Baited Trap (ePUB)
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Baited Trap: The Ambush of Mission 1890
by Tracy D. Connors, Ph.D., CAPT USN (Ret)
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Baited Trap, The Ambush of Mission 1890 is the true, harrowing story of helicopter rescue Mission 1890, one of the most heroic—and costly—air rescues of the Korean War.
Baited Trap: The Most Daring Korean War Helicopter Rescue Mission
Now Available — 2025 Color-Restored eBook Edition
A forgotten rescue mission. A devastating ambush. A love story that endures across generations.
Baited Trap: The Ambush of Mission 1890 tells the gripping, true story of one of the most dangerous—and costly—helicopter rescues of the Korean War. Based on formerly classified reports, personal scrapbooks, and family testimony, this story comes vividly to life in the newly restored 2025 eBook edition. Through powerful photographs and first-person accounts, this book reveals the human cost of war and the courage of those who risked everything for their comrades.
The Mission
On the second anniversary of the Korean War, a team of American airmen made a daring attempt to rescue a downed Navy pilot trapped deep behind enemy lines. Under withering ground fire, they hovered over a North Korean mountainside in a fragile H-5 Dragonfly helicopter. The first two attempts were turned back by gunfire. The third succeeded—but the return flight ended in tragedy.
The Aftermath
With the helicopter destroyed and several crew members missing, families back home entered a long, painful limbo of red tape, silence, and heartbreak. This book explores what happened on the mountain—and what happened to the loved ones left behind.
The Research Behind the Story
After decades of secrecy, the full truth can finally be told. Baited Trap is based on:
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Official U.S. military documents declassified after 50+ years
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Personal scrapbooks, letters, and oral histories
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Investigative work using the Freedom of Information Act
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Family interviews and previously unknown photos
What Makes This Edition Special
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Color-restored images and maps
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Never-before-published photographs from family archives
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Expanded sections on the families’ postwar journeys
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Updated introduction by the author
The Korean War’s Greatest Love Story
Baited Trap is much more than a heroic war story from the “forgotten war.” It is also the Korean War’s greatest love story, following Wayne and Della Lear, Bobby Holloway, Ron Eaton and Dolly Sharp, and Frankie and Archie Connors as they tried to put their lives and families together even as the Korean War was reaching out to engulf them.
“The reader may easily forget that the events depicted are not fictional,” Kris Barnett (Book Review, Graybeard Magazine, Korean War Veterans Association) noted. “Furthermore, the men involved in the mission were never officially recognized for their sacrifices as part of Mission 1890. However, this book finally tells a story that has not been told but should have been.”
“After detailing the mission, Connors describes its aftermath. At the time, the whereabouts of the servicemen involved in the initial crash as well as the rescue mission were unknown. With credible information, the families clung to hope that their loved ones were alive as prisoners of war. Each man was listed as Missing in Action, leaving the families in heartbreaking limbo.”
“A remarkable amount of correspondence between the families and military officials is presented in the book, capturing the frustration and uncertainty. As the men’s lives did, the families begin to intertwine as they connect with one another in the years that follow the mission. Sadly, one by one, the belongings of the men make their way back to their families, as do some of their remains. Nonetheless, the returned belongings and remains are not enough to provide closure for many family members.”
Connors includes final thoughts in his concluding section: “Slowly, as one set of hopes died, others would begin to grow, as Baited Trap recounts. Lives, however battered and broken, could be put back together again. All of them tried…not all were successful. The eventual toll for Mission 1890 was much greater than the three servicemen, as it turned out.” (Kris Barnett, Book Review, Graybeard Magazine, Korean War Veterans Association)
Pages: 393 (Softbound), ePUB pages vary depending on reading device. Extensively illustrated with official and family album photographs.
ISBN 13: 978-0-9640138-3-4
Digitally watermarked, DRM-free
Format: EPUB E-books can be used on all reading devices. Immediate eBook download after purchase.
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Description
Never before has a formerly classified combat mission been so carefully dissected and examined from the standpoint of those who flew the mission, starting with their complete life stories and those of the women they loved. Several hundred photographs from personal scrapbooks and official records, never before published, illustrate the people and their lives with unique imagery.
Baited Trap illustrates and shares through the photographs and words of those who lived it the human costs of any military mission that results in death or injury—a cost that the affected families continue to bear to this day. The mission itself is hair-raising, the result devastating, yet from the ashes of the lives given so valiantly comes a compelling love story that offers hope for us all.
