How the US shot down a Soviet passenger plane: why the USSR forgot about the crime

The military conflict between the “northern” and “southern” on the Korean Peninsula lasted 3 years and led to the death of almost 1 million people. He took by no means the last place in the list of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind. And perhaps the last victims of the “Korean meat grinder” were several dozen Soviet people – the crew and passengers of the Il-12 aircraft, shot down by a US Air Force fighter. Moreover, the air incident occurred where this American Saber had no right to be.

The USSR reacted loudly to such a barbaric attack. But he did not achieve results: the Americans went into denial. And soon the Soviet leadership decided to hide all the facts about this egregious case away. As a result, he was completely forgotten about. However, now it is very handy to recall that story of 70 years ago. As a very vivid illustration, allowing a better understanding of the traditional style of behavior of the Yankees at the international level during the period of power exacerbations. In any case, in the presence of any facts, they always strive to “remain in white.”

Orientalist, military historian Ivan Antolenko told MK about some of the details of the “tragedy over Hua Gou,” as it is sometimes called.

– On July 27, 1953, the Il-12 passenger aircraft was heading from Port Arthur in China, where the Soviet naval base was then located, to Vladivostok. The flight was civilian, the corridor for the flight was within the Chinese airspace and agreed with the relevant authorities of this state. However, when Il was flying near the Chinese city of Huadian, four American F-86 Saber fighters suddenly “fell out” from the clouds. Having made a maneuver in the air, one of them opened fire to kill.

As a result, the IL-12, which belonged to the 593rd separate transport aviation regiment of the Pacific Fleet, was shot down. Everyone on board died, 20 (according to other sources – 21) people – in addition to 6 crew members, officers and sergeants, military doctors who served at the naval base and went “to the mainland” on vacation or on a business trip.

Surely these twenty did not have any fears before departure. After all, the route passed far enough from Korea, where the war was going on.

There was another important factor, which, however, passengers and pilots did not know about: on that very day, all parties to the Korean conflict signed an armistice agreement – hostilities should be completely stopped at midnight on July 27. In such a situation, any normal person understands: enough blood, every new victim now, a few hours before the onset of peace, is meaningless, it’s time to cover the guns!

However, the Americans did not do this. According to documentary evidence, it was on the day of the signing of the truce (but before the truce itself) that they launched a large-scale provocation against China, which is friendly to North Korea: several groups of their military aircraft penetrated deep into Chinese airspace in the northeast of the country.

Among these groups were four Sabers of the 335th Squadron of the 4th Fighter Wing of the US Air Force. One of the planes was flown by Captain R. Parr. Behind him was his wingman, Senior Lieutenant E. Scaffi. It was this duet that made an unjustified attack against our unarmed Il-12.

The Soviet side, of course, carried out investigative actions. However, most of the materials are still not available. It was possible to get acquainted with only one declassified document. This is an extract from the Act of Investigation into the Circumstances of the Aircraft Downing.

“At 11 o’clock. 16 min. VNOS stations (air surveillance, warning and communications. – A.D.) noted the Il-12 aircraft, following the flight route, over the Huadian point, and at 11 o’clock. 18 min. in the same area, two groups of F-86 aircraft were found, 4 aircraft in each group, heading north. At 11 o’clock. 26 min. over the Hua-Gou point, an Il-12 aircraft met with one of the F-86 groups, after which the radar stations did not mark the Il-12 aircraft.

According to the testimony of local residents, between 11 and 12 noon on July 27 they heard an unusual sound and shooting in the air, followed by an explosion. After the explosion, they saw a large plane falling on fire, from which objects were separated in the air. At the crash site of IL-12, the following was found: on the cockpit and fuselage 19 holes from a large-caliber machine gun; 6 corpses out of twenty have traces of bullet wounds. … All collected materials confirm that the Il-12 plane was attacked at 11 o’clock. 26 minutes, shot down and fell 4 kilometers from the village of Maoeroshan, Jilin province.

– But why did the US fighters end up in this area and why did they start firing at the Soviet aircraft?

– The situation is even more aggravated by the fact that for the Americans it was a clear “ban”. After all, the command of their Air Force, long before the tragic day of July 27, gave an order forbidding to fly over the Yalu River, which clearly marked the Sino-Korean border. And the place of the air incident is in China, 110 kilometers beyond this river.

“Have the Sabers gone astray?”

Such a version would not stand up to scrutiny. But the Americans did not even use it. A few days later, the Soviet Foreign Ministry handed a note of protest to the American ambassador. A demand was put forward for the United States to pay compensation for the damage caused to our country – it was estimated at almost $ 2 million. But on the other side of the ocean, these claims were rejected.

