ACUFO-1945-05-25-TOKYO-3
In 2006, Gordon Bennett Robertson Jr. (1921 - 2015) published a book in which he told of his pilot experiences in the Pacific in the end of World War II.
Flying in the 43rd Squadron of the 29th Bomb Group B-29 or the XXth Air Forces, he recounted how on May 25, 1945, by night, in a bombing raid over Tokyo, Japan, his crew witnessed the “balls of fire” phenomenon for the first time on this mission, and it puzzled them.
As they were leaving the target, his gunners reported a “ball of fire”, a flaming ball-like object that appeared to them to be about eight to twelve feet in diameter beneath and behind the B-29 at about the 7 o'clock position. It was, in their opinion, about 200 yards away and climbing toward another B-29 that was on a parallel course with them. The flaming object seemed to be overtaking the other B-29 that was firing at it. His own tail gunner fired a couple of short bursts at it, and the “ball of fire” suddenly broke up into several large pieces and fell onto the roofs of some buildings on a pier jutting out into the bay below, setting the buildings on fire.
Following this incident by only a few minutes, his tail gunner reported another “ball of fire” following them at their altitude. Tom, his radar officer, turned on his equipment and reported a “blip” on the scope indicating something that was approximately one and a half miles behind us and gaining on us. He could not identify it beyond the fact that something was recording on his scope. They reported this to Robertson, and he increased the B-29's airspeed until the crew announced that it was receding. The distance was now three to four miles astern of the B-29. Robertson throttled back, and there were no more sightings that night.
Robertson said that a number of crews reported sighting these flaming objects on this and other missions. He explains that if these burning spheres were intended to be some sort of offensive or defensive weapon, like barrage balloons from which cables were suspended, they would not work, because the pilots would certainly not fly into anything as long as they could see it.
The “balls of fire”, he said, looked just like their name sounded - large burning spheres hanging out there in the sky. They appeared to be aerodynamically incapable of flight and had no visible means of propulsion. Sometimes they seemed stationary in the sky, and sometimes they seemed to follow the B-29's.
Robertson said he does not recall whether his crew saw any “balls of fire” after this mission, but if they did, they did not fire their machines guns or take any action, they simply watched.
The crew reported this to Intelligence upon their return, but they had no explanation, it was not a new identifiable weapon that they knew of. Robertson thought for a time that they were the Japanese incendiary unmanned balloons that were launched by the Japanese - he knew some had been spotted in the USA - but he thought about it and discarded it. intelligence had thought that the “balls of fire” were the burners on these balloons as they ascended, but for one thing, the balloons would have followed a rising trajectory moving with whatever wind prevailed rather than following airplanes around, and it was very unlikely that the Japanese would be launching those balloons in the middle of a fire raid when everything on the ground was burning.
Robertson explained that at a briefing some weeks after the mission, the intelligence came up with another purported explanation: thy said that what they had been seeing was the planet Venus rising in the east.
| Date: | May 25, 1945 |
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| Time: | Night. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 2006 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 6 decades. |
| Country: | Japan |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Kanto |
| City or place: | Tokyo |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | Several. |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | Witness' autobiography. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | Yes. |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | One climbs, one follows and his outdistanced. |
| Witnesses action: | Succesfull rire with machine guns, successfull evasive action. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Unexplained. |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: Several.
[X] Airborne radar: Yes. [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | NL R |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, 12 Browning M2 12,7 mm machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 2 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Unidentified, insufficient information |
[Ref. grn1:] GORDON B. ROBERTSON:
The experience over the target was different for us this time, too. It seemed that the Japs were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us and the sky was literally ablaze. Flak concentration was intense and accurate when we went over and there were all kinds of weird explosions that we had not seen before including phosphorus shells and "balls of fire." They even had flak boats ninety miles south of Tokyo, and we received fire from them well out to sea. I logged 14:35 hours - just ten minutes less than the night before. Again, our good fortune held, and we had no damage and no injuries.
In the two raids, approximately eighteen square miles south and west of the palace were burned out, bringing the total area of Tokyo destroyed by incendiary raids to approximately fifty-six square miles or slightly over half the city. Tokyo was never again the subject of mass fire bombing. Maybe, like the March 10 mission, the results, from a Bomber Command viewpoint, sanctioned the losses-this was all-out war-e-but it was hard for us to contemplate the loss of26 ships and 285 or 290 men. That was the equivalent of half a group-and in only one night. Our only consolation was that we were among the survivors and that what we were doing was not in vain, but necessary, and that it would shorten the war and, in the long run, save many more lives than it had cost us.
