ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalogue of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are “explained” or “unexplained”.

The ACUFO catalogue 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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Shimonoseki, Japan, in 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1945-00-00-SHIMONOSEKI-1

Summary:

In 1984, Dr. Louis Winkler, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, completed a catalogue of UFO sightings for the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), including a section on pilot sightings.

He noted there, without further information, that in 1945, in Shimonoseki in Japan, according to “IUFOM” No. 2 of 1978, a brilliant red object with a halo had followed “the plane”, moving “smoothly”, and “the pilot could not accelerate his craft”. The “controls did not respond while the needles and dials spun wildly”. The object turned and left.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	1945
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	1978
Reporting delay:	3 decades.

Geographical data:

Country:	Japan
State/Department:	Yamaguchi
City or place:	Shimonoseki

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1 or more.
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:	Yes.
UFO action:	Follows, goes away.
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: 1 or more. [ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [X] EM Effects: Instruments failure. [X] Failures: Plane controls and instruments failure. [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	?
Armed / unarmed:	?
Reliability 1-3:	1
Strangeness 1-3:	3
ACUFO:	Unknown credibility.

Sources:

[Ref. lwr1:] DR. LOUIS WINKLER:

1945/Shimonoseki, Japan/IUFOM (1978 n.2)

A brilliant, red object with a halo followed the airplane. It traveled smoothly and the pilot could not accelerate his craft. The controls did not respond while the needles and dials spun wildly. The object turned and left.

Aircraft information:

No information.

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 have been 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: no time, no duration, no witness name, no information on the plane, etc.

Evaluation:

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, 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	December 3, 2023	Creation, [lwr1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	December 3, 2023	First published.

This page was last updated on December 3, 2023.