§ 47. Mr. A. Hendersonasked the Prime Minister whether he has any further information with regard to the recent shooting down of the Lincoln bomber by Soviet fighter planes.
§ The Prime MinisterNo new facts on the incident itself have been revealed since 649 I described this matter to the House a week ago. The House will have noted, however, that General Chuikov, the Head of the Soviet Control Commission in Germany, has sent a note to the United Kingdom High Commissioner in which the Russian authorities have expressed regret at the death of the Lincoln's crew, but they have not yet replied to Her Majesty's Government's request for punishment of those responsible for this outrage and for due reparation to be made for the loss of life and property. General Chuikov has also proposed a conference of Russian and British representatives to discuss measures to avoid further events of this kind. Her Majesty's Government will accept this proposal.
§ Mr. HendersonWill the right hon. Gentleman clear up one point? Do the Government accept the statement contained in General Chuikov's second note to the effect that all three aeroplanes involved in these incidents on 12th March were trespassing or had trespassed over the East German frontier? Could he also clear up the discrepancy between the statement made by the Air Ministry that the second machine was a Lincoln bomber and General Chuikov's statement that it was of the York type, which is of course a transport plane?
§ The Prime MinisterAs there is going to be a meeting which we hope will result in a calmer atmosphere and better arrangements, I do not feel that it is necessary for me to go into these details. The right hon. and learned Gentleman, however, has a perfect right to ask Questions on these points, and if he would put them down on the Order Paper they will be answered, I think, by the Undersecretary of State for Air, who deals with the more technical matters.