Shipboard fire in the Korean War. Flames and smoke billowing from fires on the flight deck near the starboard bow of the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9). The fire resulted from a McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee jet fighter crashing into parked aircraft in a deck landing accident on 16 September 1951. The USS Essex was on operational service in the Korean War. The accident killed seven people and destroyed four aircraft. The Korean War (1950-1953) was a war between South Korea, backed by United Nations forces led by the USA, and North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China.