ACUFO-1942-03-14-BANAK-1
In the 2000's, US ufologist Larry Hatch published a catalogue of all UFO sightings, where each case was published using the basic information and keywords.
His case #454: was dated March 14, 1942, occurring at 05:40 p.m., the location being near Banak in Norway.
The information is that a ground radar set was involved, a German pilot was involved, the UFO was cigar-shaped, 100 meters long and 15 meters wide. It hovered, then went up at an "impossible" speed.
I was able to determine that there really was a Luftwaffe airfield there in 1942, that the presence of a ground radar set is plausible, but I found nothing else about the alleged sighting so far.
| Date: | March 14, 1942 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 05:40 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 2000 |
| Reporting delay: | 6 decades. |
| Country: | Norway |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Finnmark |
| City: | Banak |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | UFOCAT catalogue, Larry Hatch database. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Nightfall 1 jour later. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Departure. |
| Witnesses action: | ? |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1
[ ] Airborne radar: [X] Directional ground radar: 1 [ ] Height finder ground radar: (Possible.) [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | DD |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, unknown weapons. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 1 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 3 |
| ACUFO: | High strangeness, credibility unknown. |
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
454: 1942/03/14 17:40 5 24:59:00 E 70:03:00 N 3333 WEU SCN NRW 6:6
nr BANAK,NORWAY:GND RDR+GERMAN PILOT:100M CGR 15M diam HOVERS:^^/IMPOSSIBLY:
Ref# 40 CUFON / NAT'l UFO REPORTING CENTER Page No. 0: IN-FLIGHT
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
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March 14, 1942; Banak, Europe, Norway
5:35 PM. Radar/visuals, Ground radar and German pilot. 100 meter long cigar, 15 meter diameter, hovered, shot straight up at impossible speed. (Source: UFOCAT)
See the discussion. If the story is true, the context indicates that the "German pilot" may have been aboard a Junker JU-88 bomber; but he could have been on board a fighter plane or some other type of military plane.
|
Above: one of the JU-88A-4s based at Banak, photo from 1941.
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The first radar station tests by the Germans took place at the beginning of 1937. These tests led to the "Freya" radar, using a wavelength of 2.4 m, better than the British Chain Home radars which used a wavelength of 12 m. The system had a maximum range of 160 km, it did not detect altitudes. The red circle I drew on the map above shows the area covered by a Freya radar that would be stationed in Banak.
In the spring of 1940, 11 Freya stations were installed to protect the western border of Germany. There is one on the Danish island of Fanö. There will be some on the "Atlantic Wall".
In 1942, the Germans had other radar models, such as the Würzburg, the first ground radar system for artillery guidance for the Luftwaffe and the German army. 4000 of them were built. The "giant" version had a range of around 70 km.
There was indeed a Luftwaffe airfield at Banak, in the far north of Norway, in 1942. The primary function of this air base was to attack convoys of ships in the Arctic. Kampfgeschwader 30 'Adler' had been stationed there since January 24, 1942, using Junkers Ju-88A bombers, protected by significant anti-aircraft defense.
There also seem to have been Heinkel He-111 bombers on this base at least in 1940 and 1941.
The context of this case is therefore plausible.
As for the sources... I could not prove the presence of a radar set in Banak in January 1942; but it seems entirely likely that there was one.
Larry Hatch's database lists one of the sources as the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) but on the NUFORC website at nuforc.org this report cannot be found in 2023 when I look for it by year or by country. The NUFORC actually lists testimonies sent to them via the Web. The other source he gave is CUFON, the Computer UFO Network whose website is www.cufon.org. Looking there in 2023, I did not find the report either.
For the NICAP Website, the source would be the UFOCAT catalog; whose cases were taken up by Larry Hatch.
Despite my research, I ultimately found nothing else on this case.
Given the paucity of the information available, it is hardly possible for me to ensure the credibility of the case, even though the apparent strangeness would make it a rather interesting case.
High strangeness, credibility unknown.
* = 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 | September 25, 2023 | Creation, [lhh1], [nip1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 25, 2023 | First published. |
