"The MiG-15 was good, but hardly the superfighter that should strike terror in the heart of the West … There was no question that the F-86 was the better fighter."
– No Kum-Sok, North Korean fighter pilot who escaped to South Korea in 1953 after flying nearly 100 combat missions in the MiG-15
Soviet leader Josef Stalin feared that if a Soviet MiG-15 pilot was captured, it would prove the USSR's direct involvement in the war. Stalin ordered MiG-15 pilots to fly only near their bases in Manchuria and northwestern North Korea. This area, famously known as "MiG Alley," became the scene of furious air combat battles between USAF F-86 and Soviet MiG-15 pilots.
Large formations of MiGs would lie in wait on the Manchurian side of the border. When UN aircraft entered MiG Alley, these MiGs would swoop down from high altitude to attack. If the MiGs ran into trouble, they would try to escape back over the border into communist China. (To prevent a wider war, UN pilots were ordered not to attack targets in Manchuria.) Even with this advantage, communist pilots still could not compete against the better-trained Sabre pilots of the U.S. Air Force, who scored a kill ratio of about 8:1 against the MiGs.
Antung, just across the Yalu River border in Manchuria, was the main MiG-15 base. The communists built additional MiG bases in the area, which together with the original base became known as the "Antung Complex." Since it was in China, the rules of engagement prevented UN forces from bombing it.
The secondary MiG-15 bases in Anshan, Liaoyang, Mukden and other areas in China provided places to rotate MiG-15 units out of combat, and after a rest, allowed them to be sent back quickly to Antung.
The primary Sabre bases were at Kimpo (K-14) and Suwon (K-13).
Under orders from their leaders and limited by the range of their aircraft, MiG-15 pilots rarely flew south of Sinanju or the Chunchon River. These limitations created the boundaries of "MiG Alley."
