

Thanks.

Just like General Patton said: Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.

[Tallguy]

Very poor spin-recovery if I recall Yeager’s comments.

[FlyVet]

No kidding. We beat German armor with sheer numbers, unfortunately. The Sherman tank had superior reliability, but was relatively cheap and mass-produced, because it had inferior armor, mediocre gun compared to the German 88, and a gasoline engine. It was nicknamed "the Ronson", because when it got hit in the fuel tank, it burst into flames.

An awful lot of tankers burned alive for this country over there.

Never Forget.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I should have said, “I have been wondering...” :-)

[Western Phil]

According to Zukov’s memoirs, the Soviets did not like the American tanks they got on lend lease. Claimed they did not start well in the cold weather.

[FlyVet]

Heh, that doesn't surprise me. Maybe they were GM or Chevy engines.

When I was stationed at Griffiss AFB in the early 90's I had a Dodge Dakota.

When it got down to -15 or so, my Dakota would fire right up (didn't know it when I bought it, but that thing would start no matter how cold it was).

But then I'd get to work, and our fleet of brand new Ford and Chevy six-pack pickups would balk. We had to wait until the temp got up around zero before they'd start. I imagine they have fixed that cold-weather start problem by now.

[Old Student]

“An awful lot of tankers burned alive for this country over there.”

And some survived even that. One of my great uncles, for one. They were a tough lot.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

According to Chuck, the MiG-15’s cockpit was not pressurized, and so when he took it up above 30,000 feet, its canopy frosted over on the inside and he couldn’t see where he was flying. Fortunately, the plane’s instruments worked, even though they were labeled in Korean/Russian.

[madrastex]

The MiG is on display at the Museum at Boeing Field in Seattle.I was there on a visit just a few weeks ago. Very sad for this man and his familly.

[princeofdarkness]

Actually it was the vulnerability of the ammunition storage that was largely responsible for Shermans to brew up. Late in 1944, they finally produced Shermans that had wet storage reinforced ammo areas inside the tanks. With this improvement it gave the tankers a fighting chance from being burned to death.

[FlyVet]

God bless your Uncle. I had an Uncle who spent the war on USS Enterprise. He was very proud of that, as am I. I think about him almost every day.

[FlyVet]

Thanks for that information. I don’t think the gasoline helped much, though. It’s why the AF switched from JP4 (gasoline/kerosene mix) to JP8 (kerosene mix) on their combat aircraft. It doesn’t blow up so easily.

[killjoy]

I don’t know what happened, but Edmund was a friend. He is missed.