ACUFO-1945-07-15-BAHAMAS-1
Loren Gross, a U.S. ufologist, produced monographs compiling UFO sighting reports. His first volume, “A Prelude 1896-1949”, self-published in September 1971, quoted a text saying that every air-sea rescue unit in South Florida and the Royal Air Force from the Bahamas had been mobilized to hunt for a missing PB-4YW 4-engine plane, with 4 officers and 11 enlisted men on board.
A Lieutenant William C. Bailey of New York had piloted the big plane off the runway of Miami Naval Air Station on a routine training mission. The plane headed out to area at 12:26 on July 15, 1945, and never returned, and the gigantic air-sea search that was conducted found nothing, either in the sea or on the beaches.
My search about this also found nothing so far.
| Date: | July 15, 1945 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 1971 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, decades. |
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | |
| City or place: | South Florida or the Bahamas. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | ? |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | Loren Gross. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | ? |
| UFO observed: | No. |
| UFO arrival observed: | N/A. |
| UFO departure observed: | N/A. |
| UFO action: | N/A. |
| Witnesses action: | |
| Photographs: | N/A. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | N/A. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | N/A. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[ ] Visual:
[ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | ? |
| Reliability 1-3: | 1 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 1 |
| ACUFO: | Probably not UFO-related. |
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
Elsewhere, what has since been called “a small dress rehearsal” took place out over the Atlantic:
“Every air-sea rescue unit in South Florida and the Royal Air Force from the Bahamas had been mobilized to hunt for a missing PB-4YW, 4 engine, Privateer with 4 officers and 11 enlisted men on board.
Lieutenant William C. Bailey of New York piloted the big plane off the runway of Miami Naval Air Station on a routine training mission. The single-tailed version of the Array B-24 headed out to area at 12:26, Wednesday morning, July 15, 1945, and never returned. A gigantic but futile air-sea search was conducted without turning up anything, either in the sea or on the beaches.”
The aircraft is indicated to be a four-engined PB-4YW “Privateer”.
This is obviously the Consolidated Aircraft PB4Y “Privateer” (photo below), which was a WWII patrol bomber used by the US Navy, directly derived from the B-24 “Liberator”.
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Unlike the original B-24, it had a single vertical tail instead of a double tail, and bubble-shaped side gunner canopies of the same appearance as those of the PBY “Catalina” maritime patrol seaplane of Consolidated Aircraft.
|
In his monograph, Loren Gross makes a note “50” to indicate a source, but I did not find a description of it.
The alleged event of course reminds of the pseudo-mystery of the loss of the 5 TBM “Avengers” planes of “Flight 19”, in the “Bermuda Triangle”, on December 5, 1945. While many authors claimed the disappearance was “mysterious”, only a few of them proposed that the disappearance of these planes was caused by extraterrestrials.
Probably not UFO-related.
* = 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 | April 27, 2024 | Creation, [lgs1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 27, 2024 | First published. |
