ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalog of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are “explained” or “unexplained”.

The ACUFO catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file.

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Germany, in 1944 or 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-00-00-GERMANY-3

Summary:

In a TV documentary about UFOs of the Sightings TV shows series, first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (Now SYFY channel), USA, Season 5, Episode 11, first aired April 9, 1997, we can watch a short video interview of Robert May.

The host explains that Robert May was the tail gunner on a B-24 for the last two years of World War II, and he vividly recalls a dangerous top secret mission to drop guns and ammunition behind German lines. But it was not the nature of the mission that made the biggest impression on him, it is what he saw. He told:

“I spotted something out there, it was kind of bright... I didn't know if it was an aircraft or what it was. I'd say it was probably traveling at a fairly decent speed maybe 200 mph 300 mph and it was coming toward us but it was coming in a bright light. That's what made it so odd, that we could not identify. But we all knew exactly whatever, whatever, uh, enemy aircraft there, we knew what it was it was very easy because that's one of the things we learned real quickly.”

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	1944 or 1945
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	April 9, 1997
Reporting delay:	6 decades.

Geographical data:

Country:	Germany
State/Department:
City or place:

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1 or more.
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	1

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Witness video interview in UFO documentary.
Visibility conditions:	?
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
UFO action:	Approached the plane.
Witnesses action:
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation:	Not a German enemy plane.

Classifications:

Sensors:	[X] Visual: 1 or more. [ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	?
Armed / unarmed:	Armed, 7.62 mm machine guns.
Reliability 1-3:	2
Strangeness 1-3:	2
ACUFO:	Unidentified, insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. sis1:] "SIGHTINGS" TV SHOW:

Transcript:

[Host:] Robert May was the tail gunner on a B24 for the last 2 years of World War II. He vividly recalls a dangerous top secret mission to drop guns and ammunition behind German lines but it wasn't the nature of the mission that has stayed with Robert for more than a half century it's what he saw up there.

[Robert May:] I spotted something out there, it was kind of bright... I didn't know if it was an aircraft or what it was. I'd say it was probably traveling at a fairly decent speed maybe 200 mph 300 mph and it was coming toward us but it was coming in a bright light. That's what made it so odd, that we could not identify. But we all knew exactly whatever, whatever, uh, enemy aircraft there, we knew what it was it was very easy because that's one of the things we learned real quickly.

Aircraft information:

The Consolidated B-24 “Liberator” (photo below) was an American heavy bomber used during World War II by the Allied air and naval forces.

Discussion:

WWII History sources indicate that Robert May (photo above) was assigned to a B-24 crew in the newly formed 490th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

The 490th Bomb Group transitioned from B-24 Liberators to B-17 Flying Fortresses, which were used in combat missions from late August 1944. Based at Eye, Suffolk, the Group were focused in the early months in flying tactical missions in support of ground forces in northern France. After the Group's conversion to B-17s, the crews switched focus and flew longer distance missions over Germany to bomb industrial sites.

The sighting Robert May talked about is certainly interesting and was of high strangeness at least to him. Unfortunately, the short video interview format did not allow to get all the information I would have liked to get, such as the date, the hour, the place, the duration, how the UFO behaved finally, etc.

A possibility remains that it was a German fighter plane fitted with a projector, for example. In theory, Robert May would have understood that, but the lack of follow-up investigation does not permit to rule this out.

Evaluation:

Unidentified, insufficient information.

Sources references:

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

[sis1] * Documentary of the Sightings TV shows series, first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (Now SYFY channel), USA, Season 5, Episode 11, first aired April 9, 1997.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	July 3, 2024	Creation, [sis1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	July 3, 2024	First published.

This page was last updated on July 3, 2024.