ACUFO-1945-07-01-OSAKA-1
In the 2000's, U.S. ufologist Jan Aldrich found an Associated Press (AP) dispatch of July 3, 1945, in the Weekly News newspaper of Ada, Oklahoma, USA, on July 5, 1945, in which was mentioned that during the B-29 bomb raid by the U.S. Army Air Forces on the Maruzen oil refineries of Osaka, Japan, a “fire ball” missed one of the B-29's.
A Corporal Andy Sevick, of Bethel, Kansas, “whose crewmates claim that at 34 he's the oldest and best tail gunner in the business”, watched a “fireball” come up through the clouds and tail the “Chicago Queen” B-29 for a seeming eternity of seven minutes before it dove through the clouds and out of sight.
I found that this raid on the Maruzen refineries near Osaka took place in the night of July 1-2, 1945, and that the same Associated Press story published in several U.S. newspapers for July 1, 1945:
CPL. ANDY SEVICK of Bethel, whose crewmates claim that at 34 he's the oldest and best tail-gunner in the business, watched a “Fireball” come up through the clouds and tail the “Chicago Queen” for a seeming eternity of seven minutes before it dove through the clouds and put of sight.
| Date: | July 1, 1945 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | 7 minutes. |
| First known report date: | July 3, 1945 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours. |
| Country: | Japan |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Osaka |
| City or place: | Osaka |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Reporting channel: | The Press. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | ? |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | Yes. |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Approaches, follows for 7 minutes, goes away. |
| Witnesses action: | |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1.
[ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, 12 Browning M2 12,7 mm machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 2 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Possible extraterrestrial craft. |
[Ref. meh1:] NEWSPAPER "MANCHESTER EVENING HERALD":
This appeared in an Associated Press news brief published in this newspaper on July 2, 1945, about U.S. Army Air Forces bombing raids over Japan. The article quoted various airmen telling their war experience, and it included:
|
Cpl. Andy Sevick of Bethel, Kas, whose crewmates claim that at 34 he's the oldest and best tail-gunner
|
(Continued from Page One)
in the business, watched a “fireball” come up through the clouds and tail the “Chicago Queen” for a seeming eternity of seven minutes before it dove through the clouds and out of sight.
[Ref. idg1:] NEWSPAPER "IRONWOOD DAILY GLOBE":
This appeared in an Associated Press news brief published in this newspaper on July 1, 1945, about U.S. Army Air Forces bombing raids over Japan. The article quoted various airmen telling their war experience, and it included:
CPL. ANDY SEVICK of Bethel, whose crewmates claim that at 34 he's the oldest and best tail-gunner in the business, watched a “Fireball” come up through the clouds and tail the “Chicago Queen” for a seeming eternity of seven minutes before it dove through the clouds and out of sight.
[Ref. onn1:] NEWSPAPER "OSHKOCH NORTHWESTERN":
This appeared in an AP news brief published in this newspaper on July 1, 1945, about U.S. Army Air Forces bombing raids over Japan. The article quoted various airmen telling their war experience, and it included:
Cpl. Andy Sevick of Bethel, whose crewmates claim that at 34 he's the oldest and best tail-gunner in the business, watched a “fireball” come up through the clouds and tail the “Chicago Queen” for a seeming eternity of seven minutes before it dove through the clouds and out of sight.
[Ref. prt1:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":
|
B-29's Strike Oil Resources
"Won't Have To Go Back"
To One Refinery, Airmen
Say After Maruzen Raid
By LEIF ERICKSON
GUAM, July 3. (AP) -- Superfortresses struck at Japan's dwindling oil resources today for the third time in a week, blasting the Maruzen oil refinery with such precision returning airmen said “we won't have to go back there again.”
Fifty precision-bombing B-29s hit the oil center 35 miles from Osaka before dawn today in a quick follow up of yesterday's record 600-plane fire raid on four cities, while other allied air forces wrecked shipping and military installations from Nippon to Malaya. Two B-29s were lost in yesterday's 600 plane raid, but all but two crew members were rescued.
Black smoke which rose 10,000 feet above the important Maruben (sic) oil plant could be seen for 30 miles in the night sky.
Anti-aircraft fire was light and the few Japanese interceptors that took to the air “just seemed to want to play.” said Cpl. W. H. Power of Carrollton, Ga.
“Our bombs looked like they went into the target areas,” said Lt. Chester C. Gibbens of Hayward, Calif., riding in the newly commissioned Superfort named “Fleet Admiral Nimitz.”
“Fire Ball” Missed Plane
Cpl. Andy Sevick of (Route 4) Bethel, Kan., whose crewmates claim that at 34 he's the oldest and best tail gunner in the business, watched a “fireball” come up through the clouds and tail the “Chicago Queen” for a seeming eternity of seven minutes before it dove through the clouds and out of sight.
Twenty-first bomber command headquarters announced, meanwhile, that 117 square miles of Japanese urban industrial area had been laid waste by B-29 strikes, not counting yesterday's record raid.
Reconnaissance photographs of firebomb strikes June 29 against Moji, Sasebo, Shimonoseki and Nobeoka showed approximately two square miles burned out.
The refinery hit today at Shimotsu, 25 miles southwest of Osaka on Honshu Island, was the third oil center struck within a week. It had produced fuel and lubricating oil and aviation gasoline. It likewise was a storage center with many large fuel tanks in the target area.
The Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” was the heaviest bomber of the U.S. Army Air Forces, used in operations from May 8, 1944 and on. Its maximum speed was 574 km/h.
Its defensive armament was 12 Browning M2 12.7 mm machine guns.
|
|
The first American raid on the Maruzen refineries near Osaka took place on the night of July 1-2, 1945.
There was a probable typo in the newspapers: there are no “Sevicks” in Bethel, the correct name would be Sevcik.
I found several mentions of a “Chicago Queen” B-29 operating in the Pacific, such as in “Memoirs of a B-29 Pilot”, a 2012 book by Charles R. Reyher, and a photo of the nose artwork on the Web:
|
The sighting is of moderately high strangeness because of the 7 minutes during which the “ball of fire” followed the B-29.
This is much too long for a meteor. It cannot be some “St-Elmo fire” because it approached and moved away, whereas “St-Elmo fire” occurs on the plane's tips.
It cannot be a “Baka” Japanese piloted rocket bomb, because this craft could not stay at the much slower speed of a B-29 for 7 minutes without stalling.
It could maybe have been a Japanese fighter plane equipped with a searchlight, as Japanese fighter planes sometimes were. But the tail-gunner did not fire, which suggests it was something else, and the “ball of fire” also did not fire; in fact, the action it performed makes little sense.
Possible extraterrestrial craft.
* = 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 | December 26, 2023 | Creation, [meh1], [idg1], [onn1], [prt1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 26, 2023 | First published. |
