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Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives), Volume IX, March, 1953 Germany, Page 12817 © 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved. Air, Incidents.-Czechoslovak. Fighters Attack on U.S. Planes over Bavaria.-Soviet Attack on British Bombers.-Shooting- down of British Lincoln Bomber and U.S. Thunderjet.-Seven British Airmen killed.-Czechoslovak Rejection of U.S. Protest.-British, French, and U.S. Protests to Soviet Authorities in Germany.-Statement by Mr. Churchill.-Soviet Rejection of British Protest.-General Chuikov's Proposal for Air Safety Conference. U.S. Air Force Headquarters in Wiesbaden announced on March 10 that two Czechoslovak MIG-15 jet fighters of Russiandesign had earlier the same day attacked two U.S. F-84 (Thunderjet) fighters over Bavaria, 15 miles inside the AmericanZone of Germany, and had shot down one of them. The attack, the announcement said had occurred near Regensburg at an altitude of about 12,000 feet and in "perfectly clear weather", and the two Thunderjets had been "well within the AmericanZone." The pilot of the crashed aircraft (First-Lt. Warren G. Brown) had baled out just before the crash and had landed safely, whilst the other pilot (First- Lt. Donald C. Smith) had flown back to Furstenfeldbruck (the base from which the Thunderjets were operating) without having fired his guns. An Air Force spokesman said that neither Lt. Smith nor Lt. Brown had been able to identify any national markings on the planes which had attacked them. In a further statement on March 15, a spokesman at U.S. Air Force Headquarters disclosed that earlier press reports that the two Thunderjets were on a routine patrol and had accidentally, run up against the MIGs were not correct, that in actual fact the U.S. fighters had been "ordered out in a matter of seconds from Fürstenfeldbruck air base to investigate and intercept the two MIG intruders as soon as they were picked up on our radar screen"; and that they had found and intercepted the MIGs over American zonal territory "only a few minutes after the radar warning was received." "The fact that one of them was shot down," the spokesman added, "was due to faulty manoeuvring plus the superior speed of the MIGs, but the incident proved that our radar warning; system to effective and that our fighters can be up in the air to intercept intruders within minutes." The incident gave rise to deep concern both in Washington, where the State Department announced on March 10 that the U.S. Ambassador in Prague (Mr. George Wadsworth) had been instructed "to lodge the strongest possible protest both against the attack on the aircraft arid the violation of the U.S. Zone of Germany," and at U.S. Headquarters in Germany. Dr.Conant, the American High Commissioner in Bonn, declared on March 11 that he was confident that the U.S. forces inGermany "will know how to deal with any future incursions of this type." The Czechoslovak Government, in a Note handed to the American Embassy in Prague on March 11, disclaimed any responsibility for the shooting down of the U.S. fighter. The Note alleged that the two U.S. aircraft had first been located 12 miles south of Pizen (Pilsen) and 25 miles insideCzechoslovak territory, that the American pilots had refused to land when ordered to do so, and that the two CzechoslovakMIGs which challenged them had then opened fire and damaged one of the planes. Rejecting the American protest as "an attempt to reverse the foots and evade responsibility," the Note maintained that the incident constituted a "crude violation ofCzechoslovak sovereignty" and that responsibility rested exclusively on the U.S. Government. A second American Note sent to Czechoslovakia on March 13 emphasized that U.S. jet fighters were under constant U.S. radar surveillance, that radar had established beyond doubt that the two U.S. aircraft had not crossed the Czechoslovakborder at any time, and that the shooting down of one of them had occurred "within the border of the American Zone ofGermany." Describing the Czechoslovak Government's "attempted explanation of tills provocative incident" as "a falsification of facts designed to cover its responsibility for this inexplicable action," the Note referred to previous border incidents in 1951, after which the Czechoslovak Air Force had been instructed to keep about 12 miles away from the U.S. zonal border. The "flagrant incident of March 10" indicated, however, that "the Czechoslovak Government has reverted to its previous practice of misrepresentation" and that the former "buffer zone" order was no longer in effect. "In view of this attitude of theCzechoslovak Government," the Note declared, "the U.S. authorities in Germany will take the measures necessary to prevent any further violations of the border of the U.S. Zone by Czechoslovak aircraft." Finally, the Note demanded an expression of regret, an assurance that such incidents would not recur, disciplinary