The “Balls of fire” phenomenon that we witnessed for the first time on this mission puzzled us. We reported it to intelligence upon our return, but they had no explanation-it was not a new identifiable weapon that they knew of. The “ball of fire” looked just like its name sounded-a large burning sphere hanging out there in the sky. IL appeared to be aerodynamically incapable of flight and, further, had no visible means of propulsion. Sometimes it looked stationary in the sky, and sometimes it seemed to follow us around.
As we were leaving the target on this mission my gunners reported a “ball of fire” - a flaming ball-like object that appeared to them to be about eight to twelve feet in diameter beneath and behind us at about the seven o'clock position. It was, in their opinion, about 200 yards away and climbing toward another B-29 that was on a parallel course with us. The flaming object seemed to be overtaking the other B-29 that was firing at it. My tail gunner fired a couple of short bursts at it himself The “ball of fire” suddenly broke up into several large pieces and fell onto the roofs of some buildings on a pier jutting out into the bay below, setting the buildings on fire.
Following this incident by only a few minutes, my tail gunner reported another “ball of fire” following us at our altitude. Tom, my radar officer, turned on his equipment and reported a “blip” on the scope indicating something that was approximately one and a half miles behind us and gaining on us. He could not identify it beyond the fact that something was recording on his scope. They reported this to me and I increased our airspeed until they announced that it was receding. The distance was now three to four miles astern of us. I throttled back, and there were no more sightings that night.
A number of crews reported sighting these flaming objects on this and other missions. If the burning spheres were intended to be some sort of offensive or defensive weapon, like barrage balloons from which cables were suspended, they would not work. We certainly would not fly into anything as long as we could see it. The phenomenon was still without explanation. l don't recall whether my crew saw any “balls of fire” after this mission, but if they did, we didn't fire our guns or take any action - we simply watched.
Speculation by the aircrews who had seen these burning spheres provided a possible scenario. The Japs were known to launch high-altitude balloons carrying either incendiary or demolition bombs, which would ride the jet stream across the Pacific and land in the Northwestern U.S. After the war I learned of a couple of these events: one landed in Oregon and started a small forest fire, and the other landed harmlessly with a demolition bomb which later detonated, killing several hikers who examined it when they found it,
Their theory was that what we saw were the burners on these balloons as they ascended. However, there were numerous arguments against this explanation. For one thing, the balloons would have followed a rising trajectory moving with whatever wind prevailed rather than following airplanes around. But the biggest argument against this theory was the unlikely probability that the Japs would be launching balloons in the middle of a fire raid when everything on the ground was burning.
Then, at a briefing some weeks later, we got another purported explanation from the intelligence boys. They said that what we had been seeing was the planet Venus rising in the east.
Researchers tried to solve the riddle of the "balls of fire" following World War II. They compiled many reports of sightings, but had no explanations. Several incidents of "balls of fire" observations were reported by crews in the CBI (China, Burma, India) Theater as well as over Japan, and, even to some degree, in the ETO (European Theater of Operations). Descriptions of the incidents in the European Theater, however differed markedly from the flaming spheres seen over Japan. The objects were referred to as "Foo Fighters" or "Balls of Fire."
The Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” was the heaviest bomber of the U.S. Army Air Forces, used in operations from May 8, 1944 and on. Its maximum speed was 574 km/h.
Its defensive armament was 12 Browning M2 12.7 mm machine guns.
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Gordon Bennett Robertson Jr., aka “Ben Robertson” (1921 - 2015) (photo below), was a B-29 pilot of the 43rd Squadron of the 29th Bomb Group, and the sighting, he indicates in his book, occurred during his 16th mission, on Toyko, May 25, 1945, by night.
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He entered combat in March 1945 and piloted as 1st Lieutenant 35 B-29 missions over Japan.
We have here in fact two observations of two “balls of fire”, nothing requiring that they share the same explanation.
The first approaches a B-29, and when this B-29 and another B-29 open fire on it, it explodes, and the debris falls to the ground causing a fire. So much for Venus. This appears to have been a surface-to-air rocket, but I have my doubts, as it would have been difficult to shoot it down with machine gun fire. Was it perhaps a Japanese fighter plane in flames but still capable of climbing?
For the second, a crucial clarification is missing: was it only detected on the radar (again, so much for Venus), or also seen? If it was not seen, we might think that it was a Japanese plane that the B-29 was able to outdistance. But in that case, why would Robertson report it as “ball of fire”?
In the end, we have a story which shows that there had indeed been a phenomenon of “balls of fire”, well known to aviators, during some of these missions, but the two present cases include a little too much unanswered questions to be very positive about an explanation.
Unidentified, insufficient information
* = 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 | July 7, 2024 | Creation, [rgn1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 7, 2024 | First published. |
