ss NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
_ i .... ..... i —. .. .....-...„
VOL. LV No. 33__NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1953 Per Copy—15^
Alaska - Based Bomber Fights Off Russian Jet
Air Force Officials Believe Russian
Planes Make Some Reconnaissance
Flights Over Alaska and Canada
Gov. Gruening:
B-50 Incident
Emphasizes Need
For Constant Alert
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, (£1 — Alaska Gov.
Ernest Gruening, commenting on
the air incident near Russian-held
Kamchatka in which a Russian
type jet fighter exchanged shots
with an Air Force B-50 over in
ternational waters Sunday, said:
“I am glad it returned the fire.
It was a proper procedure. It
emphasizes the necessity of our
being constantly on the alert as
we are in Alaska.”
Senate President Charles Jones
of Nome commented:
“This is possibly just an un
related incident. It does not alarm
me but does give me grave con
cern. Reports of high vapor trails
seen by Eskimos far north of my
home city on the coast facing
Russia seem more serious to me.
It seems to me the military should
keep a force of interceptor planes
in the Nome area. The nearest
ones now are 600 or more miles
away and it seems to us folks up
there that we should have planes.”
First reaction of some legisla
tors and the man on the street
was to raise the question about
American planes flying so close
to Russian territory.
A more serious view was taken
by Sen. William Beltz, Eskimo
legislator from Haycock, who said
he feared it might be one of a
series of incidents by which Rus
sia is possibly leading up to an
international crisis.
U. S. Challenges Russia
To Demonstrate Desire
For ‘Peaceful’ Settlement
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., (#)—
The United States challenged
Russia today to demonstrate in
the current U.N. disarmament de
bate that Prime Minister Georgi
M. Malenkov wants to settle
world problems peacefully.
The challenge was made by U.S.
delegate Ernest A. Gross, who led
off the disarmament discussions,
in the General Assembly’s 60-na
ticm political committee. As he
spoke, Soviet delegate Georgi N.
Zarubin listened intently.
At the outset, Gross said Soviet
leaders have talked much about
peace in the past few days. He
added:
“I hope Prime Minister Malen
kov’s use of the word ‘peace’ is
the same as the word is under
stood by the rest of the world.”
At any rate, he said, if the
Russians are sincere, one of the
first places they can show it is
on the question of disarmament.
He called on them for some in
dication that they are now ready
to “negotiate in good faith.”
> WASHINGTON, W—Air Force
officials said Monday night they
believed unidentified arcraft, pro
bably Russian, have made infre
quent reconnaissance flights over
Alaska and the northern parts of
Canada.
The officials, asked about the
published report that the Red
strategic air command was mak
ing periodic survey flights over
North America, said that the pro
bable Russian appearances were
“less than intermittent and might
more accurately be called scat
tered.”
High Air Force sources added
that no aircraft of possible Rus
sian origin had actually been seen
and that none had been inter
cepted by U.S. planes. One of
ficials said there was consider
able evidence, however, that some
Russian flights had been made
but that the evidence pointed to
no discernible pattern.
There had been no recent in
crease, he said, in indirect spot
tings of air flights not otherwise
explainable by natural penomena
and other natural factors that
sometimes are visible on radar
scopes.
This Air Force official said that
most of the evidence of possible
Russian flights was drawn from
the study of observer reports,
mainly from Alaska of contrails,
the icy vapor that often marks
the path of a high flying plane.
The Air Force said that the last
contrail sighting was last week,
reported, from Alaska on the same
day that a U.S. F-84 plane was
shot down by Communist fight
ers in Germany.
In the most recent contrail ob
servations, as in all previous ones
no actual aircraft were seen and
the contrail evidence disappeared
shortly after it was spotted and
reported to the Alaskan Air Com
mand. In the latest instance, an
alert was put ou.t and pilots were
called to their stations but no fur
ther actions were taken after the
wispy evidence disappeared.
