Hog Wild-1945: The True Story of How the Soviets Stole and Reverse-Engineered the American B-29 Bomber Paperback – January 7, 2013

I must give credit to the author for the quality of
his writing style, however, there is much repetition,
a lot of irrelevant info ( in my opinion ), excessive
footnotes ( 1502 of them ) and what I consider
"padding" such as a long list of POWs, camp guards
and a very lengthy A-Z glossary-type listing at the
end. If the author had not been so repetitious and
eliminated some portions noted above, I would have
awarded it 4 stars.

At the beginning very little relevant information on
engineering of B-29s into Soviet TU-4 bombers appears.
In his defense the author goes to great detail explaining
how Soviet spies infiltrated the US government in almost
every area and how the information they obtained about
the B-29 and everything else was sent to Russia. Such
information as specifications, blueprints, etc. were
of much value to their engineers although much was
dated due to continuous modifications being made.
Nevertheless, American pilots were quite
amazed at the knowledge some Soviet officers had
of their aircraft. ( They had flown one of the
planes landed in the USSR.)

The captured aircraft were not identical as mentioned
by the author.Many aircraft were produced
and many modifications were made among batches
of them. Of those landed in Russia, one was stripped,
photographed and measured. Various Soviet departments
and factories mentioned by the author were entrusted
with the duplication. Engines,armament,radios,were of
Soviet design. Failure to produce was not an option.

A particularly good section detailing the
trials and tribulations of producing a war-worthy
US aircraft once all of its "bugs" had been eliminated.
A section dealing with B-29 operations in India,
China and the Marianas was also well done. At
the very end of the war B-29s were used to drop
food, medicine, etc. to POW camps. HOG WILD
was one of them and it was the last B-29 lost -
forced to land on a Russian air base in North
Korea.

Irrelevant portions of the book begin
with the capture of Singapore, the fall of
Bataan, etc. which have been retold many times.
There are exhaustive sections on the US
Manhattan Project down to the dimensions
of some of the buildings. An other section debunks
the notion that Japan had its own Manhattan-type
project in Korea. Many pages are devoted to why
this was not possible. Even the Potsdam Declaration
is reproduced - WHAT DO THESE THINGS HAVE TO DO
with the book's title ? Read it and come to
your own conclusion.

Hog Wild, pictured on the book's cover, was
severely damaged upon landing. The Soviets
allowed a US repair team to examine the craft.
They determined that it could not be repaired
and flown out. It was stripped of everything
else the Soviets had removed. As such, it's
the B-29 named General H.H.Arnold ( the one
that was completely taken apart ) which
should appear on the cover. Parts taken
from Hog Wild were confirmed to be used in the
TU-70, a transport version, of which
only one was built.

In essence, Hog Wild's forced landing
was an attempt to find a "standard" B-29,
hopefully one that had the most up to date
equipment. The TU-4s produced rapidly
fell into obsolescence due to the advent
of jet aircraft. It was concluded that
with much more monetary expenditure by
the USSR some MAY have been able to
drop A-bombs on the Northwestern states.

It is amazing how poor American 'security'
was during the war. Several Americans of
Communist persuasion were employed as
civilians at Fort Monmouth. When
detected, they were dismissed but readily
found employment at other defense
facilities and continued to pass on
more varied classified material
obtained there to their Soviet
handlers.

Mr. Rider and I share the same passion regarding the B-29 "Hog Wild" crash landing on 29 August 1945. His coverage of this event in the book is indepth, insightful and right on.

Mr. Rider concludes, as I believe, that the superfortress was indeed on a legitimate humanitarian mission, as opposed to a covert flight snooping for signs of Japanese nuclear weapons technology now, perhaps, in the hands of the Russians. The same occupying force in the northern half of the Korean peninsula whose trigger-happy Yak-9 pilot(s) would force the B-29 down to a fiery crash landing outside the port city of Hamhung.

Much more than his treatment of the "Hog Wild" event, Mr. Rider's defining, well-researched work is a MUST READ for anyone who has an interest in issues during and after World War II in the Pacific Theater. The book deserves the attention and with it some revisionist thinking.

World War II has been over for more than 60 years—in fact, it is getting closer to 70 years. It was a global war that impacted all the major countries of the world. After all these years, historians and military historians are still examining the significance of events of World War II on our lives today.

After the close of World War II, David Snell published an article in the Atlanta Constitution that fanned the flames of controversy. This article, “Japan Develops Atom Bomb; Russia Grabbed Scientists” is one that fanned flames of a different kind in author Dwight Rider: the flames of curiosity.

Dwight Rider asserts that this article spawned myths and legends about Japanese scientists being held in Russia against their will, underground test facilities of immense size near Hamhung, North Korea, and uranium production processes that defy the laws of physics. But none of these stood up to serious review. Snell recounted the loss of the B-29, Hog Wild, over northern Korea in this article and Rider thinks that Snell was on to something but never really knew what it was.

Rider’s years of experience in military-civilian targeting intelligence specialist, electronic warfare officer, weapons of mass destruction and underground facilities analyst gave him the ability to research the topic in-depth and to speak on the topic with expert authority. He talked to crewmen who were on the flight when it was downed by Soviet Yak fighters. It was said to be on a simple mission of mercy to deliver supplies to the Japanese prisoner of war camp. But was it? And did the Soviets shoot the plane down because they feared it was there to discover an atomic research facility or did they want to gather information about the B-29 for their own purposes?

Rider’s meticulous research and technological facts will lead the reader to many possible conclusions based on Rider’s findings. His research is extensive, and his readers will find more than just the story of the Hog Wild flight compelling: the technological facts also ensure that Rider’s audience will be in for a great read.