In December, UN Command temporarily switched some of the responsibilities of Task Element 95.11 and the US Fifth Air Force. Consequently, "Sydney" was required to provide air support for convoys between Japan and Korea amongst the other duties of her fifth patrol, which commenced on 7 December. On 8 December, a second RAN pilot was killed; although he successfully bailed out of his flak-damaged Sea Fury, he was struck by the tail of the aircraft and died from wounds. Four other aircraft were damaged that day. Clear weather, which lasted until 14 December, allowed the carrier to maintain a high rate of attack against North Korean troop concentrations, railways, and coastal vessels, while providing air cover for the Task Element. Ending on 18 December, the fifth patrol was the most costly to "Sydney"s CAG, with one pilot killed, five aircraft destroyed, and another 25 aircraft heavily damaged. The carrier was in Kure for Christmas, and relieved USS "Badoeng Strait" on 27 December, the start of her sixth patrol. The remaining days of 1951 were spent providing air cover in the Inchon area for both UN ground forces and supply convoys returning to Japan. On New Year's Day 1952, "Sydney"s aircraft helped repel the North Korean invasion of the island of Yongho Do. The third RAN pilot to be lost in Korea died on 2 January while performing a combat air patrol around the carrier; personnel on the flight deck saw the aircraft fly into a cloud, but not emerge. No wreckage was found, and it was assumed that the plane dived into the Yellow Sea. For most of the patrol, RAN aircraft attacked artillery emplacements and concentrations of junks in the Cho Do-Sok To area, while also proving air support for South Korean Army and irregular forces.