1950 — Apr 8, USN Privateer Patrol Bomber shot down by USSR, Baltic Sea off Latvia– 10

–10 Abilene Reporter-News, TX. “News Map.” 7-20-1960, p. B13.
–10 Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. “Personnel Accounting Progress Cold War Fact..”
–10 Lednicer. “Intrusions, Overflights, Shootdowns and Defections…Cold War…” 4-16-2011.
–10 Peterson. “Maybe You Had to Be There: The SIGINT on Thirteen Soviet Shootdowns.” p6.
–10 San Antonio Express, TX. “U.S. Suspects Russians Shoot Down Navy Plane.” 4-12-1950, 1
–10 Wikipedia. “Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer.” 1-16-2012 modification.

Narrative Information

Abilene Reporter-News, TX, July 20, 1960: “April 8, 1950 – Navy patrol bomber disappears over Baltic; crew of 10 lost. U.S. claims Russians shot it down.” (Abilene Reporter-News, TX. “News Map.” 7-20-1960, p. B13.)

Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office: “April 8, 1950, a U.S. Navy PB4Y2 Privateer aircraft flying out of Wiesbaden, Germany, was shot down by Soviet fighters over the Baltic Sea. The entire crew of 10 remains unaccounted for.” (Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. “Personnel Accounting Progress Cold War Fact Sheet.” Current as of Feb 2012.)

Lednicer: “8 April 1950 Soviet La-11 Fangs, piloted by Boris Dokin, Anatoliy Gerasimov, Tezyaev, and Sataev shot down a US Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer (BuNo 59645) Turbulent Turtle of VP-26, Det A. Based from Port Lyautey, French Morocco, the Privateer was on a patrol mission launched from Wiesbaden, West Germany. According the to the American account, this incident happened over the Baltic Sea off the coast of Lepija Latvia. The Soviets claimed the aircraft was intercepted over Latvia and fired on the Soviet fighters during the interception. After the fighters engaged the Privateer, the Soviets report that it descended sharply before crashing into the sea 5-10 kilometers off the coast. Wreckage was recovered, but the crew of John H. Fette, Howard W. Seeschaf, Robert D. Reynolds, Tommy L. Burgess, Frank L. Beckman, Joe H. Danens, Jack W. Thomas, Joseph Jay Bourassa, Edward J. Purcell and Joseph Norris Rinnier Jr. were missing and presumed killed.” (Lednicer, David. “Intrusions, Over-flights, Shoot-downs and Defections During the Cold War and Thereafter.” 4-16-2011 revision.)

Wikipedia: “…Privateers were [also] used by the US Navy for signals intelligence flights off of the coast of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. On 8 April 1950, Soviet La-11 fighters shot down US Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer (BuNo 59645) Turbulent Turtle of VP-26, Det A over the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Lepija, Latvia.” (Wikipedia. “Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer.” 1-16-2012 modification.)

Newspaper

April 11, Associated Press: “Washington, April 11. (AP) — U.S. officials launched a triple inquiry Tuesday into Russian reports of an aerial battle Saturday [April 8] between Soviet planes and an American bomber in the Baltic area. The State Department, Air Force and Navy started investigations immediately upon receipt of a Russian protest over the alleged incident. All three departments professed lack of official knowledge beyond the Russian note.

“Most officials guessed that the Moscow story was tied up somehow with the fate of a Navy patrol plane missing in the Baltic since Saturday with 10 men aboard.

“There were these conflicts, however, between the Soviet account and the statements of American officials: Russia—the American plane was a B-29 bomber.

“The missing Navy plane is a privateer patrol craft, a Navy version of the B-24 bomber, vaguely like the B-29 but unlikely to be mistaken by an experienced airman. No other American planes were known to be in the Baltic area Saturday.

“Russia — the American craft fired first when Russian fighters went up to investigate it. All U. S. Navy planes have orders from Adm. Richard Conolly, commander of American sea forces in European waters, to go unarmed when they even fly near Soviet territory. A crewman who missed the flight of the missing patrol ship said it had neither arms nor ammunition aboard, though one officer may have carried a .45 caliber service pistol.

“Russia — the encounter took place about 13 miles inside Russian territory at Lapaya (Libau), Latvia. That is some 350 miles east and a bit north of Copenhagen, Denmark, the destination of the Navy plane when it took off from Wiesbaden, Germany, far to the south. Air Force pilots, headquarters officers said, have orders to stay well clear of Soviet-controlled territory. In the case of the Navy, Adm. Conolly’s orders are specific – at least 20 miles from territorial boundaries.

Washington, April 11. (UP). — The Air Force and the Navy denied a Russian charge Tuesday that an American Superfortress fired on Soviet fighter planes over Latvia last Saturday after “violating” the frontier of the Baltic state….

“Adm. Forrest P. Sherman chief of naval operations, said a Navy patrol plane has been missing since it left Wiesbaden, Germany, Saturday on a routine training flight to Copenhagen. He said, it was unarmed, and could not have fired on any other planes…. Sherman said no report has been received from the missing patrol plane or its 10 crewmen since it reported by radio 2½ hours after taking off from Wiesbaden….

“The four-engined Navy plane disappeared while en route from Wiesbaden, Germany, with four
officers and six men. As far as can be ascertained, it was the only American plane within hundreds of miles of Latvia, on the Baltic seacoast, at the time of the reported exchange of gunfire.

“Russia officially protested to the U.S. Tuesday that a four-engined military plane bearing American identification marks flew into Soviet Latvia last Saturday afternoon. It fired on challenging Soviet fighter planes which ordered it to land, Russia said. Owing to this, an advance Soviet fighter plane was forced to open fire in reply, after which the American plane turned toward the sea and disappeared,” the Russian protest said.

“Since Sunday morning, planes of four nations, aided by Navy patrol ships, have searched around the clock without finding any trace of the missing Navy plane. Advance emergency search headquarters was set up at Kastrup airport outside Copenhagen….” (San Antonio Express, TX. “U.S. Suspects Russians Shoot Down Navy Plane.” 4-12-1950, p. 1.)

Sources

Abilene Reporter-News, TX. “News Map [U.S. military plane incidents over/near USSR].” 7-20-1960, p. B13. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=84471612

Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. “Personnel Accounting Progress Cold War Fact Sheet.” Feb 2012. Accessed 2-20-2012: http://cryptocomb.org/cold_war_pow%20factsheet.pdf

Lednicer, David. “Intrusions, Over-flights, Shoot-downs and Defections During the Cold War and Thereafter.” 4-16-2011 revision. Accessed 2-20-2012: http://myplace.frontier.com/~anneled/ColdWar.html

Peterson, Michael L. “Maybe You Had to Be There: The SIGINT on Thirteen Soviet Shootdowns.” Cryptologic Quarterly, 1993, 44 pages. Accessed 4-27-2023 at: https://irp.fas.org/nsa/maybe_you.pdf

San Antonio Express, TX. “U.S. Suspects Russians Shoot Down Navy Plane.” 4-12-1950, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=69056271

Wikipedia. “Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer.” 1-16-2012 modification. Accessed 2-20-2012 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_PB4Y-2_Privateer#cite_note-3