FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0800.PDF
FLIGHT, 27 April 1950 THE PRIVATEER INCIDENT Washington's Protest to Moscow: "Violation of International Law" FOLLOWING a prolonged but unfortunately unsuccessfulsearch for the United States Navy four-engined Privateer aircraft which disappeared in the Baltic area on April 8th, the United States government delivered a Note of protest in Moscow on April 18th. Previously, a Russian Note had stated that an American aircraft—which they described as a B-29— had penetrated the territory of the Soviet Union to a distance of 21 km. Additionally, it was alleged that the aircraft failed to comply with the demands of a flight of Soviet fighters sent to intercept it and opened fire on them. As a result, continued the Russian Note, "an advanced Soviet fighter was forced to open fire in reply, after which the American plane turned towards the sea and disappeared." This was at 5.30 p.m., Moscow time, on April 8th. The firmly worded American Note stated that the only American military aircraft which was in the air in the Baltic area on April 8th was the U.S.N. Privateer which disappeared on that date and that no trace of its crew had since been found. The aircraft was wholly unarmed and carried ten persons. It left Wrisbaden at 10.31 a.m., Greenwich time, for a flight over the Baltic Sea, and 2.\ hours later reported by radio crossing the coastline of the British zone of Germany. The investigation conducted by the U.S. government had convinced it that the U.S.N. aircraft in question complied strictly with instructions, and did not fly over any Soviet or Soviet-occupied territory or territorial waters adjacent thereto. After a full statement of the pertinent facts the American Note continued: "It must be concluded that Soviet military aircraft fired upon an unarmed American plane over the open sea, following which the Ameri- can aeroplane was lost. The Ambassador of the United States has been instructed to protest in the most solemn manner against this violation of international law and of the most AN R.O.C. REUNION OF the many gatherings last week in celebration of the silverjubilee of the Royal Observer Corps, the reunion of past and present members of London posts north of the Thames was probably typical in spirit though unquestionably unique in surroundings, for it was held in the, restaurant at London Air- port, with corpulent Stratocruisers taxying past the big win- dows and a pleasant female voice (" May I have your attention, please? Air France flight 118A from Paris has now landed' ) occasionally interrupting the speakers. ; Present were over 200 representatives—the serving members in uniform—from posts in the 17 Group area, which covers an irregular rectangle of some 500 square miles, with Watford as its operational H.Q. Since one of the chief purposes of a reunion is to encourage, over a can of beer, the re-living of good old days, it was, per- haps, a pity that the official oratory was over-long, so that little time was left for private reminiscing; but the speeches undoubtedly served to remind the newer R.O.C. members how deeply and strongly the roots of tradition and keenness have grown in 25 years. The toast of " The Royal Observer Corps " was proposed by Mr. George R. Bolton. M.B.E., who was controller of the ops. room at Watford until 1943; he referred to a much earlier R.O.C.—the beacon-light volunteers of Spanish Armada days— " but they got quite well paid for it " (laughter). Replying, Obs. Cdr. B. Parkes, M.V.O., commanding No. 17 Group (and formerly R.O.C. liaison officer with n Group, Fighter Command) recalled how, in 1930, a small, highly trained nucleus had trained the big war-time intake, and said that if this post-war period should unfortunately prove to be a pre-war period the newer generation of observers were ready to do the same again. Quality, not quantity, was still the aim. G/C. I. T. Courtney, C.B.E., proposed the health of A. Cdre. A. D. Warrington-Morris, C.B., C.M.G., O.B.E., who was Commandant of the Observer Corps up to 1943 and who had the tremendous task of expanding it to a strength of 34,000; on- August 24th, 1939, when the Corps was called out, it was the only civilian defence organization fully ready to function. A. Cdre. Warrington-Morris, in his reply, gave some interest- ing war-time reminiscences that included the story of Rudolf Hess's arrival in this country by Me no, in the reporting of by other Services—the Observer elementary rules of peaceful conduct between nations." An enquiry, punitive action and indemnity for American lives anci property is demanded. In a statement accompanying release of the Note, Mr. McDermott, of the American State Department, said that the protest corrected the distortions of fact which the Soviet government had injected into the incident, and put the manner in its true light as an attack against unarmed Americans. It was charged that the American aircraft fired first, he said, when, in fact, the Privateer had nothing with which to shoot and was too slow an aircraft to attack fighters. On April 21st Mr. Acheson announced in Washington that Moscow- had replied to the American Note; he added that the reply did not appear to contain any new information which would cause the United States Government to change its attitude as set forth in the Note of April 18th. Much of the text of the Soviet reply was, in fact, a repeti- tion of the original Moscow announcement, though this time insistence was placed on the statement that the aircraft was a B-29—' ... it has been established with certainty that the aircraft which flew over Soviet territory south of Libava was a B-29 Flying Fortress, bearing American identification marks." After maintaining that all air forces are under orders to pro- tect the inviolability of their frontiers, and would have acted precisely as did the Soviet Air Force, the Note went on to say that, if the American aircraft was actually lost, "the responsibility for its loss rests exclusively with those gentle- men who forced the American aircraft to fly over Soviet territory for the purpose of photographing Soviet defences, and thereby made it violate international law and the inviolability of Soviet frontiers." . - . , ....-,..- :. ,: which—-sceptically receivedCorps played a big part. Obs. Lt. G. A. D. Bourne, Group Oflicor, who had organizedthe reunion, proposed the toast of "The Visitors," and the evening concluded with the announcement, by Obs. Lt. D. Miller, of results of the recently held Master-observer Tests, in which 17 Group was placed seventh among the 39 Groups comprising the total strength of the R.O.C. NEW R.Ae.S. PRESIDENTT HE Royal Aeronautical Society announces the election ofMaj. G. P. Bulman, C.B.E., O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., as president for 1950-51.. He takes office next month in succes-sion to Sir John S. Buchanan, C.B.E., A.M.I.Mech.E., F.R.Ae.S. Maj. Buiman, who was commissioned in the R.F.C. in May, 1915, was posted to the A.I.D., in which he held a number of increasingly responsible positions, event- ually being appointed, in 1919, Chief Inspector of Engines. In 1928 he be- came\,Assistant Director, Research and I >e\•(.-Ibpment (Engines), and ten years i-ucr was appointed Director of Engine Production. After the outbreak of the Second World War he continued to serve m the technical field, with emphasis on nircraft engines, his successive posts jjcing Deputy Director-General of Engine Production and Development, M.A.P., and Director of Engine Development. In January, 1944, he was appointed to the new M.A.P. post of Director of Con- struction of Research Facilities, and has since been responsible for progress- ing works services and provision of plant at all M.o.S. research and devel- opment establishments. Maj. Bulman was awarded the O*.B.E. (Mil.) in 1918 and the C.B.E. (Civil) in J941. He joined the R.Ae.S. as an Associate Fellow in 1917 and was elected a Fellow in 1932. He was a Member of the Council for 1930-34, 1935-39 and 1945-50. He ^IS chairman of the lectures committee. HIGH-SPEED RESEARCH IN a paper, Recent Developments in High-Speed Research,by J. A. Beavan and D. W. Holder, to be read to the R.Ae.S. (at Manchester University) this evening, a survey is given of the work done in the Aerodynamics Division of the National Physical Laboratory', together with notes 011 some of the more im[X)rtant equipment used and the methods of operation. Also included is a review of some recent experiments, many of which are of what may be termed "fundamental" long-term type. Major G. P. Buiman.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
