American Crew Forced Down by Russian Planes Released

The captivity of an American transportation plane aircrew in Hungry ended on 28, December 1951. The U.S. Ambassador in Austria, Walter J. Donnelly, greeted the four American flyers at the border crossing. From the border, the Americans were driven to the Tulln/Langenlebarn airfield. Donnelly gave a joint press conference with the released flyers in the Terminal Building at airfield.

From left to right, the American air crewmen are: Sergeant Jess A. Duff, Sergeant James A. Elam, Captain John J. Swift, and Captain Dave H. Henderson

The captivity of the four Americans began on Monday 19, November 1951, while on a flight from Bavaria to Belgrade. The airplane was seen over Laibach to the last time. After the airplane didn't land on time in Belgrade, and there was no emergency landing, a large search operation was started by 16 American airplanes. The fate of the four flyers was first learned on 2, December. The Soviet news agency TASS disclosed, that Soviet fighter planes stationed at the Transportflugzeug, in Hungary, the near the Romanian/Hungarian border, had forced the American plane to land in Hungary. The four Americans landed unharmed and were captured by the Hungarian authorities. A Hungarian military court found the four Americans guilty of entering Hungarian airspace illegally. The aircrew was fined 360.000 Forints or serve three months in prison. The airplane and its contents were confiscated. Negotiations between the American and the Hungarian government went on until 28, December. After paying a fine of 120.000 dollars, the American aircrew members were released to the American Embassy at the Hungarian/Austrian border, and driven to the Tulln Air Base, Austria.

The four Americans are greeted by U.S. Ambassador Donnell in theTulln Air Base Terminal Building

The four Americans at the press conference in the Terminal Building

The four Americans were flown from Tulln/Langenlebarn back to Erding, Germany

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