measures against the offending pilots, and "immediate compensation" for the destroyed jet fighter. On March 12, two days after the incident, over Bavaria, two further serious incident involving British military aircraft, took place in Northern and North-Central Germany. The Air Ministry in London announced on that date that an R.A.F. Lincoln bomber of Flying Training Command, on a routine exercise, had been shot down by MIG fighters in the Hamburg- Berlin air corridor near the British zonal border, that five of the crew had been killed and two wounded, and that earlier the same day another R.A.F. Lincoln of Flying Training Command, on a similar routine exercise, had been the object of a threatening "mock" attack by two Soviet MIG-fighters near Kassel, "well within the British Zone." The statement added: "H.M. Government take n grave view of this serious event within the Hamburg- Berlin air Corridor. The U.K. High Commissioner inGermany has been instructed to protest to the Soviet, High Commissioner in the strongest terms against this deliberate attack on a British aircraft, involving the death of British airmen. He is to request that an investigation be undertaken immediately by the Soviet authorities, that these responsible for this outrage should be punished, and that due reparation be made for damage to persons and property." An R.A.F. spokesman in Germany stated that the Lincoln bomber had come down in flames near Bolzenburg (on the border of the British and soviet Zones, and S.E. of Hamburg), at about 2.30 p.m., after having been fired at by two soviet fighters, that the main portion of the wreckage had fallen in a wood on the Soviet side of the Zonal border, but that other parts of the wreckage, as well as the aircraft's papers (which had been thrown out by the crew), had been found near Lauenburg, inside the British Zone and near the zonal border. The two Lincolns had taken off in the morning on a long-distance training flight from the Central Gunnery School at Leconsfield ( Yorkshire), and had been expected to return to their base in the afternoon without making a landing inGermany. Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, the British High Commissioner, accordingly protested on March 13 to the Soviet High Commissioner (General Chuikov) against "this deliberate and brutal act of aggression involving the murder of British airmen," Before his protest was sent off, however, he received a Note from General Chuikov alleging that the British bomber had violated East German territory and had opened fire on the Soviet fighters. General Chuikov's Note stated that, according to a report from the Soviet Air Force station at schwerin (Mecklenburg), the bomber had been observed at 2.26 p.m. over, East German territory in the region of Bolzenburg, "flying on the route Bolzenhurg Rostock", that it had thus flown "a distance of 120 kilometres (75 miles) into the German Democratic Republic"; that "when it continued its course" two Soviet aircraft had instructed it to follow them and land on the nearest airfield; but that the British bomber had "not only failed to submit to thus lawful demand but opened fire on the soviet planes." The Sovietaircraft (the Note went on) had thus been forced to fire a warning shot but the bomber had continued-firing at them, thereby compelling the Soviet fighters to open fire in return. The British aircraft had subsequently lost height and had fallen south-west of Schwerin on East German territory, where the wreckage had been found, together with four dead airmen and a fifth seriously injured. The Note alleged that there had been found in the wreckage "two aircraft guns, a large calibre machine gun, ammunition, and spent cartridges," and protested against a "violation of the East German border." Later the same day the British Air Ministry announced that the Lincoln had carried no live ammunition, that the breach-blocks of its guns had been removed for servicing before it had left, and that there was consequently no truth whatsoever in theRussian statement that the Lincoln had fired on the Soviet fighters. The announcement added: "The Russian report that discharged ammunition had been found in the wreckage is regarded as being possible because the aircraft had been used on a number of occasions recently in gunnery practice. It is by no means unlikely that some discharged ammunition might have been left in the aircraft." An Air Ministry spokesman subsequently stated that the Lincoln's flight had been "carefully plotted across territory over which the aircraft had every right to fly"; that the fact that it had come down in the Hamburg- Berlin air corridor did not mean that it was over the corridor when attacked; that, even if it was, it still had every right to be there under four-power agreements; and that even if an aircraft at some point overstepped the boundary, there could be no Justification for shooting it down.

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