Why It Matters Today
This book is more than a combat chronicle. It’s about how ordinary men became heroes—and how the women and families they left behind carried on. Baited Trap reminds us that every casualty in war leaves behind a human story still unfolding. Their courage deserves to be remembered.
What Readers and Experts Are Saying
Baited Trap, The Ambush of Mission 1890 tells the story for the first time of perhaps the most dangerous Korean War rescue mission in compelling detail gleaned from formerly classified official records, first person accounts, and family documents long unknown. “This story is a tragic, but wonderful, example of how war may affect the loved ones of those who are lost. It includes a ‘gold mine’ of documentary and photographic evidence at the family level.” (Dr. Forest Marion, Author, “That Others Might Live”)
“Captain Tracy Connors has presented a remarkably accurate picture of the courage and dedication of those pilots and airmen who risked and sometimes gave their lives that others may live during the Korean War.” (LTC John Caldwell, KW combat pilot)
“I just had to let you that I am enthralled by the book…it is in indeed a part of history that should be told!” (Actual reader feedback)
“Being involved in trying to find out more about the Korean War, I first found this book in a library. I got interested in the events that took place and those involved. I read it and returned it back to the library. I recently downloaded it on my IPad to read it again. I would recommend it for reading for those who want to learn more about the Korean War from a personal view. A great read!” (Actual reader feedback)
The Mission
After more than fifty years, the riveting story of the Korean War’s most heroic—and costly—rescue can now be told. It took declassification of official records, extensive research, tracking down the scattered families of brave airmen, and use of the Freedom of Information Act, to piece together the story of what five incredibly determined Air Force and Navy pilots did that long June afternoon in the infamous “Iron Triangle.”
On the second anniversary of the start of the Korean War, four U.S. airmen team up to grab a downed Navy pilot off the side of a mountain that was heavily defended by Chinese Communist troops. Under withering ground fire, Captain Wayne Lear made three hovering approaches in the lumbering H-5 “Dragonfly” rescue helicopter to the spot where Ensign Ron Eaton had flashed them with his survival mirror. Each time the helicopter took hits. Both Lear and his medical technician, SSgt. Bobby Holloway, were wounded.
Overhead, Captain Elliot Ayer, How Flight Leader, his wingman, 1st Lt. Archie Connors, and other Mustang pilots from the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing provided covering fire, repeatedly attacking the ground batteries.Finally, after the third attempt under heavy fire, with Eaton on board, Lear nursed the badly damaged helicopter down the valley towards the safety of UN lines that were almost within sight.
Seconds later, a lucky hit in the rotor changed the rescue into one of the most deadly missions of the Korean War.The families of the missing airmen entered the surreal, wrenching, bureaucratic world of the Missing In Action. A final section relates the poignant stories of what the families of Mission 1890 went through after it was quiet on the mountain. How they coped with their losses will inspire others.
On the second anniversary of the start of the Korean War, four U.S. airmen team up to grab a downed Navy pilot off the side of a mountain that was heavily defended by Chinese Communist troops. Under withering ground fire, Captain Wayne Lear made three hovering approaches in the lumbering H-5 “Dragonfly” rescue helicopter to the spot where Ensign Ron Eaton had flashed them with his survival mirror. Each time the helicopter took hits. Both Lear and his medical technician, SSgt. Bobby Holloway, were wounded.
Overhead, Captain Elliot Ayer, How Flight Leader, his wingman, 1st Lt. Archie Connors, and other Mustang pilots from the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing provided covering fire, repeatedly attacking the ground batteries.Finally, after the third attempt under heavy fire, with Eaton on board, Lear nursed the badly damaged helicopter down the valley towards the safety of UN lines that were almost within sight. Seconds later, a lucky hit in the rotor changed the rescue into one of the most deadly missions of the Korean War. The families of the missing airmen entered the surreal, wrenching, bureaucratic world of the Missing In Action. A final section relates the poignant stories of what the families of Mission 1890 went through after it was quiet on the mountain. How they coped with their losses will inspire others.
Visit BaitedTrapAmbush.com to learn more.
Soft Cover copies are available at: https://www.belleairepress.com/product/baited-trap-sb/
Additional information
| Book Type | Paperback, eBook |
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