1953 — July 29, USAF RB-50 (Yokota Air Base, Japan) shot down by USSR, Sea of Japan-16

–17 Peterson. “Maybe You Had to Be There: The SIGINT on Thirteen Soviet Shootdowns.” 1993, p12.
–16 Aircrew Remembered. “Archive Report: UN Forces Korea.” 4-7-2021 modification.
–16 Spyflight.co.uk. “Boeing B-29 / F-13A / RB-29A / RB-29A Washington / RB-50.”
–14 Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. “Personnel Accounting Progress Cold War…”

Narrative Information

Aircrew Remembered: “Mysterious Loss of USAF Superfortress Spy Plane

“Built by Boeing, manufacture Number 15830. Delivered to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) as a B-50B-50-BO Superfortress Serial Number 47-145. This bomber was modified as RB-50G ELINT with additional radar and B-50D type nose, sometimes also referred to as RB-50D. Assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (91st SRS) at Yokato [sic] AFB.

“Superfortress RB-50G (47145 Little Red Ass [red colored tail section])flew from Honshu on a mission in North Korea and was shot down over Sea of Japan southeast of Vladivostok at 42-17N, 133-15 East, by two Soviet pilots (Yablonskiy and Rybakov) in the region of Cape Gamov on July 29, 1953 while on a secret mission. Declassified U.S. government documents state that the aircraft was on a ‘routine navigational mission in air space over the international waters of the Sea of Japan’.

“The RV-50G was a heavily modified B-29 Superfortress with Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) gear onboard and several specialist crew to man the electronics.

“Total time elapse between the time the attack started until components of the aircraft fell in the water was approximately two minutes. There was a crew of 17 but there was only 1 survivor, with 2 remains recovered.

“Declassified documents list the names of the crew members, but none of their names show up on the government’s official Korean War Loss list as having been killed or missing. Even the lone survivor is not mentioned. The co-pilot Captain John Roche was the only crew member recovered. He was rescued by an American ship 40 miles from the Soviet coast to the south of Cape Povorotny.

“The pilot and co-pilot had bailed out at the same time. The co-pilot assumed the rest of the crew bailed out, too. A search and rescue aircraft dropped a life raft to other survivors. At least four of them (and possibly more) were seen sitting in the raft. Also seen were nine Soviet PT-type boats in the area and at least six of them were heading to the location where debris from the aircraft was later discovered. A Soviet trawler was also spotted in the approximate area. The crew members were:

1. Beyer, 1LT. Frank Ernest – MIA
2. Brown, M/Sgt. Francis Luther – flight engineer – badly injured, shocked, and over exposure on the Sea of Japan resulted in his death. Body recovered.
3. CZYZ, 1Lt. Edmund Joseph – MIA
4. Gabree, SSgt. Donald Wayne – MIA
5. Goulet, A/1c Roland Edgar
6. Hill, SSgt. Donald George – MIA
7. Keith, 1Lt. James Gordon – navigator – He was situated in the nose of the aircraft and was thrown from his position and mortally wounded. – KIA
8. O’Kelley, Capt. Stanley Keith – aircraft commander – died of exposure in Roche’s presence while waiting in the water for rescue – body recovered
9. Radelin, A/2c Earl Wilbur Jr. – MIA
10. Roche, Capt. John Ernst — co-pilot – He was rescued the next day on July 30, 1953.
11. Russell, A/2c Charles Joseph – MIA
12. Sanderson, 1Lt. Warren John – MIA
13. Stalnaker, 1Lt. Robert Elbon – MIA
14. Tejeda, Maj. Francisco Joseph – MIA
15. Ward, Capt. John Cyrus – MIA
16. Wiggins, 1Lt. Lloyd Clayton – MIA
17. Woods, A/2c James Edwin — MIA

“For years the story of this flight remained unspoken of but insight into the mission of RF-50G was found in a memorial to crew member Robert Elbon Stalnaker on a website called West Virginia Division of Culture and History:

On July 29, 1953, Robert Stalnaker was one of a 17-member crew on a US RB-50G that was given a special assignment over the Sea of Japan. Another West Virginian, Airman 2nd Class James E. Woods from Upshur County, was also a member of the crew. Robert and five other crewmen were electronics specialists known as Ravens, and on that day one of their assignments was to investigate radar facilities along the Soviet border. The best way to do that was to provoke the Russians into turning on their search and control radar, which was usually done only when the early warning radar detected a potential threat. This risky maneuver was known as ferreting because the goal was to ferret out information about the capabilities of the Soviet equipment. The Russians understood the game and tried not to be lured into turning on their equipment, which would expose the capabilities of their system to the United States.