NEED FOR CIVIL DEFENSE
SEEN IN A-BOMB BLAST
ATOM BOMB SITE, Nev., USV
“I wish every Alaskan could have
seen this explosion.”
That was the comment yester
day of Col. James C. Crockett,
territorial Civil Defense director
from Juneau, after watching the
A-bomb blast.
“The effect was terrific,” he
said. “It certainly proves the
statement of President Eisen
hower that civil defepse is a
‘sheer necessity’.”
OFFICERS TO GET $100
WASHINGTON, UP)—The armed
forces said today they are pre
paring to pay $100 to almost
every officer who has gone on
active duty since the Korean war
started. No estimate of the num
ber was made.
-^
‘Copper’ Rush Is
For Uranium
Near Hyder
KETCHIKAN, UP) — The so
called “copper” rush at Leduc
Glacier area across the border
from southeastern Alaska may
turn out to be a rush for a high
grade uranium deposit, the
Ketchikan Chronicle* imported
Tuesday.
Quoting Casey Williams, iormer
Ketchikan chief of police who is
now a Hyder businessman, the
Chronicle said the recent race be
tween two large companies to
stake out a series of claims in
ten feet of snow near the end of
a road in from Hyder and Stew
art, B.C., apparently was describ
ed by principals as - a copper
stampede because copper deposits
are known to be in the area.
But Williams said some uran
ium ores were found in the pos
session of old-time prospectors at
Hyder in the last few years which
started a search for their source
and the subsequent discovery the
ore was from the Leduc area,
described as rough, rugged and
mountainous.
A half dozen operators for
Granby Consolidated showed up
here over the weekend and in Ju
neau. They have two Norseman
planes with orders to fly in fuel
and supplies at any risk so- a
small bulldozer can clear away
snow and dig out more, samples.
The two planes will seek to land
on the serrated glacier itself or
else drop supplies into snow
banks for field crews to pick up.
The Chronicle reports no- repre
sentatives of the rival Frobisher,
Ltd., had showed up in Ketchikan
yet this week.
GOVERNOR HEINTZLEMAN
TO ARRIVE JUNEAU MONDAY
SEATTLE, UP) — Alaska’s new
Republican governor, B. Frank
Heintzleman, is planning to re
turn to the territorial capital at
Juneau next Monday. Pan Ameri
can World Airways said today the
governor had requested reserva
tions to Juneau on that date.
Heintzleman is expected to arrive
here from Washington, D. C.,
Thursday evening.
HAWAII TO PLAY HOST TO
SENATE INTERIOR GROUP
WASHINGTON, UP) — Hawaii,
which has entertained five con
gressional investigating commit
tees since 1935, is about to play
host to a sixth group studying
statehood for the territory.
The Senate Interior Committee,
handling the House-passed Hawaii
Statehood Bill, voted unanimous
ly yesterday to send a subcom
mittee to the islands within the
next few weeks to hold hearings.
PLAN ABOLISH RFC
WASHINGTON, (5>)—The Eisen
hower administration was re
ported planning to abolish the
RFC with the hope that' its assets
will provide a billion dollars to
ward cutting the national deficit.
Weather Keconnaissance Plane
Attacked 25 Miles Off Kamchatka
-T_-<
U. S. Demands
Russia Discipline
Jittery Jet Pilots
WASHINGTON, MP)—'The United
States Wednesday demanded that
Russia discipline the Soviet jet
fighter who attacked a U.S. weath
er reconnaissance plane last Sun
day 25 miles off Kamchatka.
The note asks measures to pre
vent a repetition of such an attack
and “disciplinary action” against
those responsible for Sunday’s in
cident.
The State Department announc
ed the substance of the protest,
but the text c?f the note w.as not
made public for the time being.
It has been made clear here that
the U.S. Air Force will continue
to fly its missions despite Russia’s
implied challenge to the use of
air space over international wa
ters of the North Pacific.
