VGLU N IV NUMBER 25 22 June 59
COMMUNIST JETS ATTACK NAVY PATROL PLANE
TOKYO—Communist MIG jet fighters shot up a U.S. %vy patrol plane In six tracer
bullet passes over international waters last Tuesday, seriously wounding a crew
man and damaging the plane..
The big P-4M Mercator bomber managed to fly 700 miles to safety at Miho Air
base near Fukuoka, on the southern Japanese island of Kysuhu. The plane was be
lieved to have had rune crewmen aboard.
At least two jet fighters bearing the red
star markings that meant they were either
•Chinese, or Worth Korean, or Russian,attack
ed without warning over the Sea of Japan.
The Navy said afterwards that the forward
guns of the patrol plane had been deliberate
ly made "inoperable" to make way for recon
naissance equipment.
This statement followed assertions by crew
members in Japan that the guns, could not be
used curing the attack because they lacked
some parts. They said these parts "are diff
icult to got."
The crew's assertion about lack of parts
brought an immediate whirlwind of reaction
in Washington. Members of Congress demanded
that responsible Navy Officers be punished.
However, the Defense Department said;
"This particular plane was assigned to
reconnaissance missions rather than antisub
marine. Because of this the forward turret,
useful only against surface targets, was de
liberately rendered inoperable by utilizing
the space to house reconnaissance
type equipment.For a similar reason
and to compensate for the weight of
additional equipment the top turret
had been removed.
This left only the tail guns and
they were knocked out bythe attack
ing planes. The tail gunner was
seriously wounded.
The nationality of the attacking
jet fighters has not yet been es
tablished. ADM. Wallace M. Beakley,
Deputy Chief of ftaval Operations,
told questioning senators he pre
sumed the planes were North Korean
or Russian, he said Red Chinese
planes of that type probably would
not be operating in that area,
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