Article posted to the PWG Forum by Robert Dorr
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 10:26:07 EDT
Subject: [pwgers] P4M-1Q Mercator Anniversary
Today is the anniversary of the North Korean MiG-17 attack on a P4M-1Q
Mercator on June 16, 1959. The following is a quote from an article about the
Mercator written for Air International magazine by me and retired Navy Lt.
Comdr. Rick Burgess several years ago. This was the second P4M incident,
following the shootdown of a P4M near Shanghai in 1956. Begin quote
Another P4M-1Q belonging to VQ-1 (bureau no. 122209) barely survived an
encounter with hostile aircraft on 16 June 1959 when it was shot up by North
Korean MiG-17 interceptors. The previous day the Mercator flew a routine
track over the Sea of Japan from Iwakuni to Misawa, Japan identical in
reverse to the track it was to fly on the date of the incident.
According to the official report, the Mercator departed Misawa at 8:08
a.m. local time, proceeding on "a northwesterly course at altitudes between
6,000ft [1,858m] and 7,500ft [2,322m] to a point over the Sea of Japan
approximately one hundred miles [161km] off the Coast of Siberia." The Mercator flew its planned track in "westerly and southerly directions, roughly
parallel to the coast, to the point at which the attack occurred." For 25
minutes immediately prior to the attack, "the P4M had been on a heading which
would have taken it to a point on the Korean coast south of the United
Nations Truce Line. Coincident with the beginning of the attack, the P4M was
78mi [126km] east of Wonsan, North Korea, and commencing a left turn to a
southeasterly course away from land."
At 12:12 p.m. local time (0815Z), two "silver-colored MiG type fighter
aircraft, bearing red star markings on the fuselage abaft the cockpit,
appeared high astern of the P4M, already in their attacking runs. One MiG
passed overhead without firing but the other opened fire on his initial pass,
hitting the P4M on the port side. Employing standard fighter tactics, the
MiGs made at least five passes, three of which were firing runs. On the
second firing run, the P4M tail gunner [Petty Officer Second Class Eugene
Corder] was ready but the MiG fired first, seriously wounding him and
knocking his turret out of action."
Radioman James A. Dendy, who was in the squadron but not aboard,
remembers that Corder never fired a round. According to Dendy, Corder was an
electrician, not a gunner, who was sitting in the aft position while the tail
gunner, named Nelson, was elsewhere in the aircraft. The failure to return
fire caused President Eisenhower to question publicly "why his boys were not
armed," claims Dendy. Getting shot at was also part of the job, Dendy opines:
"If these people will tell you the truth, they've seen the street lights in
Vladivostok, Russia more than once." (Radioman Joe Price remembers, "We used
to go up north when the Russian fleet came out of Vladivostok in the spring.")
Upon sighting the MiGs, the Mercator pilot, Lt. Comdr. Donald Mayer, sent
out a distress call, gave orders to open fire, and dived the aircraft to
fifty feet, or fifteen meters, above the water. The MiGs followed and
"pressed home their attacks for approximately five minutes. After breaking
off the last attack, the MiGs pulled straight up to a high altitude and
disappeared to the north." Four USAF fighters based at Itazuke, Japan
launched to cover the Mercator as it headed for Japan and four South Korean
fighters established a patrol over the Korean coast to intercept any attempts
to finish off the P4M-1Q.
"Fighting damaged controls and two dead engines at altitudes varying from
fifty to two thousand feet, the pilot and co-pilot, in a masterful display of
airmanship, nursed their crippled P4M-1Q to the Japanese airbase at Miho, on
the where a successful landing was made." According to Captain East's
research, the extraordinary physical strength of the co-pilot, Lt. Comdr.
Vincent Anania, a former All-American football player at the Naval Academy,
helped keep the crippled plane airborne. The pilot and copilot were awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross, the rest of the crew received Air Medals, and
Corder, wounded, received a Purple Heart award.
End quote
Robert F. Dorr
Oakton, Virginia