*DATE: February 19, 1943. TIME: CLASS: Surface radar
LOCATION: SOURCES: Web reference
No. 18 Radar Station RAAF,
Kiama, New South Wales, Australia
RADAR DURATION: unspecified
EVALUATION: No official--originally written off as operator mistake
Added Case: Aldrich
Internet references:
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/raaf/18radar.htm
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/raaf/raaf.htm
INITIAL SUMMARY: Excerpt form AAn Unidentified Plot at Kiama by Jo Dunbar (nee Lehmann)
Ms Lehmann tracked a hardly discernable contact It was 19 February 1943. The place 18RS on Saddleback Mountain, The return was constantly being lost on the scope no Allied traffic was in the area. No interception took place as the report was considered to vague, and no visual contact was made.
NOTES: Mystery "solved" decades later: A Mr. Graeme Steinbeck found an account in Sydney Morning Herald by David Jenkins concerning a Japanese pilot, Susumi Ito, who had made aerial reconnaissance to Australia twice, the second time was down the New South Wales coast on 19 Feb 1943 using the terrain to shield and low altitude to shield his intrusion. His plane was submarine bases. A full account is in a book by David Jenkins, entitled Battle Surface: Japan's Submarine War Against Australia, 1942‑45.
Reactions to Ms Lehmann's report at the time was derisive and implied that she was incompetent. Such reactions continue down to present day as indicated more than once in incidents in this catalogue. There is then a reluctance to report something out of the ordinary.
Original reference is given as "More Radar Yarns" Edited by Ed Simmonds
STATUS: Japanese submarine launched seaplane.
*DATE: April 1944 TIME: Evening CLASS: Surface radar
Late 1943 or Early 1944 (date of second version)
LOCATION: SOURCES: Letter to CUFOS, received July 20, 1983
Tarawa
RADAR DURATION: unspecified
EVALUATION: No official
Added Case: Aldrich
INITIAL SUMMARY: AAdmittedly, this is not much of a sighing report. In 1943, we had no ideas that U. F. O.=s existed, so I pass this along simply as a possible matter of interest.
AIn late 1943 or early 1944 (following the invasion of Tarawa on November 23, 1943, I was on evening duty at our Argus 16 >C. I. C.= (Combat Information Center) and senior officer present. We began receiving radar plots on our plotting board which showed a track running roughly north to south at a range of some 40 miles to the west of our location adjacent to Mullinix Field.
ASince the plots indicated that our >bogey= was traveling at a speed of some 750 miles an hour, we were greatly interested because there was no known aircraft at that time which could travel at that speed, and we were conjecturing that this might be some reconnaissance aircraft (Presumably Jap since it displayed no IFF), when a second and then a third >bogey= followed the track of the first across the board, running at the same apparent speed.
AThe >we= to which I refer, were perhaps three >plotters= working on the board and one officer assisting me, as well as several radarman transmitting >blips= right off the tube. I no longer recall their names but have a roster of personnel with addresses existing at the time, and it might be possible to trace the participants, but running them down would hardly be worth the effort for corroboration.
AAs the time, I entered the >anomaly= in the log and the following day asked our chief radar technician to check out the equipment and possibility of unusual weather >distortions= such as temperature inversion, which might have caused the sightings. His reply was >negative= in both cases.
AVirtually the same >tracks= were repeated for several nights following.
Later, by recollection, I report this to NICAP [National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena], of which I was a very early member, but apparently the experience was not published.@
Matt Dillingham
211 Dipsea Road
Seadrift
Stinson Beach, CA 94970
This account was published in the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) Associate Newsletter, for December 1983-January 1984, Volume 4, Number 6.
NOTES: An early longer and more detail account did exist at one time in the NICAP. It appears to have been lost over the years with the several movements of the files. The repeating of the sightings over several days does suggest a reoccurring pattern possible in the diurnal changes of the atmosphere during the period of the sightings.
While the complete earlier account may not exist, it was quoted in the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), UFO Investigator, Volume 1, No. 1, July 1957, in an article by Major Donald E. Keyhoe, "The Flying Saucer Story ‑ A History of Unidentified Flying Objects--Beginning a Series." A summary was published in the 'Mysteries of the Skies', by Gordon Lore and Harold Denault, pp. 126‑127:
"One day in April, radar plotters for Argus 16 suddenly picked up a 'bogey' ‑ the blip of an unknown object ‑ moving swiftly from North to South. The speed was calculated at approximately 700 miles per hour ‑ far greater than any aircraft then known to exist.
