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Maybe in Japan, between 1940 and 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1940-00-00-JAPAN-8

Summary:

In 1997, the Italian ufologist Giuseppe Stilo looked into the alleged photos of "Foo-Fighter" from Japanese aviation during the World War II, which can be found in numerous books giving no source. He explained that ufologists specializing in "Foo-Fighters" are not aware of any well-documented reports linked to these photos, and that consultations with these ufologists have revealed that they have a unique and very questionable source.

The source, dating from 1963 and 1964, is 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 their 1963 "Flying Saucer News" newsletter.

Among the photographs presented by Giuseppe Stilo was this one:

Stilo explained that in the mid-1950s, Yusuke Matsumura organized 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, and launched the small magazine "Flying Saucer News". Matsumura then claimed to have met the "Space Brothers" himself, that they took him into their spaceship (etc.). Beginning in 1957, Matsumura released dozens of photos of unusual clouds, claiming that they were spaceships that he photographed himself. He ended up setting up an apocalyptic sect and practicing fraud by having his disciples pay him money that his extraterrestrial friends were supposed to save from the approaching end of the world.

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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.

Stilo commented the above picture:

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 tried to find other sources of this image, for example an authentic WWII photo, hoping to find one of better quality; but so far I found nothing, neither in ufology sources or non-ufology sources.

By increasing the brightness of the image, I show that there is indeed a twin-engine aircraft on it, looking like a Japanese Kawasaki Ki-48 Army Model I «Lily». My identification of the plane is not totally certain, though.

The two white blobs could have been many ordinary things, from aircraft lights to flak or aircraft gunfire.

My idea is that at the time, Yusuke Matsumura did not have the equipement and / or the skills to fake photographs. He probably found the images he published in some Japanese book or magazine about Japanese aviation during WWII, and picked up all of them that showed what he believed to be UFOs, or what he wanted us to believe to be UFOs.

Stilo told that at the time, Yusuke Matsumura did this with "weird clouds" photographs; this adds some fuel to my idea.

If he had faked photographs, he would certainly have created more "impressive" UFOs than those.

Evaluation:

Non-UFO photo claimed to show UFO.

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, page 8, December 1997.

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This page was last updated on July 14, 2024.