The 67th Tactical
Reconnaissance Wing in Korea by Doug Gordon
Karl 'Pop' Polifka was the commander of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, based at that time at Taegu in South Korea. He had flown that fatal mission on July 1st in order to experience at first hand the problems that were being encountered by the 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron in completing their mission. The 45th TRS was one of three squadrons assigned to the 67th and the only one flying F-51 and RF-51 Mustangs. In the few months since the wings activation in Korea, the 45th had lost a number of aircraft, and, more importantly, valuable pilots. One of the principle threats to the Mustangs was ground to air small arms fire. Often the visual reconnaissance mission required a great deal of low level snooping around an area to find enemy activity. On finding such activity the 45th Pilot would call in a fighter bomber attack on any targets he had identified. All this time he would be low and loitering and in a very vulnerable position; as Karl Polifka's death bore witness to. On June 20th, 1951, just prior to the Colonel's fatal fact finding mission; four aircraft had been lost to enemy action and two pilots had been posted missing in action. The RF-51s of the 45th were in fact virtually new machines that had not seen active service in World War II. The 67th TRW was activated on February 25th, 1951 in Japan taking over the assets of the 543rd Tactical Support Group. On March 25th they moved to K2 at Taegu in South Korea. The three squadrons assigned to the tactical group were: the 12th TRS flying Douglas RB-26 Invaders, the 15th TRS flying Lockheed RF-80As and the 45th TRS with Mustangs.
This article is Copyright (C) 2002 Doug Gordon
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On July 1st, 1951, Colonel Karl L. Polifka was flying an F-51 near Kaesong, Korea, just south of the 38th Parallel.
He sighted some enemy ground activity and descended to take a closer look.
He circled the area keeping a keen look out and mentally recording all he saw.
He noticed the flashes of the small arms fire; but paid it no particular heed until he felt his Mustang shudder with the impact of several bullets.
He fought with the controls as the aircraft began to fall out of the sky; but it was no use.
He had to bail out. He released his canopy and exited the spinning aircraft.
Unfortunately, his opening parachute caught on the fuselage and he went down with the aircraft, impacting with the ground and dying instantly.
The following day air rescue recovered his body.
