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Maybe in Japan, between 1940 and 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1940-00-00-JAPAN-7

Summary:

In 1997, erudite Italian ufologist Giuseppe Stilo published an article that dealt with a series of alleged “Foo-Fighters” photos, including this one:

Stilo indicated that the plane is Japanese Kawasaki Ki 48 Mod I Lily light bomber, on the ground, and that there is a luminous spot just above the cockpit.

Stilo explained that in the mid-1950s, Japanese citizen Yusuke Matsumura created a “Flying Saucer Research Group”; that in 1958, in Yokohama, he created the “CBA International (Cosmic Brotherhood Association)” with the administrator in Japan of the American contactee George Adamski, Hachiro Kubota, and launched the small magazine “Flying Saucer News”; in which this image appeared for the first time, in 1963 or 1964.

Matsumura then claimed to have met the “Space Brothers” himself, that they took him into their spaceship (etc.). From 1957 on, Matsumura released dozens of photos of unusual clouds, claiming that they were spaceships that he had photographed himself. He ended up setting up a real apocalyptic sect and practicing fraud, having money paid to him by his disciples whom his extraterrestrial friends were supposed to save from the soon to come end of the world, which did not happen. He continued to publish alleged photos of UFOs, faked by him.

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Sources:

[Ref. gso1:] GIUSEPPE STILO:

This Italian UFO researcher discusses alleged “Foo-Fighter“ photos which would come from Japanese aviation during the Second World War, which were published in numerous books giving no source. He explains that ufologists specializing in «Foo-Fighter« are not aware of any well-documented reports that would be linked to these photos, and that consultations with these ufologists revealed that they have a unique and very questionable source.

The source, dating from 1963 and 1964, was the Japanese “contactee” group “Cosmic Brotherhood Association”, led by Yusuke J. Matsumura. They had published numerous photos, none of which had a source from Western ufology.

A first series was published by the CBA in the second issue of the 1963 newsletter Flying Saucer News.

The image below, Stilo says, is of a Japanese Kawasaki Ki 48 Mod I Lily light bomber, on the ground, with a luminous spot just above the cockpit.

Stilo explains that in the mid-1950s, Yusuke Matsumura distributed mimeographed bulletins in English on behalf of a small group of enthusiasts called the “Flying Saucer Research Group”; that in 1958, in Yokohama, he created the “CBA International (Cosmic Brotherhood Association)” with the administrator in Japan of the American contactee George Adamski, Hachiro Kubota, and launched the small magazine “Flying Saucer News”. Matsumura then claimed to have met the “Space Brothers” himself, who took him into their spaceship (etc.). From 1957 on, Matsumura released dozens of photos of unusual clouds, claiming that they were spaceships that he had photographed himself. He ended up setting up a real apocalyptic sect and practicing fraud, having money paid to him by his disciples whom his extraterrestrial friends were supposed to save from the soon to come end of the world, which did not happen. He continued to publish alleged photos of UFOs, faked by him.

Aircraft information:

The Kawasaki Ki-48 Army Model I “Lily» (photo below) was a Japanese bomber of WWII put into service in 1940.

Discussion:

I searched in vain for a better version of this photo. The so-called “Foo-Fighter” is so pale that it can barely be seen, and it may in fact have been the Sun behind a cloud-covered sky. Or, if the photo was taken early in the morning, it may have been the Moon. Probably this was just a stain on the negative or the print.

I was never convinced that Yusuke Matsumura “faked” any of the dozen photos of alleged Japanese “Foo-Fighters” photo. He would certainly have “made” a better UFO than this. My conjecture is that he found some Japanese book about Japanese air forces in WWII and picked up any photo with anything “odd” enough so he could believe or claim it was a “UFO”. When I found the excellent article by Giuseppe Stilo, I became even more convinced of that, as Stilo explained that Yusuke Matsumura later collected “weird clouds” photo and also claimed they show UFOs. This suggests even more that he was not (yet) crafted and/or equipped enough to fake a photo.

Evaluation:

Probable stain on photograph.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

• [fsn1] ? "Contactee" bulletin Flying Saucer News, by Yusuke Matsumura, "Cosmic Brotherhood Association", Japan, 1963 or 1964.
• [gso1] * "Il ritorno di foo fighters, article by Giuseppe Stilo, in the ufology magazine Rivista UFO, Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici (CISU), Italy, No. 20, pp 7-8, December 1997.

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This page was last updated on July 14, 2024.