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Bari, Italy, in June 1944:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-06-00-BARI-1

Summary:

In 1997, Italian ufologist Giuseppe Stilo published an article reviewing the “Foo-Fighters” cases reported in his country, Italy, during World War II. He mentioned a case collected in the USA in the summer of 1995 by Max Calderwood, an investigator of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS); the witness was Walt Humphrey, a former mechanical engineer from Maine, who was a 26-year-old in June 1944 and served in the US Army Air Forces. Giuseppe Stilo gave his account:

“I was leading a training flight made by three P 38 Lightnings heading north over the Adriatic. One of my men called reporting a possible enemy just above us. We were just north-east of Bari. I thought about the mission and expected my men to be on the lookout for any enemies. The object appeared directly above us. I estimate my altitude at that moment to be 33,000 feet. The disk, silver and round, came down from 50,000 feet to about 40,000 and remained with us for about three minutes. Over the radio we discussed what it could be, since it was very large. It suddenly accelerated towards the north. As the object disappeared in a second or two, we estimated its speed at 16,000 km/h. During the debriefing after the flight, given that the sighting was so unusual, our colonel intervened. I was a member of the 1st Fighter Group, and we thought it could be another one Hitler's secret weapons”.

Circa 1999, U.S. ufologist Jan Aldrich, managing the historical ufology website Project 1947, indicated that in June 1944, at 11:00 hours, on the Adriatic Sea, just northeast of Bari, three P-38s of the 1st Fighter Group at 33,000 feet saw a round silver disc above them at about 50,000 feet. It dropped to about 40,000 feet and stayed with the formation for 3 minutes, then sped north out of sight.

Aldrich indicated that the source is a report form at the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).

Indeed, CUFOS investigator Max C. Calderwood sent a filled witness report to CUFOS in 1995.

The witness was a U.S. citizen Walt Humphrey, aged 72, and retired engineer when he filled the report form.

He explained that in June 1944, at 11:00 a.m., he was leading a Training Flight of 3 P-38's of the 1st Fighter Group, heading North over the Adriatic Sea off the coast just North-East of Bari, Italy, when one of his wing men reported by radio that there was a "bogie" - a potential enemy aircraft - directly overhead.

The P-38's were at the time at an estimated altitude of 33,000 feet, and the "bogie", a huge, spinning round disc, appearing to be solid, was at 50,000 feet and stayed over the P-38's for approximately 3 minutes. The pilots discussed by radio what it might be, since it was very large. Humphrey indicated the nearest UFO distance was 40,000 feet.

All of a sudden, the disc accelerated, in slight descent, north in the direction of Germany. The pilots estimated its speed at 10,000 m.p.h., because the object vanished from sight in one or two seconds.

The weather was clear, without rain.

In the debriefing, the Colonel was called in since the sighting was so unusual. Eventually, Humphrey forgot about it, until several years later, when the UFOs were talked about in the news.

At the time of the sighting, the pilots thought it might be one of Hitler's new secret weapons.

I can confirm this witness was Walter J. Humphrey (1924-1997), P-38 pilot in the 71st Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Group of the 15th Air force of the U.S. Army Air Forces, based in San Salvo, Italy, at the time of the sighting.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. cus1:] "CENTER FOR UFO STUDIES" REPORT FORM:

The information in this page form is:

The UFO was viewed from aircraft.

The sky condition was clear, without rain.

The UFO was first seen overhead and last seen North.

The UFO was first seen at 50,000 feet altitude and last seen at 40,000 feet altitude (descent).

The nearest UFO distance was 40,000 feet.

The UFO passed overhead.

The UFO color was silver its apparent size was "huge" it appeared solid and was spinning.

The temperature was 0°, the wind direction unknown, visibility and ceiling were CAVU.

There were 2 other witnesses, the reporting witness did not report the sighting elsewhere.

[Ref. gso1:] GIUSEPPE STILO:

This Italian ufologist presents «Foo-Fighter« on Italy, including the following:

[Ref. prt4:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":

[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:

Larry Hatch indicates the source “Rivista di Informazione Ufologica” of the Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici (CISU), No. 13, December 1993; but I found nothing about this case in this source. Hatch likely gave the wrong issue number; see [gso1].

