On 03 Nov 2003 01:58:35 GMT, (MBenShar) wrote:

Dear Mike,

Here's one. On September 20, 1965, USAF Captain Philip E. Smith, 436 TFS, 479
TFW (attached to 6252 TFW) Da Nang, flying an F-104C 56-0883, strayed off
course from a combat air patrol over the Gulf of Tonkin following an instrument
failure. He was shot down over China by Chinese MiG-19s and captured.

The incident is told in "Journey Into Darkness" by Col. Philip E. Smith & Peggy
Hertz

Well, there's "China" and then there's "China". Smith was shot down
over Hainan Island which is Chinese territory, but not mainland China.
It's about a hundred miles off shore in the NE area of the Tonkin
Gulf.

There were incursions into China (been there, done that), but there
was a 25 mile buffer zone along the NVN border and most of the time
there was radar oversight from Red Crown and Disco that provided Guard
channel warnings of buffer zone transgressions.

Don't know that anyone was shot down or bailed out in China proper.