Winter Flying, Concluded - Tu-4 , Russian lineup.jpg (1/1)

"William R Thompson" wrote in message
link.net...
"CD" wrote:

I heard that many of the US B-29 crews who diverted damaged aircraft to
Soviet territory during the war were treated like prisoners of war and
their aircraft were confiscated. I guess the Russians made good use of all
the B-29s they ended up confiscating. Must have been an opportunity too
good to refuse!

I think three B-29s landed in Soviet territory, along with other
US warplanes (including one of the Doolittle B-25s). The crews
were interned, which is a different deal than being a prisoner of
war. Their treatment was fairly spartan, but considerably better
than that of the typical PoW in Soviet hands.

These air crews literally landed in a weird diplomatic situation.
The USSR was not at war with Japan until August 1945, and
technically should have kept the fliers interned until the USSR
declared war on Japan. They were returned much sooner than
that, which was something of a gamble for the Soviets. If the
Japanese had wanted an excuse to attack Russia, this would
have served well. A Japanese attack would have diverted Soviet
resources from the main battle in Europe.

--Bill Thompson

Bill,

Thank for your reply. That makes sense. I didn't realise the diplomatic
problem the US crews caused the Russians as they weren't at war with Japan
at that point. I guess this was a similar situation to allied crews who
diverted into Sweden or Switzerland. thanks

Chris