Evening star., 1950-05-11
Moscow Held Likely
To Offer Confession
OF a Baltic Survivor
BY the Assecioted Press

The United States won't be sur
prised if Moscow eventually pro-
duces an alleged confession from
a crew member of the American
Navy plane lost in the Baltic
April 8.
A Government official in a posi-
ton to know said this today on
the basis Of what he asserted to
be American knowledge" that
Russia made prompt efforts to
salvage remnants of the plane and
to pick up it's 10 occupants, dead
or alive.
He said also that the United
States knows" the following
facts. entirely apart from diplo-
matte interpretations of Moscow's
version of the incident:
l. -Four Russian fighters opened
fire from the rear of the slower
moving American patrol plane.
2. The attack took place over
the Baltic Sea more than 80
miles" from the coast of Rus
sian occupied territory.
3. The plane was on fire before
1t hit the water.
Survival Chances Remote"
This official said the Govern
ment would not reveal how it got
this information because it would
give vital information to Russia.
He said he did not know whether
the Russians had any success in
finding the plane or its occupants.
He agreed with Navy officers
who said yesterday that the
chance of survival for any of the
crew members was very remote" :"
He recalled, however, that
Communist authorities custom
arily wiring confessions from po-
litical prisoners and foreigners in
volved in incidents.
Only this week, the Chinese
Reds announced that they were
freeing two American flyers, miss
ing for nearly 19 months in North
China, after they had confessed"
to Spying" on Red military in
stallations.
No Trace of Crew Found.
American searchers, assisted by
the Scandinavians, have found no
trace Of the Navy crewmen in the
Baltic sand have picked up only
secondary pieces of equipment of
types the plane is known to have
carried.
Although official spokesmen
have remained steadfastly silent
about how the Government got
the information about the Rus
sian incident, experienced profess
sionals suggest the following lines
of speculation:
l. A second radar equipped
plane could have been in the air
over the Baltic beyond the sight
or easy pursuit range of the Rus
sian fighters. Its radar could
have picked up reasonably &C
curate picture of what happened.
The American protest to Russia
said that the lost, plane was the
"only American military aircraft"
over the Baltic on April 8. There
has been no mention of any plane
OF some other country being in
the area.
Ships Garry Radar.
2. The attack could have been
plotted by radar on a surface YES
sci. No American ship is known
to have been in the Baltic on the
day of the incident. But this
narrow sea is open to commercial
ships, some of which carry radar,
plying between Great Britain and
ports Of Sweden and Finland.
8. Land based radar could have
covered" the attack. The only
land stations within dependa-
bly, effective range of the shooting
are in Swedish territory. There
has been no hint there or abroad
that the information came from
Sweden.
In releasing the American pro-
test on April 18, a State Depart
ment spokesman said the Govern
ment was grateful for the help
and cooperation of Scandinavian
countries. He tied American
gratitude directly to the help
given in conducting the search
for the missing plane.
Russian pronouncements have
said only that the American plane
disappeared, and have made no
mention of what Russian planes
or surface craft did after firing