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Naples, Italy, on March 13, 1943:

Case number:

ACUFO-1943-03-13-NAPLES-1

Summary:

Several UFO sightings catalogues report that Keith Chester, in his 2007 book "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", indicated that on March 13, 1943, in Naples, Italy, the 376th Bomb Group of the 9th US Army Air Forces observed twice "Roman candle" lights.

The "first sighting came up from the water and glowed in the sky for a few seconds".

About 30 seconds after leaving Naples, the second sighting, a bright very large red light appeared at the aircraft altitude, i.e. 17,000 feet. According to the crew, "it looked like a huge irregular mass of neon, and was a steady light, not a reflection". Turning away from the light, the crew said it "remained motionless in the place where first seen."

It is said this report came from an intelligence summary titled "US Army Air Forces in the Middle East, Periodic Intelligence summary", dated March 20-27, 1943.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalog of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft. The first case in February 2001 (6th edition) catalog appears as:

The sources "03" and "37" are referenced at the end of the catalog as:

[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

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

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

The reference 1 is described at the end of the document as "Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester".

Aircraft information:

The "376th Bomb Group", actually the 376th Heavy Bombardment Group, nicknamed "The Liberandos", attached to the code-name HALPRO, started operating in North Africa in June 1942, equipped essentially with B-24s, and some B-17s, both long range bombsers equipped with machine guns posts for defense against the German fighter planes. In 1943 they were essentially bombing enemy targets in Southern Europa. In March 1943, they were in Soluch, Libya, and after April 6, 1943, they were in Bengasi, Libya.

Below: a B-24 "Liberator" in Lybia, 1943.

Discussion:

We are told that "first sighting came up from the water and glowed in the sky for a few seconds".

It is hardly possible to assess it, for lack of details. In the most conservative acceptation, we could see it as some fire from a boat that exploded on the sea, being hit by the raid, and the glow of the explosion reflected in the sky for a few seconds.

I see no strangeness in this, I think it is quite impossible to claim that this was an extraerrestriral craft.

What we know of the second sighting is:

About 30 seconds after leaving Naples, a bright very large red light appeared at the aircraft altitude of 17,000 feet. The crew said that, it looked like a huge irregular mass of neon, that it was a steady light, not a reflection, and that when they turned away from the light, it remained motionless in the place where first seen.

Obviously, the position of the Moon needed to be checked.

In UTC time, it appears that from Naples on March 13, 1943, the Moon rose at 09:45 a.m. and was in the sky. It set on March 14, 1943 at 00:25 a.m.

I deduce that the Moon was likely the sky when the crew had the second sighting.

We do not have the time for the sighting, we do not even know if it occurred by day or night.

But the mention of the "glow" in the sky with the first sighting makes it likely that all this occurred at night.

At 08:00 p.m. on march 13, 1943, the moon was at the azimut 251°, elevation 46°. The elevation makes it possible that the crew interpreted it as the phenomenon being at the same 17000 feet altitude than their aircraft.

The crew should have recogniszed the moon for what it was; but sometimes, interfering clouds distort its shape in a way that the moon does not look exactly like the moon anymore.

Indeed the report say: "huge irregular mass of neon", "a steady light, not a reflection", "it remained motionless in the place where first seen". So, I think it is possible that the "huge irregular mass of neon" was the moon.

Another disturbing factor may have been that it was a "Red Moon"; the report clearly says the light was red.

All this is of course speculative. But in the other end, what was seen is not very suggestive of an extraterretrial craft.

Evaluation:

Low strangeness, possible red Moon.

Sources references:

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

• [usa1] ? US Army Air Forces in the Middle East, Periodic Intelligence summary, March 20-27, 1943.
• [kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Book publishers, USA, page 39, 2007.
• [dwn1] * "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - Eighty years of pilot sightings - Catalog of Military, Airliner, Private Pilots' Sightings from 1916 to 2000", catalog compiled by Dominique F. Weinstein, NARCAP International Technical Advisor, France, 6th edition, February 2001.
• [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.
• [tai1] * "1943: UFO & Alien Sightings", web page of the Think About It website, USA, as of January 1, 2016, at https://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1943-ufo-alien-sightings
• [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

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