What about those pallets of cash? State Department
The US has always been wary of potential escalation. We know now that US pilots fought Russians all through the Korean War, but no one wanted to admit, for example, that one Naval aviator shot down Soviet 4 Mig-15s in his F9F Panther.
Williams would remain quiet about the event for 50 years while he flew with Air Force Korean War aces at the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis, and commanded Navy fighter squadrons through the Cold War and Vietnam. Following the end of the Cold War in 1992, the Russians revealed that Williams had indeed gotten four: Captain Belyakov, Captain Vandalov, Lieutenant Pakhomkin, and Lieutenant Tarshinov of the VVS-PVO, the Air Defense Forces.
F9F Panther as shown in the Bridges of Tokori