Background
Assigned to the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and operating with the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, B-29 Superfortress tail number 44-62217 was on a leaflet dropping mission over North Korea. The aircraft carried the wing commander and the operations commander of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing.
Incident
On January 13, 1953, while approaching the last leaflet target south of the Yalu River, near the Chinese town of Antung, the unarmed Superfortress was intercepted by twelve Soviet MiG-15 fighters from the 351st (and possibly the 535th) Fighter Air Regiments. Russian radar-controlled searchlight units stationed near Antung illuminated the bomber, and several MiGs engaged. A Soviet pilot from the 351st IAP was credited with the shootdown. The B-29 issued a mayday call; although US sources believe the aircraft was in North Korean airspace at the time, Chinese and Russian authorities disputed this. Crew members who bailed out and landed believed they were in North Korean territory.
Aftermath
Upon capture, the crew was blindfolded, placed on trucks, and transported into China. They were later charged as CIA spies, as the Chinese had learned of the CIA connection with Air Resupply and Communications Wing units. In October 1954, a highly publicized trial in Peking resulted in prison sentences ranging from five years to life for the surviving crew members, along with captured CIA agents who had been shot down two years earlier while attempting to retrieve a Chinese double agent. The surviving crew members were released from Chinese prison on August 4, 1955, making them the longest-held USAF prisoners of war of the Korean conflict.
Crew
The crew included Col John K. Arnold Jr., Maj William E. Baumer, A2c Harry M. Benjamin Jr., T/Sgt Howard W. Brown, 1st Lt Wallace L. Brown, Cpt John W. Buck, A1c Alvin D. Hart Jr., A1c Steve E. Kiba, Cpt Elmer F. Llewellyn, A1c Daniel C. Schmidt, A2c John W. Thompson III, Cpt Eugene J. Vaadi, 1st Lt Paul E. Van Voorhis, and 1st Lt Henry D. Weese.