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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Okayama, Japan, on November 10, 1944:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-11-10-OKAYAMA-1

Summary:

The erudite US ufologist Jan Aldrich, head of the Project 1947 historical ufology effort in the USA, indicated in a catalogue of pilots sightings in 1999 that he found the following case in the Weekly Intelligence Summary #11, of November 10, 1944, by the Headquarters of the Eastern Air Command, South East Asia.

On November 10, 1944, in daylight, on the coast of Formosa just west of Okayama, at 25,000 feet, a B-29 - possibly - saw a black dot seeming to hang in the air without movement or explosion. It was smaller than a flak burst, and looked like an object rather than a cloud of smoke.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	November 10, 1944
Time:	Day.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	November 10, 1944
Reporting delay:	Hours.

Geographical data:

Country:	Japan
State/Department:	Okayama
City:	Okayama

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	?
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Military intelligence summary.
Visibility conditions:	Day.
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
UFO action:	Hovers.
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, 12 Browning M2 12.7 mm machine guns.
Reliability 1-3:	1
Strangeness 1-3:	2
ACUFO:	Possible misinterpretation.

Sources:

[Ref. prt4:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":

N - NLT 1944.11.10 - daylight, Coast of Formosa just west of Okayama at 25,000 feet

B-29(?), black dot seen to hang in the air without movement or explosion. It was smaller than a flak burst, and looked like an object rather than a cloud of smoke. (Weekly Intelligence Summary #11, 10 Nov 44, HQ, Eastern Air Command, South East Asia)

[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

November 10, 1944

Coast of Formosa, West of Okayama, Japan

During daylight, the pilot of a B-29 (?) reported the sighting of a black dot seen to hang in the air without movement or explosion. It was smaller than a flak burst, and looked like an object rather than a cloud of smoke.

Sources: Project 1947, Jan Aldrich / Weekly intelligence summary #11, 10 nov. 1944, HQ Eastern Air Command, South-East Asia.

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

[1944] Oct. 16, 1944; Formosa, Taiwan

Small black dot; hanging stationary. (Page Ref.1)

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

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

Date: Oct. 16, 1944

Location: Formosa, Taiwan

Time:

Summary: Small black dot; hanging stationary.

Source:

Aircraft information:

The Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" was the heaviest bomber of the US Army Air Force, 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.

Discussion:

I have a problem with the location. Formosa, i.e. Taiwan, is 1700 km away from the only "Okayama" I was able to find, which is in Japan.

There is also an imprecise date. The Intelligence report being dated November 10, 1944, and being a weekly report, it would be logical for the date to be before November 10, 1944, but within the previous ten days. [tai1] gives October 16, 1944, but does not give a source.

I am keeping the date November 10, 1944 for the moment so that the case can be found during searches, but it goes without saying that the correct date is simply "not later than" this date.

The observation seems strange, it is clearly stated that the thing "looked more like an object than a cloud of smoke", that the witness(es) had considered and eliminated a cloud caused by the explosion of a anti-aircraft shell.

On the other hand, there have been cases in the UFO literature where a black stationary UFO in the sky turned out to be a sachet carried by the wind.

So it is hard for me to think that this thing would necessarily be an extraterrestrial craft.

Evaluation:

Possible misinterpretation.

Sources references:

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

[usa1] ? Weekly Intelligence Summary #11, Headquarters of the Eastern Air Command, South-East Asia, US Army Air Force, November 10, 1944.
[prt4] * "ACUFOE in World War II", catalogue by Jan Aldrich, Project 1947, USA, October 9, 1999, at http://www.project1947.com/47cats/acupdt.htm
[kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Book publishers, USA, 2007.
[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.
[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
[tai1] * "1944: UFO & Alien Sightings", web page of the Think About It Website, USA, January 1, 2016, at https://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1944-ufo-alien-sightings

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	October 30, 2023	Creation, [prt4].
1.0	Patrick Gross	October 30, 2023	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	November 3, 2023	Additions [dwn2], [nip1], [tai1].

This page was last updated on November 3, 2023.