15 February 1953
(Rocky Mountain Evening Telegram, Rocky Mountain,
Source: NICAP.org
The article reports on the UFO sighting of Marine
Second Lieutenant Eddy Paul Balocco, a fighter pilot.
Balocco flew 85 combat missions during the Korean War,
mostly in F4U Corsairs, F9F Panthers and F2H Banshees, according to Airport
Journals.
The UFO incident occurred over Washington , North Carolina
Quote from the article (NICAP.org does not present the
last part of the article):
“The favorite conversation topic in the ready rooms of
Second Marine Air Wing squadrons this week is speculation on the unidentified
‘object’ which outsped an F9F Panther jet flying more than 500 miles an hour Monday
night.
The jet fighter, piloted by Marine First Lientenant Ed
Balocco was on a local night flight from the Auxiliary Landing Field at Edenton , N.C. Norfolk (Va. )
Navy Tower
The lieutenant proceeded to the vicinity, flying at 20,000 feet , but
sighted nothing during a half hour in the area. He then took a southerly course
which took him over Edenton toward Cherry Point.
‘Over Little Washington (N.C.),’ the Marine Fighter
Squadron-224 pilot’s statement, said ‘I saw what apparently looked like an
airplane with red lights which appeared to be below me. What caused me to look
back at the light was the fact it moved from below me 10,000 feet vertically
in a matter of seconds.’
Hia attention focused on the object, Lieutenant Balocco
proceeded full throttle (500 knots) towards it. ‘I didn’t gain anything at
first,’ he commented, ‘and appeared to be just looking at it when my rate of
closure was suddenly prominent.’
The object, at a distance of 10 miles , looked about a
quarter of an inch wide and three inches long to the lieutenant’s vision. From
that he considered it a ‘big’ object, the color of white heat and throwing out
a glow. It had what appeared to be two red lights on the left-hand side,
flashing and bouncing off the end, inscribing an arc.
The lieutenant’s rate of closure on the object was
again stopped and it ‘seemed to just drop from my position’ in the direction of
the Cherry Point coastline on a heading of 180 degrees. He then called on his
radio for other planes in the area to help locate the craft.
Diving towards the spot where the object disappeared,
Lieutenant Balocco thought he saw a flash but was unable to observe it again. By
then he was joined by Captain Thomas W. Riggs, of the same squadron, who
sighted an object flying low near the coastline but could not identify it.
Similar flashes were reported by a Navy pilot from Norfolk
The object was first reported …”
Wikipedia article: “United States Marine Corps”:
Wikipedia article: “Grumman F9F Panther”:
Article: “Edenton Marine Corps Air Station
(historical) in Chowan
County NC
Related posts:
An F9F-3 Panther fitted with an experimental Emerson
turret housing four 12.7 mm
machine guns, in 1950 (text by Wikipedia) (wikipedia.org)
(wikipedia.org photo)
(tageo.com photo)
