ACUFO-1941-00-00-RUSSIA-1
In his 1995 book "OVNIS en Russie - Les Deux Faces de l'Ufologie Russe" ("UFOs in Russia - The Two Sides of Russian Ufology"), ufologist Boris Shurinov reported a case reported in an article titled "Invincible", by V. Psalomchikov, published in N 9 of 1992 of the Saint-Petersburg magazine Anomalia.
A retired lieutenant colonel, A. Kovaltchouk, was quoted:
"During the war, the conversation about all unidentified flying objects was short: shoot them down!"
"The identification was simple: ours came from the east, the enemy came from the west, therefore to be killed."
"I returned from the mission thanks to the last drops of gasoline and without ammunition. I had just landed when the alarm was given. From the neighboring airfield we had received information that an entire bombing squadron was heading in our direction. Everyone who could took off immediately, since in such a situation it is less dangerous to be in the air. There was only my "bird" who remained in the middle of the field. But the bombers passed by. After the bombers, from behind the forest appeared, slowly, an enormous airship of one hundred to one hundred and fifty meters in length. It was flying straight towards us, very low, at an altitude not exceeding five hundred meters. We were astounded by this insolence, because we could shoot it down even with a machine gun. Before that moment, we had not seen any airship and here was an enormous one, without a nacelle. It was plain, smooth, silver colored."
"We fired with all the anti-aircraft guns. No result. It continued on his way and got lost behind the forest. Afterwards, we could have had problems: having let such a colossus penetrate inside the territory! Fortunately, it wasn't seen anywhere again."
"At that time, we weren't thinking about Martians or extraterrestrials. The whole philosophy was reduced to three things: resist, stay alive, get back home."
| Date: | After June 1941, before May 1945 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 1992 |
| Reporting delay: | 5 decades. |
| Country: | Russia, USSR |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | ? |
| City: | ? |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | Several. |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Reporting channel: | Russian magazine Anomalia. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | Yes. |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Flies by low. |
| Witnesses action: | AA fire with no effect. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: Several.
[ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 1 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 3 |
| ACUFO: | Extraterrestrial craft or invention. |
[Ref. bsv1:] BORIS SHURINOV:
We know of some UFO sightings [in the USSR] during the 1941-1945 war.
"During the war, the conversation about all unidentified flying objects was short: shoot them down!" says retired lieutenant-colonel A. Kovaltchouk. According to him, the identification was simple: ours came from the east, the enemy from the west, therefore to be killed.
However, he happened to come across a case that remained unexplained. "I was returning from the mission with the last drops of gasoline and without ammunition," says A. Kovaltchouk. "I had just landed when the alarm was given. From the neighboring airfield we had received the information that an entire squadron bombing was heading in our direction. Everyone who could took off immediately, since in such a situation it is less dangerous to be at the top. There was only my "bird" remaining in the middle of the field. But the bombers passed by. After the bombers, from behind the forest slowly appeared an enormous airship, one hundred to one hundred and fifty meters long. It was flying straight towards us, very low, at an altitude not exceeding five hundred meters. We were astounded by this insolence, because we could have shot it down even with a machine gun. Before that moment, we had not seen any airship and here was an enormous one, without a nacelle. It was plain, smooth, silver.
"We fired with all the anti-aircraft guns. No result. It continued on its way and got lost behind the forest. Afterwards, we could have had problems: having let such a colossus penetrate inside the territory! Fortunately, it wasn't seen anywhere again.
"At that time, we didn't think about Martians or extraterrestrials. The whole philosophy was reduced to three things: resist, stay alive, get back home." (30)
[...Other cases...]
(30) Psalomchikov V., "Invincibles", Anomalia, St-Petersbourg, No 9, 1992, p.2
No information is given; we can only deduce that the witness was a pilot of a Soviet single-seat fighter plane, and that there were others that took off and must have seen this.
Boris Shurinov (spelled Shurinov in French), Moscow ufologist, author of "UFOs in Russia - The Two Sides of Russian Ufology", invested a lot of time in showing the extent to which a significant part of Russian ufologists were mainly engaged in the propagation of invented stories and adorning themselves with high-sounding and undue titles. His book presents the evidence of this side of Russian ufology, as well as another side, that of very serious UFO cases.
Extraterrestrial craft or invention.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 12, 2023 | Creation, [bsv1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | November 12, 2023 | First published. |
