When the Korean War began in 1950, the United States entered a new era of air combat it barely understood. Pilots trained for the piston-engine battles of World War II suddenly faced jet fighters that climbed higher, flew faster, and turned combat into a game of life and death that lasted only seconds. Over the next three years, the skies over “MiG Alley” — the narrow stretch of airspace along the Yalu River — became the battlefield that taught the U.S. Air Force how to fight, survive, and