I noted that the website is currently offline and that the full title of the book is reputedly “The Flight of the Hog Wild: the Day the World Went Cold.” I wonder if the book takes into consideration that the start of the Cold War is claimed to be earlier by another book concerning U.S. bombers in Russia, “The Poltava Affair”:
http://www.amazon.com/Poltava-Affair-Russian-Warning-American/dp/B00005WO6D
The downing of the B-29 called the Hog Wild on August 29, 1945 was the last of a long string of incidents. In each case, the B-29 was seized and the crew interned. And then, only after long and hard negotiations between the Soviets and the Americans, they were eventually released.
Since its inception, design, development, production and deployment, the B-29 “Superfortress” was kept secret from the Russians. Once the new bomber was used, of course, it was no longer a secret. However, even then, not a single B-29 was delivered to the Soviet Union through Lend-Lease, and no Russian pilots was allowed to fly aboard a B-29 during combat or training missions.
David Snell’s Atlanta Constitution article (above) on Oct. 3, 1946, not Oct. 1 - mentions the downing of the Hog Wild, but not by name.
Numerous explanations are given for the downing of an American B-29 bomber by Soviet Yak fighters (including David Snell’s). Each explanation is explored in The Flight of the Hog Wild at http://www.my-jia.com/Flight_of_the_Hog_Wild/index.htm
[The site was temporarily down during a change of “hosts.” It should be up now.]
The Russians gave several contradictory explanations for the downing of the Hog Wild, and David Snell - a future Senior Editor of LIFE Magazine - gave another, namely, The Russians were concerned the American crew might spot a rumored Japanese nuclear facility in the city of Konan (now Hungnam, North Korea).
The Flight of the Hog Wild addresses all of these issues, including David Snell, Japan’s WWII atomic bomb program, American intelligence, Russian “spies,” and the start of the Soviet atomic bomb program.
Japan’s nuclear facility is discussed in Robert K. Wilcox’s book, Japan’s Secret War, but it’s only the tip of iceberg. Wilcox’s mistake was defending the Japanese counter-intelligence officer’s claim that an atomic test took place off the coast of Konan on August 12, 1945. The Flight of the Hog Wild is an in-depth, well-documented discussion of Japan’s war-time atomic program, but it does not repeat Wilcox’s error.
Although the U.S. Army confirmed that some sort of explosion took place, just as Snell claimed, there is no evidence that it was an atomic explosion... Japan’s atomic program in Konan is another story.
Over 250 scholars, journalists, authors, scientists and eye witnesses from five countries (including Japan and Russia) were interviewed in order to tell the story fully and accurately.
In my mind, just because an incident involves the United States and the Soviet Union, does not necessarily make it a Cold War incident. Consider the two most famous Cold War incidents: the 1960 Gary Powers U-2 shoot down and the Cuban Missile Crisis. What do they have in common? They both involve nuclear weapons and they both created international incident.
It is for that reason I believe the downing of the Hog Wild is the first “true” Cold War incident.