LIGHT WITH UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS OBSERVED BY BOMBER CREWS
John F. Schuessler
International Director
MUFON, Inc.
November 21, 2001
The following report is identified by the number T52-5836. It is believed to have been included in a Project Grudge Status Report as Appendix III. The document classification of "Secret" was cancelled and it was re-stamped as "unclassified." It is reproduced verbatim.
Korea – 29 January 1952
I. DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT
On the night of 29 January 1952, 30 miles WSW of Wonson, Korea, three members of a B-29 crew, the tail, left, and top gunner, observed a light orange colored sphere for a period of five minutes. The object was on a parallel course to the B-29 at 8 o’clock level. The color of the object was further described as being the color of the sun with an occasional bluish tint. The outer edge of the object appeared to be fuzzy and it seemed to have an internal churning movement like flames or fiery gases. The object closed in on the B-29 to an undetermined distance, and then faded away in the distance.
The aircraft was on a heading of 274 degrees, was at 22,500 ft. altitude and was making a ground speed of 148 knots. The time of the sighting was 2300 local Korean time. The weather was CAVU.
At 2324 local Korean time, members of another B-29 crew observed an identical object near Sunchon. This object was observed for one minute. The observers were the left and tail gunners. In this instance the B-29 was at 22,250 ft.
The sources of these reports all are World War II veterans and veterans of previous combat missions in Korea. The crews were from different squadrons and were interrogated separately.
II. DISCUSSION OF THE INCIDENT
The times that the object or objects followed the B-29’s indicate that the objects were propelled by some means, which eliminates the possibility of an unguided ground-to-air missile, drop missiles, etc. The color and shape of the flame were studied by members of the ATIC Propulsion Group to determine whether or not the flame could have been the exhaust of a conventional jet engine with or without an afterburner, a pulse-jet, ram-jet, or rocket engine. None of these possibilities were considered to be applicable.
The report is somewhat similar to the reports of “fireball-fighters”, a type of phenomena observed in Europe during World War II. The exact nature of this phenomena was never determined but bomber crews reported large fiery balls, similar to the sun, passing through or near their formations. There is no documented evidence or data available on this phenomena, and all the information that has been obtained is verbal from World War II bomber crewmen, consequently, few actual facts are available.
This is another case of a highly trained multiple-witness observeration of a technology apparently beyond what was available on Earth at the time of the incident. The witnesses, all having similar skills, but being from two different military units, all observed the same thing. The military analysts ruled that none of a variety of missiles and aircraft could explain the events. The five-minute duration of the observation and the fact that the sightings by crews on two separate aircraft were 24 minutes apart rule out natural phenomena.
In addition, when the investigators tried to compare the Korean sightings with similar events over Europe several years earlier, they could find no records of the events or documentation of the earlier investigations. This is inexcusable.
It would be a futile effort to try to gain access to the original records at this point in time. If the USAF investigators could not obtain the information during their investigation in 1952, it is likely it will ever happen.
A similar event today could provide new insight to the technology involved, through use of ground and aircraft radars, laser radar, satellite photographic and infrared satellite cameras, and spectrographic analysis of the fiery, churning light. A lot of useful data having the potential to expose new flight-systems and technologies, could be extracted from an event such as this.