From February 1952 to July 1952 a total of 81 MiG-15s were lost and 34 pilots were killed by F-86 Sabres, at the cost of only 68 UN aircraft, including 36 F-86s. The greatest losses came on 4th July 1952 when a total of eleven MiGs were shot down by Sabres with one pilot KIA. This was done in the context of the secret "Maple Special" Operation which was a plan conceived by Col. Francis Gabreski to cross the Yalu river (which marked the border between North Korea and China and was strictly forbidden, at least officially) and catch the MiGs unaware when they were taking off or landing, as they were in disadvantage, flying slow, at low level and, depending on the situation, short on ammo and fuel.
Even under those circunstances, the MiG pilots managed to score two important victories against American aces, like when on 10th February 1952 Maj. George Andrews Davis Jr. , an ace credited with 14 victories, 10 of which confirmed by communist forces, was shot down and killed. It's not clear who shot down him and it's authorship was disputed between 1st Lt. Mikhail A Averin and the Chinese Zhang Jihui. Later, during that same 4th July 1952, some few seconds after shooting down 1st Lt. M. I. Kosynkin, Cpt. Clifford D. Jolley (who would achieve ace status later in the war) was forced to eject from his crippled F-86E after being caught by surprise a MiG-15bis flown by 1st Lt. Vasily R. Krutkikh.
In May 1952 new and better trained Soviet units arrived in Korea, the 133rd and 216th IADs. They replaced the 190th and 97th IADs by July 1952 and, even if they couldn't achieve aerial superiority, as the American forces were well prepared now, they certainly neutralized American air superiority in the area between September 1952 and July 1953 when the cease-fire was signed. In September 1952 another Soviet unit, the 32nd IAD also started combat operations. As usual, the victories/losses numbers are debated both by American and Russian historians, but on at least three occasions Soviet MiG-15 pilots gained the upper hand against Sabre aces.
The first one took place on 7th April 1953 when the ace Cpt. Harold E. Fischer was shot down over Manchuria shortly after damaging a Chinese and Soviets MiGs over Dapu airbase. The attacker's identity is disputed between 1st Lt. Grigory N. Berelidze and the Chinese pilot Han Dechai.
The second one took place some few days later, on 12th April 1953 when Cpt. Semyon A Fedorets who was a Soviet ace with 8 credited victories, shot down the F-86E of Norman E Green, but was however, shortly attacked by the future American top ace of the Korean war Cpt. Joseph McConnell. In the ensuing dogfight, they shot each other down, ejecting and being rescued safely.
The third one took place on the days prior to the armistice, on 20th July 1953 when, during a raid deep into Manchuria, and after having shot down two Chinese MiGs, Majors Thomas M Sellers and Stepehn L Bettinger (who was an ace credited with 5 kills), tried to catch by surprise two Soviet MiG-15s that were landing in Dapu. The Soviet pilots skillfully forced the Americans to overshoot, reversed direction and shot both down. Cpt. Boris N Siskov forced Bettinger to bail out and his wingman 1st Lt. Vladimir M. Klimov killed Major Sellers. That was Siskov's fifth victory, making him the last ace of the Korean War and those were also the two last Sabres shot down by Soviet aircrafts during the war.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/53180
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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