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On the night of January 12, 1953, while on a routine leaflet drop mission over North Korea, the stripped down B-29 Stardust Four Zero, unarmed except for her tail guns and flying unescorted, was ambushed by a large number of Soviet and Red Chinese MIG - 15's and shot down. The tail gunner was killed in the vicious one-sided attack. The remainder of the American flight crew bailed out of the burning aircraft into the sub-zero air. Two members of the crew (Paul Van Voorhis and Henry Weese) were captured immediately as they hit the frigid ground. The other eleven airmen were captured individually throughout the next morning and afternoon. Within four days the Stardust Four Zero crew was taken by force into Red China and accused of violating Red Chinese air space and other criminal acts. The members of the Stardust Four Zero crew were tried, convicted, and sentenced as war criminals. Upon the crewmen's release from their filthy Red Chinese prison cells and upon their being deported from Red China, two of the Stardust Four Zero crewmen were held back. As of this very day these two unfortunate souls have not been released by their sadistic, cruel, inhumane, and godless Red Chinese captors nor have they been accounted for by our United States Government. WHAT HAPPENED TO WEESE AND VAN VOORHIS?????
Stardust Four Zero painting courtesy of the late Glen Harley, an outstanding artist and a dear family friend. The animated explosions bursting on and around Stardust Four Zero courtesy of http://www.animatedgif.net Parachutist courtesy of Joseph J. Wolfe.
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