When everybody thinks about air-to-air combat in modern terms, they think about jets letting laser-guided missiles loose that hurtle toward their enemies at faster-than-sound speeds. However, the first jet to fire guided missiles was a Sabre in 1958, flown by Chinese Nationalists. Much like World War II, aircraft at the time relied on machine guns and lining up with their adversaries to get a clear shot. Where the MiG-15 claimed superiority with its three individual guns, the Sabre knocked the MiG off its throne with six cannons. Not just any cannons either, .50 caliber machine guns. They could also outfit the Sabre with bombs and rockets if a mission required it.
When the dust settled, and the war ended, American Sabres shot down a total of 792 MiG-15s. Thanks to their training, this resulted in an 8:1 kill ratio, with 39 Sabre pilots earning “ace” status during the war. To earn ace status, a fighter pilot has to shoot down at least five enemy aircraft. While that number has decreased over the decades thanks to anti-aircraft and tracking technology, the required number during the Korean War was five.