After completing the mission at about 6:15 AM, the US RB-50G was returning to the base at Yokota when it was intercepted and unexpectedly fired upon from the rear by two Russian MiG-17 fighter planes. The gunfire from the MiG-17 at the rear disabled the RB-50G’s No. 1 engine and set the No. 4 engine on fire. The attack also tore off part of the tail section and destroyed the wing. The tail gunner, James E. Woods, was able to return a brief burst of fire at the MiG-17, but to no avail, and commander Captain Stanley O’Kelley ordered the crew to bail out. The plane lost altitude quickly and crashed into the sea. The attack occurred two days after the armistice ending the Korean War was signed on July 27, 1953.

The US conducted a thorough search of the area by air and sea, and was assisted by an Australian ship near the crash site. Halted due to dense fog and approaching darkness, the search was resumed on the morning of July 30, 1953. Captain John Roche, co-pilot of the plane, was wounded but survived the crash by holding onto pieces of the wreckage. He was picked up by the Navy ship USS Picking in the early morning hours of July 30, 1953 after floating in the Sea of Japan for about 22 hours. No other survivors were found. The bodies of Captain Stanley O’Kelley and Master Sergeant Francis Brown were later recovered along the coast of Japan. The remaining 14 members of the crew, which included Robert Stalnaker, were never accounted for.

The United States State Department officially released information that the US RB-50G was the victim of an unprovoked attack by two Russian MiG-17 fighters while on a routine navigational training exercise in international airspace over the Sea of Japan. In fact, the US RB-50G was involved in a ferreting operation, and in order to provoke the Russians, had flown into the danger zone of the harbor at Vladivostok, which was home to the Soviet’s Pacific fleet.

The Soviet government maintained that about 6:00 AM on the morning of July 29, 1953, a US Air Force RB-50G aircraft violated the boundary of the USSR in the region of Cape Gamov and flew through their airspace to the area of Ajton Island near Vladivostok. The Soviets claimed that two Russian MiG-17 fighter aircraft approached the US RB-50G with the intention of showing the crew that they were within the boundaries of the USSR and urging them to leave Soviet airspace. The Soviets stated that the US RB-50G aircraft was last seen flying out to sea and they had no further knowledge of the fate of the plane or its crew. However, according to Captain Roche, several Russian boats were in the area immediately after the crash, and crew members of the rescue planes searching the site also reported sightings of Russian boats and planes in the area that may have picked up other possible survivors or remains.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s the US government made repeated requests to the Soviet Foreign Ministry for information regarding the July 29, 1953 attack on the US Air Force RB-50G plane but received little no response. In June 1992 Russian President Boris Yeltsin admitted that the Soviets had shot down nine US planes during the 1950s and held twelve of the survivors prisoner. It is not know whether any of these prisoners were crew members aboard the US RB-50G which was shot down in 1953. In November 1955, Robert Stalnaker was officially pronounced dead by the US Air Force. [West Virginia Archives and History. West Virginia Veterans Memorial. “Remember—Robert Elbon Stalnaker, 1922-1953.” 2021.]

(Aircrew Remembered. “Archive Report: UN Forces Korea.” 4-7-2021 modification.)

Defense POW: “July 29, 1953, a U.S. Air Force RB-50 aircraft stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan, was shot down over the Sea of Japan. Of the 17 crew members on board, 14 remain unaccounted for.” (Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. “Personnel Accounting Progress Cold War Fact Sheet.” Feb 2012.)

Spyflight.co.uk: “29 Jul 53 RB-50G (Serial No: 47154) of the 343rd SRS departed Yokota to carry out ELINT duties off the Russian port of Vladivostok. Captained by Stanley O’Kelley total flight crew of eleven and 6 Ravens [electronics specialists]. Attacked at 0615 when at 20,000ft some 26 miles off Cape Povorotny to the south-east of Vladivostok, aircraft was attacked by 2 MiG-15’s. Starboard wing caught fire, crew ordered to bail-out. Only co-pilot Capt. John E Roche survived to be picked up by a US Navy destroyer. 3 bodies later washed up in Japan. Persistent rumours that other crew members survived the bale-out, were captured by the Soviets and interrogated. These crewmen were reportedly seen in various Soviet prisons, but then disappeared, presumably to one of the extremely isolated prison camps in the ‘Gulag Archipelago’. The eventual fate of the missing crew members remains unknown.” (Spyflight.co.uk. “Boeing B-29 / F-13A / RB-29A / RB-29A Washington / RB-50.”)

Sources

Aircrew Remembered. “Archive Report: UN Forces Korea.” 4-7-2021 modification. Accessed 5-13-2023 at: https://aircrewremembered.com/mysterious-loss-of-superfortress-little-red-ass.html

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

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

Spyflight.co.uk. “Boeing B-29 / F-13A / RB-29A / RB-29A Washington / RB-50.” Accessed at: http://www.spyflight.co.uk/rb29.htm

West Virginia Archives and History. West Virginia Veterans Memorial. “Remember—Robert Elbon Stalnaker, 1922-1953.” 2021. Accessed 5-13-2023 at: https://archive.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/vets/stalnaker/stalnaker.html