Having just landed from a combat mission, four pilots from the 334th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron walked casually from the squadron's sandbagged revetments at Kimpo AB, South Korea, toward the operations building for the usual intelligence debriefing. The deafening engine whine of another returning flight of F-86 Sabres went up. At the time, all fighter-interceptor pilots instinctively checked the gunports of returning flights forthe dark gray soot indicating their guns had been fired. This would imply contact with MiGs. Sure enough, the .50-caliber blast shields of the No. 4 aircraft showed the unmistakable signs. But something else looked odd: The ship's entire fuselage was badly scorched from nose to tail—as if it had been burned with a giant blowtorch.
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