By Jan Aldrich <project1947@earthlink.net>, 10
July 2009
Source: NICAP.org
The whole document:
“*DATE: September 16, 1947 TIME: 2305 local CLASS: R/ air radar
LOCATION: SOURCES: AIR 203
Fukuoka Air
Defense Command, Air Intelligence Reports, Jan. 1948
Japan Air
Intelligence reports
AIR 203
RADAR DURATION: 10 minutes overall
(6
separate episodes)
EVALUATIONS:
Project SIGN - no explanation
Air
Intelligence Division, HQ USAF Intel/Office of Naval
Intelligence--unknown/Soviet aircraft,
Defensive Air
Branch, Air Intel Div, HQ USAF Intel - Possible Soviet photographic mission
FEAF - Possible
Soviet Rocket (however this was felt very unlikely.)
Air Intelligence Report serial number: KO-94297
Added Case: Aldrich
Web Reference: AIR 203
page 15
http://project1947.com/fig/1948air.htm
b. On 16
September 1947, an MEW radar at Fukuoka,
Japan, picked
up a target at 89 miles
and trailed it to 19 miles, where it
faded. Speed was 840-900 mph.
The speed measurement, made by a good crew through a 70-mile track, is believed
accurate.
INITIAL SUMMARY: Extract from the Air Defense
Command=s AAir Intelligence Reports@ January 1948, page 7-8 of AE@:
Fukuoka
M-E-W Radar Site No. 1 (33-41N, 130-18E) reported detection of an unidentified
target at approximately
1230/I, 16 September 1947. The target was estimated to be traveling
between 840 and 900 mph,
altitude 10,000 to 20,000
ft. It was
originally picked up at 98
miles 40 degrees from radar site; first plot made at 89 miles 40 degrees, and
carried to 19 miles
45 degrees. Target plotted within 13 miles of Northwest
Airlines flight No..841. Four to six
identified aircraft were in the scope coincidentally with the target and were
plotted at normal speeds. Controller is
reported of superior ability, and scope readers as good with average or better
intelligence.
Assessment
given the incident by the Air Defense Section of this Headquarters [FEAF] is
that AIt is possible that the explanation of such targets lies in the field of
radiation phenomena, with particular regard to dual reflection transmission
paths.@
COMMENTS
Subsequent
investigation by this Headquarters established the following additional
information:
......Interrogation of Northwest Airlines crew was negative.
......Weather: Cloud bases 2,000 to 5,000 ft., scattered to
broken (.4 to .6) during the morning becoming broken to overcast during the
afternoon; visibility never less than 6 miles; winds aloft; 50 knots from 30 degrees
in the morning, 25 to 30 knots from 330 degrees in the afternoon.
.......Target was tracked through entire course on low beam of AN/CPS-1.
KO 94297 B-2
Secret
NOTES: Air Intelligence Report also ran this
unattributed press report on the Japanese radar trackings. It is interesting that most of the
information on these incidents was classified Secret or Top Secret, but that
the story still reached the press.
RADAR TRACKING
Army Radar
stations in Japan have been
tracking fast planes through the skies over Northern Japan on overcast
days -- they aren=t U.S. planes. Presumption is that
the Russians are using them to map the territory by radarscope.
The
Defensive Air Branch, Air Intelligence Division, HQ USAF Intelligence in
Memorandum for the Assistant Chief of Staff
- 2, Subject: Radar Pick-ups of High Speed Targets in the Far East, dated 26 September 1947 could not come up with
a satisfactory explanation for this incident.
The speed was excessive for the this time period, and it was felt that
the object might be a rocket, however the length of time of the object was seen
on the radar scope seemed to rule out this possibility
<>STATUS: TBP”
This UFO case is mentioned in the book, UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry (Page 43).
(wikimedia.org image)
