Meaning of MiG Alley | Babel Free

Definitions

A region of North Korea, close to the Yalu River, where MiG-15 fighters would typically be encountered.

historical, informal

Examples

“This first mission had not gone into the section of northwest Korea soon to become known as “MiG Alley.” December 17 saw the 4th FIW F-86As make their first foray into that area.[…] Because of fuel concerns, Hinton’s planes entered the combat area at a leisurely Mach 0.62. It became apparent that this speed was too slow to effectively counter the MiG-1 5s. After the first encounters, the 4th FIW pilots realized this fact and began entering MiG Alley at speeds above Mach 0.85.”

“Along the Manchurian frontier was a 160km strip of land the US pilots dubbed 'MiG Alley'. Beyond it lay the North Korean, Chinese and Russian squadrons. From those airbases, MiGs sallied forth to attack the bombers striking North Korea. For the American pilots, MiG Alley was a hunting ground. In the 25 minutes their fuel allowed them over the area, they tore through the clouds at 1,000km/h.”

“Although the ferocity of the bombing was criticized as racist and unjustified elsewhere in the world, it was never a big story back home. U.S. press coverage of the air war focused, instead, on “MiG alley,” a narrow patch of North Korea near the Chinese border. There, in the world’s first jet-powered aerial war, American fighter pilots competed against each other to shoot down five or more Soviet-made fighters and become “aces.””

“We fight a private little war up in MIG Alley. On our side of the Yalu river is the 4th Fighter Interceptor wing. On the other side are the Red MIG-15's.”

“SUPER high speed, high altitude Communist jet fighters roam MIG Alley daily but as yet they have feared to venture south across the 38th.”

“This air space between the Yalu and the Chongchon, rising vertically from the snow carpet to the empty blue of 50,000 feet, is now the disputed no man's land of the Korean air war where the Chinese red air force is making its first serious challenge to American air supremacy in the jet era.[…] MIG Alley is now the “big league” of air war where two USAF Sabre wings—the 4th and 5l1st—are fighting one of the great battles of history against swarms of red-nosed Russian MIG-15s in the first large scale clash of sweptwing jet fighters.”

“Seven decades later, that plane still exists, and resides at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. Its red star repainted, it is on display alongside an American F-86 Sabre jet, a remembrance of the dogfights of the Korean War in the swath of sky known as MIG Alley.”

CEFR level