Remember my note in SabreJet Classics vol. 12-1? Well the subject has again reared its ugly head. This time in the form of a web site and the two people that are involved are Jim Jabara and Dick Becker. The guy that I was talking about in the earlier issues is an Argentine named Diego Zampini.
He has chosen to attack the credibility of the American pilots that flew in Korea, and the record keeping of the 5th Air Force. Mr. Zampini chooses to believe whatever the Russian pilots and archives say "actually went on" in Korea. And believe me, their version, thus Mr. Zampini's version, is vastly different from the official records of 5th Air Force, even contradicting the memories and after-action reports of the pilots that actually flew those missions.
Mr. Zampini has created a web site on which he states his beliefs based on the Russian archives. It's out there for anyone and everyone to read and believe or not. And believe me, I know of a large number of people around the world that believe what he says. Hey, British historians have been nit-picking the 10-1 kill ratio in Korea for many years. They simply don't believe it. Several American authors also have chosen to go with Russian archives notes such as the fact that they "shot down 630 F-86s in Korea", despite the fact that at the most, we lost about 110 Sabres during the war. I say "at the most" because the official tally is still 78 Sabres lost in air to air combat. But there were another 32 that went down for unknown reasons or operational causes (engine explosions, flight control problems, out of gas, etc).
The Russian claim of 630 Sabres shot down is despite the fact that 5th AF had only 75 Sabres flying combat during the first year of combat; only 150 the second year, and 300 Sabres during the last 2 months of the war. The loss ratio would have been incredible had they lost 630 aircraft during the war. Probably close to 90% of the inventory. And we still held air supremacy!
Anyway, back to the Zampini web site and it's latest claims. On it, Zampini not only claims that Jim Jabara was NOT the first jet to jet ace in history, he claims that two Russian MiG pilots were not only the first jet to jet aces in history, but that Jim Jabara never made an ace at all! That Dick Becker was the first US jet to jet ace in Korea when he shot down his 5th MiG on 9 September 1951. His site states that Jabara only had 4 MiGs when he left Korea in May 1951.
His site is impressive. He has names, dates, times, even airplane serial numbers for the Russian claims. However, there are claims that do not jibe with 5th AF records, such as the 4th FIG pilot that suffered anoxia on a flight from Johnson AB, Japan, to Kimpo. He went down in the Sea of Japan and was killed. One of our Association members confirmed this. But a Russian pilot claims to have "shot him down". I asked Mr. Zampini about this and when did the Russians fit the MiG-15 with inflight refueling equipment to fly the 400+ miles and be able to shoot down the Sabre that they claimed. He had no answer but still makes the claim in the Russian pilot's name. That's the type of crap that is on the Zampini web site.
In speaking with Dick Becker about the Zampini claim that he, not Jim .Jabara, was the first American jet to jet ace in Korea, Dick was quite upset. He and Jim were the closest of friends before and during the war. He wants it known that he had nothing to do with the Zampini web site or any of his claims. And that he knows for sure that Jim Jabara's 6 MiG kills were factual and that Jim Jabara was, and still is the FIRSTjet ace in history. Dick is very proud of his accomplishments and especially that he became the second jet to jet ace in the Korean War. He damn well should be! I'm very proud to have known him and can call him a friend.
What to do about Diego Zampini and his claims? I'm not real sure. Maybe Ralph Parr had the right idea at our 13th Reunion in April 2001, when he challenged a visiting Russian MiG pilot, a Korean veteran, to a dogfight to settle the argument. I'd pay to watch it and my money would be on Ralph. Or Dick!
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