ACUFO-1945-06-22-HIMEJI-1
In the XXIst Bomber Command Tactical Mission Report 215 to 220 for air raids missions of B-29's bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces, we can read that during Mission 217 on June 22, 1945, to bomb the Kawanishi Aircraft Company plant, in Himeji, by six squadrons of the 58th Bomb Wing, the only unusual occurrence was that airmen saw...
“... 3 single-engine unidentified enemy aircraft; which looked like the F6F. They were black, with square wingtips, radial engine, and short nose. They climbed above the B-29 formation and went toward the formation behind the one reporting. Apparently they did not attack. Their rate of climb was described as “terrific, and done with great ease.”
The report also states that the weather was clear, that the B-29's had no U.S. fighter planes escort during that mission, that there was meager and inaccurate flak, and 17 attacks by Japanese fighters planes with only minor damages on 2 B-29's.
| Date: | June 22, 1945 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | June 22, 1945 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours. |
| Country: | Japan |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Hyogo |
| City or place: | Himeji |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 or more. |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | Military mission report. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | ?. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Ascent, go to other plane formation. |
| Witnesses action: | |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Resemble F6F. |
| 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, 12 Browning M2 12,7 mm machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 3 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Unidentified. |
[Ref. aaf1:] U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES:
In the XXIst Bomber Command Tactical Mission Report 215 to 220 for air raids missions of B-29's bombers of the US Army Air Forces, we read that during Mission 217 to bomb the Kawanishi Aircraft Company plant, in Himeji, by 6 squadrons of the 58th Wing, the following observation was made on June 22, 1945:
|
5. Mission 217, 58th Wing, Kawanishi/Himeji:
The only unusual occurrence was from 3 single-engine unidentified enemy aircraft; which looked like the F6F. They were black, with square wingtips, radial engine, and short nose. They climbed above the B-29 formation and went toward the formation behind the one reporting. Apparently they did not attack. Their rate of climb was described as “terrific, and done with great ease.
The report also states that ”fighter escort was not available because of poor operational weather between Iwo Jima and Japan”:
|
Weather was reported as CAVU to 4/10 undercast. Flak was meager and inaccurate, causing only minor damages to 2 B-29's.
(CAVU is abbreviation for “Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited” (and unrestricted). It is an operational term no longer formally defined in meteorology, but still commonly used in aviation, that designates a condition wherein the ceiling is more than 10 000 feet and the visibility is more than 10 miles.)
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.
|
|
“F6F” refers to the Grumman F6F Hellcat U.S. fighter plane (photo below).
|
Its climbing speed was 1068 meters per minute. The F4U Corsair, also a high-performance fighter aircraft, had a considerable, but lower, vertical speed: 880 meters per minute. It is therefore possible that this explains the speed of climb described as “formidable and achieved with great ease”; this would make particular sense in comparison with Japanese fighter planes, which were largely outclassed at that time.
With the exception of the night fighter versions, they were not painted black but, most often, dark blue, the colors of U.S. Navy fighter planes. This could explain why the report states: “They were black.”
So, the mystery here is that the report appears to describe F6Fs, it mentions the resemblance to the F6F, but is written as if it was not that. All this in June 1945, when the F6F was well known to all Pacific Theater airmen. The mystery seems to have arisen from the fact that this B-29 raid, the report tells us, had no escort. The fact that aviators in the B-29s reported them is of course logical, since during these missions the aim was to report any new Japanese aircraft.
I couldn't find any Japanese fighter plane that would match. The Japanese radial-engined fighters, the Nakajima Ki-27, Mitsubishi A7M, Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa, Nakajima Ki-44, Nakajima Ki-84, all had round wingtips.
I am therefore quite surprised by this report, which will undoubtedly interest the few ufologists who assure that there are sometimes “UFOs” which “take the appearance of planes”.
I leave the case as “unidentified”; I did not want to silence it just because I am not very convinced by the idea of “UFOs” which “take the appearance” of airplanes.
Unidentified.
* = 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 | June 15, 2024 | Creation, [aaf1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | June 15, 2024 | First published. |