[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":

[Ref. rpl1:] ROBERTO PINOTTI AND ALFREDO LISSONI:

These Italian ufologists indicate that during the Second World War, according to case studies collected by ufologists, mysterious foofighters have been seen on several occasions by military pilots, including a round silver disk that appeared over Bari in June 1944.

[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:

Aircraft information:

The three “P-38” correspond to the Lockheed P-38 “Lightning”, an American twin-engine, single-seat fighter plane used at this time of the Second World War, capable of a maximum speed of 666 km/h or even 712 km/h with WEP compressor.

It was armed with a 20 mm HS-404 cannon, 4 12.7 mm M2 machine guns, and could carry 2 bombs, or a torpedo, or 10 127 mm rockets.

Discussion:

Apparently, the source is a “report form” held at CUFOS. Typically, a report form is a form filled by someone to report a UFO sighting; hence, the credibility of the report is unknown.

I also miss the date when this was reported. CUFOS, the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, in the US, was founded in 1973, and in 2023, it still exists. So, the report form may have been filled between 1973 and 1999 when US ufologist Jan Aldrich found it.

The report appears to be of high strangeness, but is very meager, and no witness name is given.

Update on June 20, 2024:

I now have the original CUFOS report form; thus, the date reported and the name of the reporting witness are not unknown anymore.

The strangeness of the sighting is quite obvious. Nothing ordinary would explain this. The key characteristic is that the disc stayed above the P-38's for about 3 minutes and then was lost from sight in a clear sky in 1 or 2 seconds.

It was thus not a balloon. Even claims of "disorientation" of pilots cannot account for this.

The 1st Fighter Group was in Britain in the summer of 1942 as part of Operation Bolero. It was supporting the Allied invasion of North-West Africa as part of Operation Torch. After the fall of Tunis in May 1943, the Group escorted bombers in missions over Sicily and Italy and in the summer of 1944, it supported the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon).

At this time, they used P-38 "Lightning" fighters. In 1944, they were based at San Salvo, Italy.

I confirm Walter J. Humphrey was in the 15th Air Force, to which the 1st Fighter Group with their P-38 based at San Salvo was attached.

He appears in the Honor Roll of the 1st Fighter Group 1941-APR 45 at
http://raf-112-squadron.org/1stfghonor_roll.html

He died in 1997, his obituary appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, of St. Petersburg, Florida, on April 13, 1997:

Evaluation:

Possible extraterrestrial craft.

Sources references:

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

• [cus1] * Standard UFO sighting report form of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), USA, filled by witness, received on August 18, 1995.
• [gso1] * "Il ritorno di foo fighters, article by Giuseppe Stilo, in the ufology magazine Rivista UFO, Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici (CISU), Italy, No. 20, page 11, December 1997.
• [prt4] * "ACUFOE in World War II", catalogue by Jan Aldrich, Project 1947, USA, October 9, 1999, at http://www.project1947.com/47cats/acupdt.htm
• [gvo1] * "Chronologie OVNI", electronic catalogue compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 1999.
• [dwn2] * "The Foofighters Files (1) Catalogue of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena Reported by Allied pilots during WW II (1943-1945)", catalogue by Dominique Weinstein, France, October 2009.
• [lhh1] * "*U* Computer Database", ufology database by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
• [nip1] * "UFO Sighting Chronology - 1939-1945; The WWII Years & 'Foo-Fighters'", on the ufology Website The NICAP Website, USA, created December 18, 2006, updated December 5, 2017, at http://www.nicap.org/chronos/1939-1945.htm
• [tai1] * "1944: UFO & Alien Sightings", web page of the Think About It Website, USA, January 1, 2016, at https://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1944-ufo-alien-sightings
• [rpl1] * "Luci nel Cielo", book by Roberto Pinotti and Alfredo Lissoni, Mondadori publisher, Italy, 2014.

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This page was last updated on July 30, 2024.