October 8, 2004
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54 YEARS AGO TODAY
Oct 8 1950
Two United States F-80 fighters strafe the Soviet airfield at Sukhaya Rechka, in the vicinity of Vladivostok.
On Sunday, 8 October 1950, First Lieutenant Ray Carter took an afternoon flight of two up the east coast to the very northeast corner of North Korea …where Korea, Manchuria and Russia join borders. Finding a multitude of targets on the roads near Kyongwon, on the Korean side, he wasn’t aware when he crossed the border with Russia, heading northeast …into forbidden territory. Soviet territory!
Continuing through the sparse valleys of the coastal range, he led his flight onto an open plain and discovered a “secret airfield” with dozens of airplanes on the parking apron. However, because he was getting low on fuel, and the anti-aircraft fire was heavier than what Ray had been used to, he led just one wild strafing pass down the long line of ‘enemy’ aircraft, then turned out to sea and followed the winding coastline back to Pusan, arriving long after dark.
Two hours before Ray’s flight reached Pusan’s K-9 base, we had been alerted to a problem by a Top Secret message from Far East Air Force Headquarters. The steaming message came straight from General MacArthur.
“Who in the bloody hell’s been shooting up the Russian airplanes on the very outskirts of Vladivostock?!”
That “secret airfield” they’d strafed was at Sukhaya Rechka …sixty miles inside Soviet Siberia, and the Hotlines from Moscow to Washington were buzzing with indignation.
Washington was very apologetic, assuring the Soviets that it was a simple and understandable navigation error on the part of our pilots, and that they would be severely disciplined. Our government even offered to pay the Russians monetary damages for the loss of their equipment destroyed in the raid. They finally allowed the matter to drop, and a possible provocation of World War Three was allowed to pass almost unnoticed.
Ray Carter felt terrible about attracting so much adverse high-level attention to the Squadron. He was grounded for a week, ‘ sent to Tokyo for high echelon interrogation, then placed on R & R Leave until things cooled down.
Duane E. ‘Bud’ Biteman,
Lt. Col, USAF, Ret
Comments (2)
Didn’t know it. Thanks for sharing this with us. Man, I feel like a stupid head. @.@
Where did you find your information? Did you personally know the pilots involved? While your version of the incident is essentially correct, it contains a number of serious errors.