Cold War Shoot Down
#4
By Charlotte Busch Mitnik
The following article is copied from a guide booklet that
was a hand out a an exhibit called COLD WARRIORS which was displayed at NSA, in
May of 1996.
On October 7,1952, an RB- 29 was shot down by Soviet fighter
aircraft in the vicinity of Hokkadio Japan. This was the first hostile
encounter between U.S. and Soviet aircraft in this area. According to the U.S
Air Force, ”the Soviets admitted firing on the B-29 but denied any knowledge of
the fate or whereabouts of the eight crew members.” The United States sent a
protest note to the Soviet government on
September 25,1954, asking for $1,620,295.01 in compensation.
The U.S. government accused the Soviet government of capturing and retaining
U.S. airmen from the downed RB -29. The U.S. government concluded and charged
that some or all of the crew of the B-29 successfully parachuted to the sea at
approximately the position where the aircraft hit the water—The United States government
concluded and charged the Soviet
government’s patrol boat did pick up items of interest to the Soviet
government, as well as survivors still alive and bodies of other crew members,
if dead.
The crewmembers were carried by the USAF as missing until
November 15,1955, when their status was terminated by presumptive findings of
death. In November of 1992, the family
member of one of the crew member, John R. Dunhan,
Received word from the Pentagon that “Dunham, a navigator,
was killed when his airplane was shot down over the Sea of Japan and crashed in
the waters claimed by the Soviet Union.” The story of his remains, and how they
were found is another story in itself.
The bottom line is that, Captain Dunham’s remains were returned home to
the U.S. (where they belong) and he was given a proper burial at Arlington
National Cemetery.**
The crewmembers of the B-29 lost 1952 were:
Captain Eugene M. English
Captain John R. Dunham
First Lieutenant Paul E. Brock
Staff Sergeant Samuel A. Colgan
Staff Sergeant John A Hirsch
Airman 1st Cls Thomas G. Shipp
Airman 2nd Cls Fred G. Kendrick
Airman 2nd Cls Frank E. Neail III