B-29 Superfortress bombers of the 20th USAAF flying from advanced airfields near Chengdu in China attacked the Showa steel works at Anshan in Liaoning, northeastern China. During the raid B-29 bomber 42-5256 piloted by Captain Howard R. Jarrell was struck by a shell and badly damaged. Unable to make the 1,500 mile journey home, Captain Jarrell decided to try to reach Vladivostock in the USSR. Intercepted by Soviet Yak-9 fighters the crippled bomber was forced to land at the small strip at Tavrichanka where the aircraft and its crew were interned by the Soviet authorities.
