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Service Details |
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Personal Details
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Home State
New Mexico | |
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Year of Birth
1931 |
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This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
Albright, Richard Louis, SSgt.
If you knew or served with this Airman and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
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Casualty Info
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Home Town
Clovis, New Mexico |
Last Address
Yokota Air Base, Japan
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Casualty Date
Jul 04, 1952 |
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Cause
Hostile, Died while Missing |
Reason
Air Loss, Crash - Land |
Location
Korea, North |
Conflict
Korean War |
Location of Interment
Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii |
Wall/Plot Coordinates
Court 8 |
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Last Known Activity
"Staff Sergeant Albright was a crew member on a RB-29A reconnaissance Superfortress with the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, U.S. Air Force. On July 4, 1952, while on a photo reconnaissance mission over Sinanju, North Korea and possibly China, his aircraft was shot down by a MiG. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on November 20, 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial...Source: American Battle Monuments Commission, The Korean War Honor Roll, http://www.abmc.gov
"Date of Loss: 520704, Tail Number: 44-61727, Aircraft Type: RB-29A, Squadron: 91st SRS (Photo)
Circumstances of the Loss: Shot down by MiG possibly over China or extreme northern NK (Sinanju), extensive SAR effort by one Navy combatant and at least eight aircraft, including two SA-16s and five B-29s" Source: Korwald Loss Incident Summary, http://www.dtic.mil
Note: Thirteen (13) crewmembers were aboard.
Then A1C Albright, a crewmember of RB-29A, 44-61727, "So Tired," was aboard the aircraft when it departed Yokota Air Base, Japan at 1858 hours on July 3, 1952. Based on statements of repatriated crew members, the aircraft reached the Sinanju area at around 2330 hours and encountered some sporatic ground fire. Shortly upon arrival in the area a MiG-15 attacked the aircraft and severely damaged the aircraft. At 19,000 feet, the crew abandoned the aircraft, which crashed 20 miles southwest of Sinanju. According to the Soviets, Major Anatoly Karelin, a Russian Ace, took down the aircraft. During the bailout, the co-pilot attempted to to push out a crewmember who refused to leave the aircraft. The co-pilot saw fire coming from the forward bulkhead door, which was the last thing he remembered before regaining consciousness in his parachute. A newspaper article printed while Albright was missing indicates his wife was told by the commander of his unit - that "one died in the plane. The other's parachute failed to open when the crew bailed out." The crew has indicated that one crew member died from ground fire or the MiG attack. Whether Albright died on the aircraft or after bailing out is unclear, but he and another airman were the only members of the crew who were later declared dead, as eleven (11) of the crew were POWs and returned to friendly forces with the RMC Big Switch after the war. Source: Kevin O'Neal, The Abbreviated Life of the Ill-fated RB-29 #44-61727, Part 2, http://www.rb-29.net & Las Cruces Sun-News, September 8, 1953
Richard Louis Albright was born in Clovis, Curry County, New Mexico, son of Bertie Stephen Albright and Beulah Capitola Wood. Source: Richard Louis Albright, http://trees.ancestry.com
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Comments/Citation
Sources:
https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=218279
https://www.koreanwar.org/html/271/korean-war-project-new-mexico-af18365010-ssgt-richard-louis-albright
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112690429/richard-louis-albright
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118554200/richard-louis-albright
https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/albright%3Drichard-0
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=6317
https://www.ancestry.com
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