SOUTH AFRICA'S FLYING CHEETAHS IN KOREA

Abstract

On 25 June 1950, the army of North Korea crossed the thirty-eighth parallel to attack their southern neighbours. Western Powers responded quickly and despatched a multinational task force, under a United Nations banner, to the conflict area. The United Nations Forces (UNF) included a South African contingent of one fighter bomber squadron (No 2 Squadron SAAF), a liaison headquarters and ten army officers attached to 1st Commonwealth Division. By October, the North Koreans were routed. However, the intervention of Communist China resulted in a prolonged war which eventually ended in a stalemate at Panmunjom on 27 July 1953.