Captain John S. Walmsley Jr.
Capt. John S. Walmsley Jr. was born in January 1920 in Baltimore, Md., where he also entered military service. After serving as a flight instructor in the United States and Japan throughout the 1940s, Walmsley found himself in Korea as part of a short-lived experiment called "Operation Scramble" that involved searchlights and B-26s and earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor.
During the summer of 1951, a cease-fire was declared in Korea while peace negotiations were going on between Chinese and North Korean communists and United Nations forces. It became obvious, however, that the communists were using the cease-fire as a screen for large-scale resupply of their armies, moving supplies by train and truck convoys.
Beginning in August, the Far East Air Forces countered with Operation Scramble, an interdiction campaign against railroads in North Korea. F-84 fighter-bombers, B-29s and B-26s were used to attack and destroy supply trains and trucks. However, the communists switched to nighttime movement of supplies by rail, forcing the FEAF to convert Scramble to a 24-hour operation.
Walmsley was a member of the 8th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bomb Wing, flying a B-26. The supply lines ran through narrow valleys flanked by mountains and lined by .50-caliber machine guns and both 20-mm and 40-mm antiaircraft guns. The B-26s were equipped with old 80,000,000-candlepower searchlights that the Navy had used on its submarine-hunting blimps during World War II. It was Walmsley's job to develop tactics for searchlight attacks. On the night of Sept. 12, 1951, he scored the first success with a searchlight, stopping a truck convoy with 500-pound bombs and then making several bombing runs on it using the light.
Two nights later, Walmsley, call sign "Skillful 13," stopped a train near Yankdok, 90 miles north of the 38th Parallel and made successful passes on it until he ran out of ordnance. Circling above the train, he called for another B-26 to continue the attack. Finally, a 3rd Bomb Wing B-26 responded. Walmsley gave its pilot his location as accurately as he could and used his searchlight as a beacon, making himself a clear target for the enemy at the same time. Walmsley twice flew his B-26 through heavy flak along the correct axis of attack, illuminating the area. The second B-26 prepared for its bombing run along the attack line Walmsley had illuminated.
Gunners in the mountains along the railway track threw up a concentrated barrage across the path of Walmsley's B-26. His searchlights were shining brightly and he was impossible to miss. In his determination to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, he refused to employ evasive tactics and valiantly pressed forward straight through the intense barrage, ensuring complete destruction of the enemy's war cargo. As he pressed the attack, his plane was hit. It continued to fly straight and level for about two miles, but then crashed into a mountain and exploded.
Because of his determination to complete a top-priority mission in the face of almost certain injury or death, Walmsley was given the Medal of Honor posthumously, one of only four Air Force pilots to be so honored during the Korean War.
His citation reads:..."Capt. Walmsley, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. While flying a B-26 aircraft on a night combat mission with the objective of developing new tactics, Capt. Walmsley sighted an enemy supply train which had been assigned top priority as a target of opportunity. He immediately attacked, producing a strike which disabled the train, and, when his ammunition was expended, radioed for friendly aircraft in the area to complete destruction of the target. Employing the searchlight mounted on his aircraft, he guided another B-26 aircraft to the target area, meanwhile constantly exposing himself to enemy fire. Directing an incoming B-26 pilot, he twice boldly aligned himself with the target, his searchlight illuminating the area, in a determined effort to give the attacking aircraft full visibility. As the friendly aircraft prepared for the attack, Capt. Walmsley descended into the valley in a low level run over the target with searchlight blazing, selflessly exposing himself to vicious enemy antiaircraft fire. In his determination to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, he refused to employ evasive tactics and valiantly pressed forward straight through an intense barrage, thus insuring complete destruction of the enemy's vitally needed war cargo. While he courageously pressed his attack Capt. Walmsley's plane was hit and crashed into the surrounding mountains, exploding upon impact. His heroic initiative and daring aggressiveness in completing this important mission in the face of overwhelming opposition and at the risk of his life, reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force."
A month after Walmsley's heroic act, the searchlights were abandoned as too fragile and unreliable for bomber operations, offering a risk out of proportion to their usefulness.
Sources compiled from Air Force Museum and Air Force Historical Research Agency
The above content is courtesy of the United States Air Force
Foot note:
The Medal of Honor (Army design) was presented to Capt. Walmsley's family because the Air Force design was not established by Congress until 6 July 1960 and was presented to all Air Force recipients of the Medal of Honor on or after 1 November 1965.