ACUFO-1942-00-00-THULE-1
The U.S. ufologist Jan Aldrich found in the SAGA UFO Report U.S. magazine of October 1977, inside an article by Rufus Drake titled “UFO Crisis over Greenland”, a brief report that basically told that A B-17 bomber being ferried to England in 1942 encountered “incandescent flying objects” near the Air Force Base of Thule, Greenland.
Aldrich notes that the article indicates that the “incandescent flying objects” were thought at the time to be from a German aircraft carrier.
| Date: | 1942 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | October 1977 |
| Reporting delay: | 35 years. |
| Country: | Greenland (Denmark) |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Greenland |
| City or place: | Thule |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | ? |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | Rufus Drake in SAGA UFO Report magazine. |
|---|---|
| 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: | German weapons or craft. |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: ?
[ ] Airborne radar: N/A. [ ] Directional ground radar: N/A. [ ] Height finder ground radar: N/A. [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, several defense machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 1 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 1 |
| ACUFO: | Unknown credibility, totally insufficient information. |
[Ref. jah1:] JAN ALDRICH:
A post by Jan Aldrich from Project 1947, on the UFO mailing list UFO Updates, in 1997, said:
From: jan@cyberzone.net (Jan Aldrich)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 21:52:18 -0700
Fwd Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 00:55:22 -0400
Subject: Re: Foo-fighters over Greenland?
THE SAGA UFO REPORT for October 1977, carried an article entitled “UFO Crisis over Greenland” by Rufus Drake. A sighting report in the article tells of an encounter near Thule. A B-17 bomber being ferried to England in 1942 encountered “incandescent flying objects” thought to be from a German aircraft carrier.... of course, there were no German aircraft carriers.
I have a book about British and Canadian ferry operations during World War II. No mention is made of Thule. Does anyone know when the base there became operational?
The Germans did indeed have an aircraft carrier which the Soviets towed off after World War II ended. In 1950 a newspaper in Berlin claimed that the Soviets were using the refloated and refitted aircraft carrier to launch missiles over Sweden. Dœs anyone know the whereabouts of the old Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier in 1950? Was it indeed in the Soviet fleet?
A report to US or Allied intelligence about aircraft operating from a possible German aircraft carrier in 1942 would have probably caused a sensation. Has anyone seen anything like this in naval or aviation histories? I would like to track down this very interest report.
Jan Aldrich
Project 1947
The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” did fly at this time, including those planned to equip the Royal Air Force.
As its nickname suggests, it was equipped with several machine gun posts - this number varies depending on the version.
In my opinion, there are no objections to the fact that such an aircraft could have been in flight near the U.S. Thule air base (which became Pituffik Space Base in 2019) in 1942.
Below: B-17G of 1941.
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After the German occupation of Denmark on April 9, 1940, Henrik Kauffmann, Danish Ambassador to the United States, made an agreement “In the name of the King” with the United States, authorizing the USA to defend the Danish colonies on Greenland from German aggression.
On August 24, 1942, USAAF Colonel Bernt Balchen led a flight of two Consolidated PBY Catalina seaplanes to Thule, and then sent a report advocating an air base to USAAF chief Henry “Hap” Arnold.
The first U.S. installations at Thule were established after the U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and the defected Danish Minister to the United States Henrik Kauffmann signed The Agreement relating to the Defense of Greenland in Washington, D.C. on the symbolically chosen date of April 9, 1941.
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There was a German aircraft carrier. The Germans had built the aircraft carrier “Graf Zeppelin” (photo below), the only one they built during WWII. It was decided to build it in 1935, construction began in 1936 in the Deutsche Werke in Kiel. It was put to the sea on December 8, 1938, about 85-90% complete in May 1940; but the construction was never finished and it never participated in the fights. However, because Allied intelligence would not have ruled out that he would start operating at one point or another, witnesses to the case might have, albeit mistakenly, believed that what they saw was from it, so the “German aircraft carrier” affair does not say much about the credibility of the case.
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Drake was a U.S. journalist at SAGA UFO Report Magazine who was interested in UFOs and “mysteries” such as the Bermuda Triangle saga; he interviewed UFO witnesses, and published UFO witnesses' letters in SAGA.
I miss the SAGA article so far, but I can confirm that Rufus Drake did sign an article in SAGA UFO REPORT for October 1977.
The data is too meager. All we have is:
“A B-17 bomber being ferried to England in 1942 encountered 'incandescent flying objects'...”
The “incandescent flying objects” could have been a patrol of other planes, for example.
Unknown credibility, totally insufficient information.
* = 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 | September 24, 2023 | Creation, [jah1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 24, 2023 | First published. |
