ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalog of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ACUFO catalog 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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Germany, on October 3, 1944:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-10-03-GERMANY-1

Summary:

In the 1970's - 1990's, "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" (CAUS) was a ufology lobby aiming at getting the US Government to declassify previously classified UFO documents from the military. Barry Greenwood was a prominent (CAUS) member, editor of their bulletin "Just Cause", who managed to obtain such documents and published then in the bulletin.

In issue 33 of September 1992 of this bulletin, he published a mission report written by the A-2 Air intelligence service about an intruder mission of the 4th Fighters Group, flying P-47 fighter planes, made on October 3, 1944, between 10 a.m. and 02 p.m. UTC.

In this mission report, in addition to the report of claims and losses, appeared a puzzling remark that said that approximately 100 yellow, semi-transparent balloons, about 1 foot in diameter, had been seen at 2000 or 2000 feet high.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 3, 1944
Time:	Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	1944
Reporting delay:	Hours.

Geographical data:

Country:	Germany
State/Department:
City:

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1 or more.
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Military operations report.
Visibility conditions:	Day.
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:	?

Classifications:

Sensors:	[X] Visual: 1 or more. [ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	DD
Armed / unarmed:	Armed, 8 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns.
Reliability 1-3:	3
Strangeness 1-3:	2
ACUFO:	Unidentified.

Sources:

[Ref. jce1:] BARRY GREENWOOD - "JUST CAUSE":

MISSION REPORT FORM

A-2 SECTION

DIST: C.G. A-3
CONT XX TAC X

TIME: 1000
1400 FINAL: X

DATE: 3/10/44

1. GROUP OR WING: 4 GROUP (FR)

2. TOTAL NO. MISSIONS: 5 TOTAL NO. SORTES: 35

3. TYPE OF MISSIONS: ARMED RECESS

4. ROUTE OR AREA: AS DIRECTED

5. FLAK:

6. CLAIMS:

TYPE	DESTROYED	DAMAGED
LOCOMOTIVES	1	1
RAILROAD CARS	0	20
MOTOR TRANSPORT	11	4

7. LOSSES:

1 P-47 DESTROYED BY FLAK, PILOT MISSING.
2 P-47 DAMAGED BY FLAK, CAT.1, PILOT SAFE.

8. ENEMY A/C: NIL

9. REMARKS: SAW APPROXIMATELY 100 YELLOW, SEMI-TRANSPARENT BALLOONS ABOUT 1 FOOT IN DIAMETER AT 2-3000 FT AT W-1052 AND V 9153.

Copy of original Mission Report.

Aircraft information:

The Republic P-47 "Thunderbolt" was a powerful single-seat, single-engine fighter plane used to defend the bombers of the US Army Air Forces during their daytime raids over the Germany.

Discussion:

The 4th Fighter Group operated until April 1, 1943 using Spitfires. Aircraft were changed to P-47 Thunderbolts on April 1, 1943 and then to P-51 Mustangs on February 25, 1944; which they continued to fly until the end of the war in Europe.

The 4th was the first group to escort U.S. bombers over Berlin on March 4, 1944. The group earned Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for aggressiveness in attacking enemy aircraft and air bases, March 5 – April 24, 1944.

As Barry Greenwood, the ufologist who discovered this document, pointed out, it is often very difficult to get a clear idea of what was reported in military aviation mission reports from the Second World War.

Here, if we take the report literally, there would have been balloons.

Yet their number, around a hundred, is aberrant. Their size, if this data can be trusted, is aberrant.

Their half-transparency is also abnormal, the barrage balloons were not transparent. Their altitude is also very low for barrage balloons, unless they have surrounded some important target on the ground.

In the end, for lack of more data, I do not see an obvious explanation for this observation, not even that there was an armada of a few hundred extraterrestrial craft there.

Above: WWII German barrage balloons.

Evaluation:

Unidentified.

Sources references:

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

[jce1] * Article in the ufology bulletin Just Cause, of the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), Barry Greenwood editor, USA, No 33, page 5, September 1992.

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	January 21, 1944	Creation, [jce1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 21, 1944	First published.

This page was last updated on January 21, 1944.