An armistice was signed bringing an end to the Korean War

“I wasn’t new to operational command nor to the ground attack role except this war in Korea was a very different, and very ugly, war.”  Wing Commander Dick Cresswell.

On 27 July 1953 an armistice was signed bringing an abrupt end to the short, but deadly Korean War.

The Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) involvement in the Korean War began on 25 June 1950 when No 77 Squadron was placed on standby for action. By November 1950, in addition to aerial operations, No 30 Communication Unit, No 491 (Maintenance) Squadron, and No 391 Base Squadron were attached to the United Nations Command and grouped into No 91 Wing, which was based in Iwakuni, Japan.

No 77 Squadron (77SQN) flew almost 19,000 sorties while in Korea – 3,872 in Mustangs and 15,000 in Meteor were recorded in official histories. During their three years of operations, 77SQN paid a high price in losses. Forty-one pilots were killed – 30 killed in action, eight in accidents, and two in accidents on the ground. A further seven were captured and became POWs. Six of the pilots killed were on exchange from the Royal Air Force. Of the Squadron’s 90 Meteors, 54 were lost during the war.

Damage inflicted by No 77 Squadron included five MiGs shot down, and the destruction of 3,700 buildings, 1,408 vehicles, 98 railway engines and carriages, and 16 bridges.