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there,” noted Lyle. “But then, we said we weren’t crossing the Yalu.”
As they had done with their ground forces, the Communist commanders used high numbers of combatants to make up for what they lacked in skill. In the air war, that meant sending up large numbers of MiG fighters to overwhelm their targets.
By the time he completed his 99th mission, Lyle was familiar with the tactics and capabilities of the MiG-15. He shot down three more enemy planes, bringing his score to five.
The 100th mission
Lyle’s 100th mission in late December 1952 was to escort a flight of fighter-bombers to their targets in North Korea.
“I had stopped the operations shack and told them they were scheduling us to leave too early,” recalled Lyle. “If there was smoke over the target or we were delayed somewhat, we would not have enough fuel to stay there and cover the bombers.”
Lyle was correct. The bombing attack was successful, but due to smoke coming from the target, all but four of his interceptor pilots had called “Bingo” (critical fuel level), and been released to return to base. But as the group’s commander, Lyle had stayed until all the others had been released.
Dogfight!
Then, from nowhere, a MiG appeared, firing at the bombers. Lyle and his wing man, 2nd Lt. Peter D. Blakely of Texas, peeled off in pursuit.
“The MiG was pulling away from the F-84 and was going in for another pass when I cut him off,” recalled Lyle after the incident. “Just then, Pete sighted two more MiGs below us. I went down and lined up the leader.”
A vicious dogfight ensued.
“Just as I started firing,
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