"The radar sets were in excellent condition, and the operators, Dillingham emphasizes, were all expert plotters. Even so, some incredulous Navy officers at first called it poor calibration. But not long after this, there was a second mysterious 'bogey,' and again Navy plotters computed the speed at 700 miles per hour. When this happened once more, Dillingham and his ... group knew there was no error.@
STATUS: TBP
*DATE: February 12, 1945 TIME: Afternoon local time CLASS: Surface radar, Air visual
LOCATION: vic of SOURCES: Website
Alethea
RADAR DURATION: unspecified
EVALUATION: No official
Added Case: Aldrich
Web Reference:
A WWII F6F Navy Fighter Pilot=s Experiences in the Pacific
by LCDR Norman P. Stark USNR(R), January 1, 2000
http://www.battleofsaipan.com/Nstark000101.htm
INITIAL SUMMARY: The witnesses flying an F6F in Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the aircraft carrier the USS Wasp and the rest of an anchored fleet was sent by the Fighter Director to investigate a radar contact 15 miles West of the fleet. When the planes assigned to the CAP arrived at the indicated position, they found no enemy aircraft just something flashing in the sun as it settled to the surface. What they surmised was that a Japanese plane had dropped windows and quickly headed away from the fleet.
In the afternoon, a radar contact at 30,000 feet and 10 miles West of the fleet. By the time the F6F=s had reach 30,000 feet the contact had overflown the fleet and returned to the West. They did sight some kind of apparently indistinct object which continued to outdistance them despite all their efforts. They wondered if it was a Japanese jet.
NOTES: Some have objected that the Japanese did not use windows during World War II. This is incorrect. Windows were used against the 459th Night Fighter Squadron. Intelligence publications of the period pictured captured Japanese planes with sophisticated window dispersing devices.
STATUS: TBP
*DATE: February 22, 1945 TIME: NLT 0930 p. m. local CLASS: Air radar, Air visual
LOCATION: SOURCES: Letter to Project Blue Book, 1952
ChiChi Gima,
Iwo Gima
RADAR DURATION: unspecified
EVALUATION: No official
Added Case: Aldrich
Web Reference:
http://www.project1947.com/fig/1945
PRECIS: During night bombing mission the crew of a B-24 bomber of the 11th Bomb Wing saw two Aexhausts@ and picked indications of the object on their radar. It followed the plane 20 miles out to sea, where it vanished off the scope. Observers believed it to be a night fighter.
NOTES: Radar was SCR 717C. The return was always outside the altitude circle, that is the distance from the plane to the surface. The air fields on Iwo Gima and other islands were closed due to the invasion, so the Japanese could probably not flying from those fields.
The unit identification in the account is probably wrong as the legibility of the microfilm copy of the witness= letter leaves much to be desired. The witness was probably assigned to the 98th Bomber Squadron of the 11th Bomb Wing which used B-24 bombers at this time. In the account it mentions the 98th Abomb group,@ that however is probably not referring to the officially designated 98th Bomb Group which was at this time was active in Europe. Rather this is the designation of a task organization which has as its nucleus the 98th Bomb Squadron.
Several reports not involving radar discussed objects following bombers during and after air raids in contemporary intelligence publications which told of sightings of what appeared to be unusual enemy developments. Here is an excerpt from an organization engaged in the European Theater, the US Army Air Forces XII Tactical Air Command's Intelligence Information Bulletin, no. 6, January 28, 1945, carried a report under the heading "Flak Developments":
A There have however been several reports of the phenomenon which is described as "silver balls", seen mainly below 10,000 feet; tentative suggestions have been made as to their origin and purpose, but as yet no satisfactory explanation has been found.@
The same bulletin for June 4, 1945, discusses reports from Japan:
DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT ‑‑:
Mention has previously been made in these pages to the existence of German airborne controlled missiles Hs.298, Hs.293, X4 and Hs.117. Many reports have been received from Bomber Command crews of flaming missiles being directed at, and sometimes following the aircraft, suggesting the use of remote control and/or homing devices. It is known that the Germans kept their Japanese Allies informed of technical developments and the following report, taken verbatim from Headquarters, U. S. A. F. P. O. A. , [Pacific Ocean Area] G.2 Periodic Report No. 67, further suggests that the Japanese are using similar weapons to those reported by our own crews:
"During the course of a raid by Super‑Fortresses on the Tachikawa aircraft plant, and the industrial area of Kawasaki, both in the Tokyo area, a number of Super‑Fortresses reported having been followed or pursued by "red balls of fire" described as being approximately the size of a basketball with a phosphorescent glow. Some were reported to have tails of blinking light.
