Date:	Tuesday 30 December 1952
Time:	night
Type:	Boeing B-29A Superfortress
Owner/operator:	19th BWg /28th BSqn USAF
Registration:	44-62011
MSN:	11488
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 12
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	25 miles north of Pyongyang -   North Korea
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Boeing B-29A-60-BN Superfortress 44-62011: Assigned to 28th Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group, Andersen AFB, Guam. Deployed to Kadena AB, Okinawa

Shot down 25 miles (40 km) North. of Pyongyang, North Korea December 30, 1952, during a mission to bomb the Choak-Tong ore processing center, in North Korea, by a MiG-15, flown by Major Anatoly Karelin, 351 IAP, VVS. Seven of the crew were presumed MIA/KIA, the remaining five were taken PoW:

COPLAN, Harold NMI 1LT USAF PoW RMC Big Switch
DIFFER, Patrick M. MSGT USAF MIA, later confirmed as KIA: died while POW/remains not returned
FOSTER, Robert R. 1LT USAF MIA
HEER, David T. 2LT USAF MIA
NIKLES, Rudolf NMI A1C USAF MIA
O'TOOLE, Damian F. A2C USAF MIA - Later confirmed KIA as executed on the spot while POW for refusing to provide information to enemy
ORR, Otho A. 1LT USAF PoW RMC Big Switch
REHM, Harry M. 1LT USAF MIA
RODNEY, Daryl E. A2C USAF MIA
SWALLS, Donald G. A2C USAF PoW RMC Big Switch
VAN SLYKE, Leland H. A2C USAF PoW RMC Big Switch
WILCOX, Paul I. 1LT USAF PoW RMC Big Switch

According to a composite narrative by Bud Farrell:

"Lt. Foster's/Patrick Differ's Crew was a standby crew for the mission and was ordered into the air upon the takeoff abort of one of the other Squadron Aircraft. The target was near the Yalu River and the area known as Mig Alley, but recent greatly increased Mig Activity at night through the Fall of 1952 had drawn the support of Marine Night fighter cover by Marine Squadron VMF(N) -513, flying the tandem seat F3D-2-Skynight with excellent results in keeping the Migs at bay.

On this night however, due to some foul-up, the Marine F3D's didn't show and the enemy was out in force and virtually unopposed by other than the B-29 gunners trying to defend their virtually desperately obsolete slow lumbering aircraft against one of the newest state of the art Jet Fighters in the world...the MIG-15!

Foster's ship was one of the last over the target which afforded enemy ground radar, the latest Russian S-Band Radar, a pretty good fix on their track and could not be jammed, resulting in their being locked or "coned" in the enemy ground searchlights, illuminating them as targets for the orbiting Migs...now known and documented by the RUSSIANS, to have been FLOWN by Russian mercenaries...The HONCHOS!

In the middle of the bomb run, with bomb bay doors open, the B-29's could not take any evasive action and the Migs made seven passes and hit them three times before they could drop their bomb load, knocking out one engine and leaving the Left Gunner Rodney mortally wounded. The Tail Gunner, Donald Swalls, is credited with shooting down one of the 8 attacking Migs, the explosion of which may be what John Greening on Captain Charlton's crew may have seen rather than the explosion of Lt. Foster's ship.

With the bomb bay doors now inoperable, ailerons shot out, and several on- board fires, they knew they were going down. Lt. Foster made a valiant effort to get his plane south across the front lines at the 38th Parallel since he knew that his Left Gunner - Darryl Rodney - would not be able to bail out, and the shortest route south took them over the heavily defended Capitol of North Korea, Pyongyang, where Anti-aircraft fire (from now proven Soviet Anti-aircraft batteries), FLAK, hit their center wing tank with another major fire started and bailout ordered.

Just minutes from possible safety, the right wing, on fire, apparently came off, and most of the crew remaining in the front compartment never got out. Lt. Foster and Patrick Differ had stayed with the aircraft in a desperate effort to get their wounded crew mate and aircraft to safety. Of the six who bailed out and were captured, one, Right Gunner Damian O'Toole, was executed on the spot, in front of a crew mate, supposedly for refusing to give his local militia captors information on the rest of the crew, and on the whereabouts of his so called "personal Walkie-Talkie radio", equipment which none of us ever had or know anything about!

Lt. Foster and Patrick Differ had apparently sacrificed their lives to save their aircraft and a fellow crewmember, and Damian O'Toole gave his life trying to protect his other downed crewmates ... for which their families, and we, should all be very proud!"

1. http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/korea/reports/air/korwald_info_876.htm
2. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_4.h]tml
3. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1952/archives/crash-of-a-boeing-b-29a-60-bn-superfortress-near-pyongyang-7-killed/]
4. http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/topics/b29s/p_b29s_losses_damage.htm
5. http://www.dpaa.mil/portals/85/Documents/KoreaAccounting/korwald_all.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Aug-2013 00:43	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Narrative]
11-Jun-2017 21:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Feb-2021 08:59	T.Rita	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]