What’s Wrong with this Map? - Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer - page 6

TheAriesrolledundertheimpactofthecollisionandwentintoaninverteddive,
plummeting 14,000 feet before Osborn was able to regain control. He estimated
that he was twenty-six minutes from his destination, Okinawa, and doubted that
the plane could make it that far, so he cast about for a landing site. The only one
within range was Lingshui military airfield on Hainan Island, off the south coast
of the Chinese mainland, the base from which the Chinese jets had taken off. The
crew followed the standard operating procedure of destroying data and equipment
that the US Navy did not care to share with another country. One member of the
crew sped up the process by pouring a pot of hot coffee into the disk drives and
motherboards.
The second Chinese fighter pilot radioed in to Lingshui airfield for permission
to shoot down the US aircraft. The request was denied and the pilot ordered to re-
turn to base. The US plane also radioed a mayday distress signal to the airfield, to
which the airfield was required by international convention to respond. The Amer-
icans repeated their mayday signal fifteen times but were never answered. This
would later give China its grounds for arguing that the landing was illegal because
it had not been authorised. Osborn decided that he had no choice but to attempt a
landing regardless of whether he had clearance or not. His plane was not going to
make it to home base. Landing onHainan Island was going to be enough ofa chal-
lengeasitwas,sincetheUSplanewasflyingwithoutinstruments, hadlostcontrol
oftheflapsontheleftwingandwasoverweightwithfuel.Theplanetoucheddown
on the Lingshui runway doing 170 knots but came to a stop before the runway ran
out.
As soon as the plane was stationary, armed soldiers rushed to the runway and
surrounded the plane, removing the crew at gunpoint. The Americans were held
for eleven days and subjected to illegal interrogation while the two sides engaged
in elaborate diplomacy. Only after the US issued a guarded letter expressing regret
for the incident and for the death of Lt.-Com. Wang were the Americans released.
China even gave them back their plane after going over it with a fine-tooth comb.
Lockheed Martin engineers were permitted to dismantle it, but the pieces had to be
shipped on a Russian cargo jet back to Okinawa. It has since been rebuilt in Geor-
giaandputbackintoservice.TheUSawardedLt.OsborntheDistinguishedFlying
Cross. In keeping with a long tradition of deifying military heroes as protectors of
the state, China honoured Lt.-Com. Wang Wei with the title of Guardian of Territ-
orial Airspace and Waters.