The State Department had the
bare facts of the Kamchatka clash
early Monday, it was learned, and
advised caution in announcing the
event because neither the attack
ing MIG-15 nor the defending
U.S. B-50 suffered human casual
ties or any apparent damage. The
line of reasoning of some diplo
mats ran like this:
1. Silence by Washington might
help to smoke out Russian inten
tions.
2. Publicity could weaken the
psychological impact of the strong
U.S. and British protests in re
cent days over the unopposed
shooting down of two Allied air
craft over Germany.
The Pentagon won the decision
to announce the Kamchatka affair
yesterday after maintaining the
military view that it would be
better to get out the factual story
before Moscow could use a per
verted version for propaganda
purposes or to exert diplomatic
pressure.
Navy Scouts Close to Red Coast
Navigation, charts published by
the U.S. Navy indicate that Am
erican craft have been doing some
scouting on their own. “The Ber
ing Sea and Strait” chart revised
and distributed last May clearly
indicates at least two new sea
depth readings. The revisions are
clearly labelled “1950” and both
are less than -50 miles from Si
beria.
BRITISH JETS COLLIDE AS
MARSHALL TITO WATCHES
DUXFORD, England, ffl-Two
British jet fighters collided Wed
nesday before the horrified gaze
of President Marshal Tito, killing
both pilots.
Then the shaken Yugoslav lead
er, for the first time, saw and
heard another jet crash the
sound barrier.
Britain trotted out its hottest
military aircraft for inspection by
Titcf, who is anxious to get sim
ilar planes for the Yugoslav air
force.
. EAIRBANKS, UR — The quick
acting commander of a U.S. Air
Force plane said last night he
ordered the chief gunner to “fire
back” when his B-50 bomber was
attacked by a Russian-type MIG
15 high off the coast of Siberia
Sunday.
Lt. Col. Robert S. Rich, 35, told
a press conference at Eielson Air
Force Base near here he tried to
escape the attacker with a 390
mile per hour dive into a cloud
bank and fired only after the
MIG had opened up.
The attack occurred as the U.S.
plane, on a routine weather flight,
cruised north 25 miles out to sea
from the Siberian coast. The Air
Force said apparently neither
craft was damaged in the third
such sky encounter between
planes of the east and west in a
week.
No Comment from Eisenhower
Meanwhile, President Eisen
hower declined to comment on the
latest incident in the cold war
amid congressional demands for
an investigation and warnings the
Russians might attack American
commercial planes on the Orient
run.
The B-50 on temporary duty
with the 15 th Weather Recon
naissance Squadron at Eielson,
from Forbes Field, Kansas, was
approximately 100 miles east and
slightly north of the huge Russian
military base at Petropavlosk on
the Kamchatka Peninsula when it
was attacked.
Rich gave this account of the
skirmish:
Two Vapor Trails Sighted
The B-50 had flown from Eiel
son over the Aleutian Islands to
a point eff the Kamchatka Penin
sula and had been flying north
about 25 miles off the Siberian
coast for 30 to 40 minutes when
the vapor trails of two planes
were sighted 10 miles coastward
from the U.S. plane.
He said the two planes van
ished and appeared a few min
(Continued on Page Two)
Stevenson Watches While
U.S. Infantrymen Wipe
Out 350 Attacking Chinese
SEOUL, Iff)—American infantry
men Tuesday virtually wiped out
a force of more than 350 Chinese
Reds attacking U.S. Second Divi
sion positions on the Korean west
ern front.
An Eighth Army briefing of
ficer said 315 Communists were
estimated killed or wounded in
the bloody close - quarter battle
which raged 7Vi hours inside the
Allied trench network on Little
Gibraltar Hill.
Adlai Stevenson, U. S. 1952
Democratic presidential nominee,
watched part of the -fighting from
an observation bunker on a near
by hill. Two Chinese artillery
shells exploded on the hill—some
350 yards from the bunker—but
the former Illinois governor was
not even shaken.
Stevenson wore olive drab, an
armoTed vest, combat boots and
a helmet.