What did the declassified documents reveal?

Statement of facts concerning the loss of a United States Navy P‑4M‑1Q Mercator patrol aircraft on the night of twenty‑second August, nineteen‑fifty‑six. The record is a declassified Navy briefing released through The Black Vault archive. The document was made publicly available by The Black Vault, which hosts declassified United States government records. The release does not cite a specific Freedom of Information Act case number, but the material was declassified and posted for public access on the archive’s website. On the night of twenty‑second to twenty‑third August, nineteen‑fifty‑six, while conducting a routine perimeter patrol approximately forty miles off the coast of Communist China, between the latitudes thirty‑five and twenty‑eight degrees north, a United States Navy P‑4M‑1Q Mercator patrol bomber reported that it was under attack by aircraft. The aircraft subsequently failed to arrive at its destination and was later determined to have crashed at sea near latitude thirty degrees twenty minutes north, longitude one hundred twenty‑three degrees east. The patrol flight originated at the United States Naval Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, and was scheduled to terminate at the United States Naval Air Facility Naha, Okinawa. The plane and crew were attached to Electronics Countermeasures Squadron One. At the time of the loss the aircraft was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Milton Hutchinson, file number two hundred seventy‑eight thousand four hundred eighty‑seven, designator one three one seven, United States Naval Reserve. Other members of the crew were: Lieutenant (junior grade) James B. Beane, five three six eight eight two, designator one three one zero, United States Navy; Lieutenant (junior grade) Francis A. Flood, Jr., five six nine nine six three, designator one three one zero, United States Navy; Lieutenant Commander James W. Ponsford, three one nine four six nine, designator one three five two, United States Navy; Donald Wayne Barber, four two nine seven four seven zero, airman first class, United States Navy; Warren Edgar Caron, four two two three zero zero three, airman second class, United States Navy; Jack Albert Curtis, four five one five six two four, airman third class, United States Navy; William Frederick Haskins, six six six two seven six eight, airman second class, United States Navy; William Michael Humbert, two eight one nine zero four three, airman third class, United States Navy; Harold Edward Lounsbery, three eight two two nine six nine, aviation machinist’s mate, United States Navy; Albert Perry Mattin, nine five four five zero one zero, airman first class, United States Navy; Donald Eugene Sprinkle, four five six eight three nine seven, airman third class, United States Navy; Leonard Strykowski, four five two one four three two, airman second class, United States Navy; Lloyd Lawrence Young, three seven three eight five nine three, airman third class, United States Navy; Carl Edwin Messinger, six two eight…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

Case File · ARCHIVE-380Declassified

Filed SEP 22 · 2026Runtime 1 min

Statement Of Facts Concerning The Loss Of A United States Navy P‑4m‑1q

U.S. public record · FOIAUpdated September 22, 2026

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◆ BLUF — The short version

Statement of facts concerning the loss of a United States Navy P‑4M‑1Q Mercator patrol aircraft on the night of twenty‑second August, nineteen‑fifty‑six. The record is a declassified Navy briefing released through The Black Vault archive. The document was made publicly available by The Black Vault, which hosts declassified United States government records.

Date: SEP 22 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was Statement Of Facts Concerning The Loss Of A United States Navy P‑4m‑1q about?: Statement of facts concerning the loss of a United States Navy P‑4M‑1Q Mercator patrol aircraft on the night of twenty‑second August, nineteen‑fifty‑six. The record is a declassified Navy briefing released through The Black Vault archive. The document was made publicly available by The Black Vault, which hosts declassified United States government records.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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Statement Of Facts Concerning The Loss Of A United States Navy P‑4m‑1q

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