No, the very fact that their fighter shot down a Soviet passenger plane was admitted by the American government. However, Washington decided to “redraw the geography” and said: they say, the Russian Il was shot by the Saber not in the depths of sovereign Chinese territory, but over the Korean Peninsula, where hostilities were then taking place. Even more precisely – eight kilometers south of the border Chinese-Korean river Yalujiang. That’s how easy the overseas gentlemen “moved” the place of emergency for more than a hundred kilometers!

With regard to material compensation, the Americans quickly concocted a counterclaim, taking advantage of a suitable occasion. Literally a couple of days later, on July 29, not far from Vladivostok, over the sea, Soviet surveillance systems detected a US RV-50 reconnaissance aircraft, which was subsequently shot down by alerted fighters. And although there was an incident, according to our air defense, over the territorial waters of the USSR, Washington did not agree with this: they say, their plane was shot down by the “treacherous Russians” over the neutral sea zone. The American leadership demanded compensation for the damage suffered. As a result, the international litigation stalled, none of the nuclear powers wanted to take into account the arguments of the opposite side, putting forward their own version of what had happened. Attempts to achieve concrete results through the International Court of Justice in The Hague also failed. As a result, both incidents were put on the brakes so as not to provoke a further aggravation of relations between the two powerful states.

– Are there any versions explaining such a cruel act of the Saber pilot? Couldn’t the identification marks on board the Soviet aircraft suggest that it was not a military objective?

– Yes, even if it was such a military object! The IL-12 carried red stars on the wings, which clearly informed about the nationality of the aircraft to the USSR. But formally, the Americans did not fight with our country at that time (Soviet combat aircraft in the Korean conflict zone had identification marks of the Chinese or North Korean Air Force on board). That is, from any side it is impossible to consider this Il as an object for attack by US aviation. At least on formal grounds. But there was, perhaps, a different background to this story.

For example, the following version was expressed: the American pilots made a mistake by shooting down the wrong plane they wanted. Allegedly, they had a different target for the attack – by no means these simple Soviet lieutenants with captains, but high-ranking military leaders. The Yankees found out that just on the afternoon of July 27, a group of admirals and generals from among the senior officers of the USSR, who participated in the party conference held at our Port Arthur base, were to return from Port Arthur, including the commander-in-chief of the troops in the Far East Marshal R.Ya.Malinovsky. However, for some reason this event ended later, and the owners of big stars on shoulder straps flew to Vladivostok only a few days later. And on the 27th, instead of them, Il-12 took vacationers “to the mainland”, who came under fire from the Saber.

There is one more assumption. According to him, we can talk about much more cynical, prohibitively inhuman reasons for such an act by an American pilot. The fact is that Captain Ralph Parr was one of the most successful, venerable military pilots. During his participation in the Korean War, he made more than 150 sorties and scored 9 air victories. Meanwhile, a practice has been established in the US Air Force: for 5 downed enemy aircraft, the pilot is awarded the title of ace, and for 10 successful attacks, you can become a “double ace”. There were few such “double” in the US Air Force, everyone was held in high esteem, had noticeable advantages in moving up the career ladder … No wonder that Parr really wanted to become a “double ace”. However, for this he lacked one more downed enemy aircraft. Moreover, the truce coming in a matter of hours threatened to completely deprive the ambitious American of the prospects of obtaining the coveted “title”. And then the Russian Il-12 turned up. Airplane? Airplane. Enemy? Certainly! So it might well count.

In one of the collections released later in the United States, there is a description of the event, made by Parr himself:

“We were flying at about 12,000 meters, and the enemy plane was far below, probably at an altitude of 3,000 meters. I went downstairs with a follower. Before us appeared transport aircraft Il-12 with large red stars. I immediately confirmed my location. In our assignment, we were not supposed to be on the other side of the Yalu River. After I made sure that we were in the depths of North Korea, I told my wingman that I planned to shoot down the enemy. IL-12 was a “sitting duck”, as we call easy prey. I went to the tail of the plane and fired a couple of volleys. It caught fire, then tipped over and fell towards the hills. That Il-12 probably cruised for several weeks in this area, but today it failed … “

Further, Parr described how, after returning to the airfield, he was called to the headquarters, where he was asked questions about what had happened for a long time, trying to get an explanation of where, under what circumstances the Russian plane was shot down and what appearance it had. “When all the evidence was presented,” the killer pilot summed up, “the Air Force decided that I was right and defended in every possible way … I was rehabilitated, but there was too much fuss because of this lousy Il-12!”

Today, that 70-year-old event is virtually forgotten. Only an obelisk erected in Vladivostok near the burial place of those killed in the “tragedy over Hua Gou” reminds of him. An inscription is made on the obelisk: “Victims of the robbery attack of American air pirates on the Soviet Il-12 passenger plane are buried here. July 27, 1953″.