Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-08-20

dent, he said that instead OF q
plane which was lost and trying
to get its bearings being helped as
it would be in other parts of the
world, it was attacked and shot
down.
He added that this country thinks
this was an courageous perform
ance," and when asked for per-
mission to use the words in direct
quotation marks, he said, Sure
1t was"
Yugoslavs Sent Note.
He said American Ambassador
Richard c. Patterson, jr., in Bel
grade has been instructed to deliver
to the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign
Affairs note along the following
lines:
Reference is made to previous
representations with regard to al
legged violations of Yugoslav territory
by United States aircraft and the
forcing to the ground by Yugoslav
aircraft of an American CAT air
transport on August 8.
United States authorities in Aus
tria and Italy have now reported the
results of their investigation in this
connection. from which it appears
that on August 9 airplane No. 43-
1876 of the CAT type. while on a
regular flight from Vienna to Udine
encountered bad weather over Klag-
enfurt and was engaged in an eff
fort to find its bearings when
it was attacked by Yugoslav fighters
Repeated Bursts Fired.
THE attackers fired repeated
bursts at the aircraft as result OF
which one passenger was seriously
wounded and the plane forced to
crash land, wheels retracted, in a
field near Kranj, II kilometers from
Ljubljana.'
las for other violations of Yugo-
slav territory, referred to in the
Foreign Offices note of August 10,
alleged to total 172 between July Is
and August 8, United States au-
thorities in Austria and Italy rer
port that only "a flights have taken
place between those dates and that
operations officers at Hoersching
and Tulln airfields have thoroughly
briefed all crews to use approved
routes avoiding Yugoslavia.
1T would be assumed that the au-
thorities of Yugoslavia would wish
to render a maximum of assistance
and succor TO aircraft of a friendly
nation when the latter are forced
by the hazards of navigation in bad
weather over dangerous mountain
areas to deviate from their course
and seek bearings over Yugoslav
territory
Aggressive Action Charged.
On the contrary, Yugoslav fighter
aircraft have seen fit without prev
ious warning to take aggressive &C
ton against such a United States
transport plane, the Identification of
which was clearly apparent from its
markings, and have forced it to
crash land after wounding one OF
| its passengers.
subsequently, Yugoslav authori-
ties have detained the plane, its
crew and passengers and refused tc
permit American consular officer.
access to the plane or personnel un.
til specific representations were
made by the United States Embassy
to the latter effect.
Finally, no reply has been forth
coming to the Embassy's request
rnat the crew, passengers and plane
be released from detention and the
personnel permitted to depart from
Yugoslavia without delay.
Meanwhile, it is reported from
Trieste that a second United States
plane en- route to Italy from Austria
is missing after having last reported
itself under machine gun attack.
The Embassy is instructed to pro-
test most emphatically against this