AThese >balls= appeared generally out of nowhere, only one having been seen to ascend from a relatively low altitude to the rear of a B‑29. No accurate estimate could be reached as to the distance between the balls and the B‑29's. No amount of evasion of the most violent nature succeeded in shaking the balls. They succeeded in following the Super‑Fortresses through rapid changes of altitude and speed and sharp turns, and held B‑29s' courses through clouds. One B‑29 reported outdistancing a ball only by accelerating to 295 mph, after which the pursuing ball turned around
and headed back to land.
A Individual pursuits lasted as long as six minutes, and one ball followed a Super‑Fortress 30 miles out to sea. The origin of the balls is not known. Indication points to some form of radio‑direction, either from the ground or following enemy aircraft. The apparent objective of the balls, no doubt, is destruction of the Super‑Fortresses by contact. Both interception and AA [anti‑aircraft] have proved entirely ineffective, the enemy has apparently developed a new weapon with which to attempt countering our thrusts."
(SOURCE: RAF, Fighter Command Intelligence and Operational Summary No. 30, dated 15 May 1945).
Such reports of pacing or following bombers were also available to the general public. See, for example The New York Times, January 9, 1945, page 3, column 3:
Japanese Employ Robots For Air Defense in China
Associated Press
Kunming, China, Jan. 6 (Delayed)--The Japanese are using some kind of flying bomb for the air defense of China.
Announcing this today, Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault said it had not been determined whether the bombs were launched from planes or the ground. So far they have had no great success. Fliers told of having seen Aobjects following or paralleling@ the course of American planes. In each case the pilots were able to evade the objects.
The Japanese Air Force is incapable of defense, so they are bound to work out something,@ commented General Chenault, commander of the United States Fourteenth Air Force.
Another account of objects following aircraft come from the Madison AWisconsin State Journal@, July 8, 1947
Veteran Recalls Early >Saucers=
Flying disk reports reminded veteran Gerry Dumphy, 25 Anyigner Ct., a student at the U. of Wisc. Of reports of mystery fireballs which supposedly attacked big planes on their missions over Japanese Islands in May and June of 1945.
The first Afireball= reported was during a night raid against Tokyo on May 23, 1945, Dumphy was a bombardier with the 52nd squadron of the 29th bombing group stationed at Guam. He recalls now the Afireballs@ approached the planes and followed them out to sea as they returned homeward after dropping their bombs.
He described them as Around, speedy balls of fire, fast as a B-29, but not as maneuverable.@ Or as Aburning warheads suspended from parachutes,@ or as Amolten chunks of steel.@
Often, excited gunners would fire on pursing Afireballs;@ missiles would miss their targets and fall into the sea. Reports came in from every B-29 base in the Marianas. As time wore on, the fireballs Abecame, more maneuverable and followed the superforts further out to sea.@ None were reported seen during daylight hours.
One pilot seeing a fireball, flew into a cloud formation. It was still following when the plane emerged. In this case the fireball was explained as the planet Venus as its position remained at 9 o=clock. [Venus was at its brightest during this time.]
During the World War II period many unusual aerial devices and phenomena were officially reported or stories come out during that time or after the war. Various appearances, configurations, numbers, maneuvers and formations were reported. Theories about the sightings were generally that they were enemy devices, some type of unusual natural (probably electrical) phenomena, illusions, or originated with stressed out observers. Such reports came in from all sectors of the conflict and even during ferrying operations in peaceful sectors of the globe.
Here is another such report probably not attributable to Japanese flying bombs or baka bombers from the letters received at ATIC at Wright-Patterson AFB after the publication the popular Life magazine article in April 1952.
Gentlemen:
Under the stimulus of an article in Life Magazine (7 April 1952) I offer the following--for what it may be worth@