RB-50G Shot Down Over the Sea of Japan (47-145)

Incident Overview and Interception Details On 06:15 local time, an RB-50G aircraft, temporarily attached to the 91st SRS, was intercepted by two MiG-15 fighters from the 88 GvIAP. The interception occurred at 20,000 feet over the Sea of Japan, near coordinates 42°38'3N, 132°20'9E, after the aircraft had violated Soviet airspace near Cape Gamov. The RB-50G was identified by the callsign 'Little Red Ass'. The exact sequence of events following the interception remains disputed between Soviet and US reports. According to Soviet accounts, the fighter pilots instructed the RB-50G to land, but the gunners opened fire and hit the MiG flown by 1st Lt. Aleksandr D. Rybakov. Rybakov then attacked the RB-50G together with his wingman, 1st Lt. Yuri M. Yablonskiy, and shot it down with cannon fire. US reports claim that the interceptors opened fire first, disabling the #1 engine, and the gunners then only returned fire in self-defense. However, they could not prevent another attack that set the #4 engine on fire. The RB-50G went into a sharp dive, but parts of the damaged right wing and tail assembly tore off, causing the aircraft to disintegrate and crash into the sea about two minutes after being fired upon. At least seven crew members succeeded in bailing out, but only the copilot was rescued after 22 hours by the US destroyer USS Picking (DD 685) from a liferaft that had been dropped for him by an SB-29 about 12 hours after the crash. The destroyer also recovered the body of the pilot, who had died of injuries and exposure, and the body of a flight engineer was later located on the coast of Japan, while the remaining 13 were reported missing in action. It was suspected that at least some of them were taken prisoner by Soviet PT boats observed to be operating in the area, but it is not known if this was actually the case. The crew consisted of Cpt Stanley Keith O'Kelley, pilot; Cpt John Ernst Roche, copilot; Cpt John Cyrus Ward; Maj Francisco Joseph Tejeda; 1st Lt Frank Ernest Beyer; 1st Lt Edmund Joseph, navigator; 1st Lt James Gordon Keith, navigator; 1st Lt Lloyd Clayton Wiggins, navigator; 1st Lt Warren John Sanderson; 1st Lt Robert Elbon Stalnaker; M/Sgt Francis Luther Brown, flight engineer; S/Sgt Donald Wayne Gabree; S/Sgt Donald George Hill; A1c Roland Edgar Goulet; A2c Earl Wilbur Radelin Jr.; A2c Charles Joseph Russall; and A2c James Edwin Woods, tail gunner.