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Near Kobe, Japan, on June 5, 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1945-06-05-KOBE-1

Summary:

In the XXIst Bomber Command tactical mission report of Mission 188, carried out on June 5, 1945, to bomb the urban area of Kobe, by B-29 bombers of the 58th, 73rd, 313th and 314th Bombardment Wings based at Tinian and Guam, I found an intriguing observation.

In the section of the report that documented the reactions of enemy aircraft, I read:

"After leaving the target, one B-29 crew at 17,000 feet observed 2 unidentified enemy aircraft on course of 140° T, at 20,000 feet. The enemy aircraft had very small wing spans and small fuselage with no discernible tail assembly. Both aircraft emitted a stream of dark blue smoke from the tail. No offensive were made, but the aircraft flew on the same heading for about 2 minutes and then turned back near land's end and toward Osaka."

The report indicated the first target hit was at 07:32 a.m., the last target hit was at 08:47 a.m. This meant that the sighting took place between shortly after 7:32 and shortly after 8:47; the report specified that the target was hit during the day.

The report also stated that visibility was 15 miles with light haze.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. aaf1:] US ARMY AIR FORCES:

This comes from the XXIst Bomber Command Tactical Mission Report of Mission 188, flown on June 5, 1945, to bomb the Kobe urban area.

The report indicates that the planes were B-29 bombers from the 58th, 73rd, 313th and 314th Bombardment Wings. The B-29 came from Tinian and Guam, Initial Point was in Osaka Bay.

The report indicates that the first take off was at 041458Z (01:58 a.m.), The first target hit was at 042232Z (07:32 a.m.), the last target hit was at 042347Z (08:47 a.m.), the last landing was at 050721Z (04:21 p.m.). This means the sighting was between shortly after 07:32 a.m. and shortly after 08:47 a.m. The report specifies the target was hit in daytime.

The report indicates that the weather observed near target, and in outgoing, was 3-5/10 low clouds, top at 4-5000 feet, 7-9/10 high clouds at 22,000 feet, the visibility was 15 miles in light haze, winds were 270° at 35 knots.

In the "enemy opposition" section, the report notes the opposition by enemy aircraft, in which appeared:

Aircraft information:

The Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" was the heaviest bomber of the US Army Air Force, 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.

Discussion:

At first reading, the report may seem mundane: we are told these were two unidentified aircraft.

This is maybe the reason that although several ufologists browsed throught the XXIst Bomber Command tactical missions reports and picked ip many odd sightings in them, this one was note noted.

However, in my opinion there are some really strange aspects here:

• These "enemy planes" are located at 20,000 feet, the ceiling of enemy planes. (The B-29 at 17,000 feet is "comfortable" because it is pressurized, no Japanese plane of the time was).
• These "enemy planes" had "very small wings", which is only the case for one Japanese plane, Allied code name "Baka", the famous Kamikaze rocket plane, a piloted flying bomb.
• The "small fuselage" also evokes the "Baka", but "without visible tail" no longer evokes it. It would therefore be necessary to estimate that although the "Baka" was entirely painted white, only its tail would not have been visible. The two "enemy planes" were above the B-29, in daytime, they are therefore seen from below against the background of the sky, the tail of the "Baka" was not so small and would normally have been seen when the wings were seen.
• The two "enemy planes" "emitted a stream of dark blue smoke from the tail" The "Baka" normally emitted a flame of 3 feet in width and 15 feet in length, according to other reports really concerning "Baka", and little smoke. However, we can imagine that their rocket engines would have run out of fuel, leaving only smoke coming out.
• "No offensive was launched", these "enemy planes" "flew on the same heading for approximately 2 minutes". This makes no sense for "Baka". These flying bombs, which are difficult to maneuver and have a very limited range, located above the B-29, would have had only one rational behavior, that of diving towards the B-29 to destroy it.
• Then they "turned back near the ends of the earth and toward Osaka." This makes no sense for "Baka" either. The piloted flying bomb "Baka" simply had no possibility of landing.

To summarize at this point, the two unidentified craft do not resemble any Japanese plane, except the "Baka", and only if we are willing to forget the absence of tail.

But what they did makes no sense.

The "Baka", Japanese designation Yokosuka MXY-7 "Ohka", (Below, dropped by a "Betty"). Note that when the wings are visible, the tail is also visible.

Below, "Baka" wing and tail relative sizes.

There was only one operational version of the "Baka", all other planned versions were not developed. The Kawanishi "Baika", which was basically a piloted V-1, never flew.

The "Baka" suicide plane was in principle used to hit American ships; attacking planes hardly seems "profitable." However, I note that "Bakas" had been reported more than once during American B-29 raids on Japan.

Yet the "Baka" record is modest. For 55 Baka pilots killed, as well as 365 Betty crew members, not counting members of the escorts, It only sank one destroyer and damaged two destroyers and three minehunters, killing more than 130 sailors and injuring more than 160.

American analyzes just after the war concluded that the impact of the "Baka" was negligible, with no major ships affected following the very effective defensive measures put in place, notably the interception of carrier planes. There has never been an American plane destroyed by a "Baka".

I must exclude any other Japanese rocket planes or jet planes; there was none. The Japanese had undertaken to build two different copies of the German Messerschmitt Me-262, the Nakajima Ki-201 "Karyu", whose single prototype was never completed, and the Nakajima "Kikka", which only made one test flight of the single prototype on August 7, 1945, the day after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.

Although the description is partly more evocative of airplanes than of extraterrestrial spacecraft, I therefore think that this report is not well explained by any airplane, and that it deserves to be noted, if only for reference.

Evaluation:

Possible extraterrestrial craft.

Sources references:

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

• [aaf1] * Tactical Mission Report, Mission 181, June 5, 1945, APO 234, Headquarters XXIst Bomber Command, US Army Air Forces, 1945.

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