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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English Channel, in May 1944:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-05-00-ENGLISHCHANNEL-1

Summary:

In 1984, Dr. Louis Winkler, an astronomer at the Pennsylvania State University, completed a catalogue he compiled for the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), about UFO reports.

A part of his catalogue was about encounters of UFOs by pilots, and an entry therein stated that in May 1944, on the English Channel, a “half dozen silvery discs, 5 ft. in diam., rushed toward the airplane at a fantastic speed. Then the intercom went dead, the compasses haywire, and other instruments froze. There was a raspy sound on some of the intercoms.”

Dr. Winkler said the source is “IUFOM”, No. 2, in 1978, a source I was unable to trace so far.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	May 1944
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	1978
Reporting delay:	3 decades.

Geographical data:

Country:	Over the English channel.
State/Department:
City or place:

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	?
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	"IUFOM"
Visibility conditions:	?
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
UFO action:
Witnesses action:
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Sensors:	[X] Visual: ? [ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [X] EM Effects: Compass disturbed. [X] Failures: Instruments froze. [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	?
Armed / unarmed:	Probably armed, machine guns.
Reliability 1-3:	1
Strangeness 1-3:	3
ACUFO:	Insufficient information, unknown credibility.

Sources:

[Ref. lwr1:] DR. LOUIS WINKLER:

1944 May/English Channel/IUFOM (1978 n. 2)

A half dozen silvery discs, 5 ft. in diam., rushed toward the airplane at a fantastic speed. Then the intercom went dead, the compasses haywire, and other instruments froze. There was a raspy sound on some of the intercoms.

Aircraft information:

No information on the plane is given, we do not even know if it was British or American.

We just have this detail that there were “intercom”, suggesting it must have been a plane with a crew of several people.

Discussion:

So far, I found no information at all about “IUFOM” No. 2 of 1978, the source indicated by Dr. Louis Winkler. It must obviously be a bulletin about UFOs, probably from the USA.

The credibility of this source, and therefore of the report, is in question.

The information is clearly incomplete. What does “towards the plane” mean? What was this plane?

Evaluation:

Insufficient information, unknown credibility.

Sources references:

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

[ium1] ? IUFOM, No. 2, 1978.
[lwr1] * "Catalog/database, and analysis, of pre-1947 'UFO-like phenomena'", report by Dr. Louis Winkler, astronomer, Pennsylvania State University, for the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), USA, page 59, 1982-1984.

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	October 21, 2023	Creation, [lwr1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	October 21, 2023	First published.

This page was last updated on October 21, 2023.