Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Central and Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

711.5622/4–1450

The Chief of Naval Operations (Sherman) to the Secretary of the Navy (Matthews)¹

Washington, 14 April 1950.

Subj: Attack on United States Aircraft by Soviet Aircraft

1. The following facts are furnished for your information concerning the disappearance of a naval patrol plane on 8 April 1950, and the Soviet note of 11 April 1950:

(a) An unarmed Navy patrol landplane left Wiesbaden at 1031 (Greenwich time), on 8 April 1950 on a properly scheduled flight pursuant to directives of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean,² for purposes previously approved by the Chief of Naval Operations. It carried a crew of four officers and six enlisted men.

(b) The patrol plane reported by radio crossing the coast line of the British Zone of Germany two and one half hours later.

(c) No further report has been received from the patrol plane or its occupants, and an intensive search by United States aircraft, assisted by those of friendly governments, has failed to locate the patrol plane or any of its occupants.

(d) Standing orders require that United States naval aircraft operating oversea routes in the European area adjacent to the USSR and its satellites “make no approaches closer than 20 miles to any shore of the USSR, its possessions or its satellites” and that they “shall not be armed”.

(e) Reports from the home base of the patrol plane and from a first class petty officer, a member of the normal crew of the patrol plane, who had been left at Wiesbaden because of illness, verify that the patrol plane was unarmed.

(f) The United States Air Force had no aircraft of similar type in the Baltic area on April 8th, nor are there any missing.

(g) The missing patrol plane carried very complete navigational equipment; its pilots and crew were extremely competent, and the weather was good.

2. I am forced to conclude that the alleged encounter between the United States Navy patrol plane and Russian fighters did take place; that the Russian fighter did fire into the United States Navy plane as stated; and that the loss of the United States Navy plane and its ten occupants resulted from that firing. However, a relatively slow unarmed patrol plane could not have attacked a Russian fighter and the Soviet note is untrue in that regard. It is probably untrue also with respect to the location of the incident. It is not likely that competent personnel would fly over Soviet occupied Latvia, nor that Soviet fighters would break off action over land under such circumstances.

3. It is believed that the Soviet government is aware of the fate of the United States aircraft which was unarmed and unable to evade its attacker.

4. It is significant that four Soviet Air Force officers have been decorated³ indicating that more than one fighter attacked the patrol plane.

5. It is recommended that the reply to the Soviet note accept the statement that a Soviet fighter fired into an American airplane about 1439 (Greenwich time) on April 8, 1950, but deny that the American airplane either fired at the Russian fighters or flew over the territory or territorial waters of Latvia. It is further recommended that the reply place responsibility for the disappearance of the patrol plane and its ten occupants on the unjustified attack by the Soviet aircraft.

6. The Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, has convened a Board of Investigation in connection with the loss of the patrol plane, but it is unlikely that its findings will differ appreciably from the facts as already reported.

Forrest Sherman

1. This report by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, was sent by the Secretary of the Navy, Francis P. Matthews, to the Secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson, who transmitted it to the Secretary of State, all on April 14.
2. Admiral Richard L. Conolly.
3. Four guards lieutenants of the Soviet Air Force on April 13 had been awarded the Order of the Red Banner by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union, Nikolay Mikhailovich Shvernik, for the “excellent performance of their official duty.” (Telegram 1132 from Moscow, April 14, 711.5622/4–1450)