RB-29A-20-BN 42-94000 'Tiger Lil'
Capt. Torrey, Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 1950

Wayland Mayo was an Aerial Photo Gunner with the A/C Capt. Torrey crew and flew 'Tiger Lil' on 50 successful missions. He later researched the demise of the plane during a Cold War incident. "On 7 Nov. 1954 'Tiger Lil' was shot down by Soviet fighters flown by pilots Kostin and Seberyakov, near Hokkaido Island, Japan. The plane, carrying a crew of eleven, was conducting routine photographic reconnaissance near Hokkaido and the southern most of the Kurile Islands. The plane was attacked and seriously damaged, forcing the crew to bail out. Ten crewmen were successfully rescued after landing in the sea; however the eleventh man drowned when he became entangled in his parachute lines. Another report sent to me by Jess Richey of the 98th Bomb Group said the Russians claimed the RB-29 entered Soviet airspace and fired on them. They returned fire shooting down the American plane. The U.S. claims they were not over Soviet territory and the Migs fired first."


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