UFO News Article: “Ready Room Conversation”

15 February 1953

(Rocky Mountain Evening Telegram, Rocky Mountain,

North Carolina)

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, on the evening of 9 February 1953.

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. When alerted by the Norfolk (Va.) Navy Tower to watch for a silver object sighted from the ground near the North Carolina-Virginia line.

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 and Gerald Midget of Oriental, N.C. Mr. Midget told of the flash being followed by a ground fire but no explosion. Marine helicopters searched the area and found a small forest fire but not traces of a crash. 

The object was first reported …”

http://www.nicap.org/articles/530209washington_article.htm

Wikipedia article: “United States Marine Corps”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps

Wikipedia article: “Grumman F9F Panther”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F9F_Panther

Article: “Edenton Marine Corps Air Station (historical) in Chowan County NC” (northcarolina.hometownlocator.com):

https://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,2091948,n,edenton%20marine%20corps%20air%20station.cfm

Related posts:

https://realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/03/ufo-case-directory-sightings-from.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/03/ufo-news-article-true-tales-from-fred.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=February+1953

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1953

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)

Satellite photo of Washington, North Carolina (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO Case Directory (SIGHTINGS FROM AIRCRAFT): “F9F Chases Silver Object February 9, 1953 Washington, North Carolina”

(NICAP.org)

The whole UFO case report:

Evening Duration ??? F9F United States

Military 1+ observer No EMI No radar contact

“Richard Hall:

Evening. A Marine Corps fighter pilot, alerted by a Navy signal tower at Norfolk, Va., chased a silver object which had been sighted from the ground over an area near the Virginia-North Carolina border. After cruising in his F9F Panther for half an hour without seeing anything unusual, 1st Lt. Ed Balocco was returning to his base. ‘Over Washington, North Carolina,’ he said, ‘I saw what looked like an airplane with red lights which appeared below me. I was cruising at about 20,000 feet. What caused me to look back at the object was the fact that it moved from below me 10,000 feet vertically in a matter of seconds.’ He turned and chased the object at better than 500 mph., but was unable to gain on it. Balocco estimated the UFO was about 10 miles from him during the 3-4 minute chase. At that distance, he said, it appeared about 1/4" wide and about 3" long. ‘The object was the color of white heat and it threw out a red glow behind it. It had two red lights on the left hand side, bounding and flashing off the end, encircling an arc.’ The Marine officer said he seemed to gain on the object for a time, but it then dropped from his altitude and disappeared toward the coast. Another pilot involved in the search, Capt. Thomas W. Riggs, reported he sighted an object flying low near the Carolina coast, but couldn’t identify it. (Associated Press, February 12, 1953).”

http://www.nicap.org/530209washington_nc_dir.htm

Wikipedia article: “United States Marine Corps”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps

Wikipedia article: “Grumman F9F Panther”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F9F_Panther

Article: “Edenton Marine Corps Air Station (historical) in Chowan County NC” (northcarolina.hometownlocator.com):

https://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,2091948,n,edenton%20marine%20corps%20air%20station.cfm

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/03/ufo-news-article-ready-room-conversation.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/03/ufo-news-article-true-tales-from-fred.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=February+1953

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1953

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)

Satellite photo of Washington, North Carolina (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO News Article: “True Tales From the Fred Baron - Seeing UFOs!”

May 2005

(Airport Journals, Centennial, Colorado)

Sources: UFO Newsclipping Service, Plumerville, Arkansas and AFU.se

The last part of 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.

NOTE: NICAP.org reports that the UFO incident occurred over Washington, North Carolina, on 9 February 1953 (nicap.org), and not on 11 February 1953. The Norfolk (Virginia) Navy Tower only sighted the UFO visually from the ground (not on radar), according to a Rocky Mount Evening Telegram article (nicap.org) and NICAP.org (nicap.org).

Quote from the article (Page 8):

“About six years ago he told me of his encounter with a real UFO. After returning from the Korean police action, Ed was a first lieutenant stationed at Edenton, N.C., a small Marine fighter base about 100 miles southwest of Norfolk, Va. Norfolk was—and still is—a major naval and air base on the East Coast. By that time, Ed, only 24 years old, bad some 1,000 hours of pilot time, mostly in fighter jets.

On Feb. 11, 1953, just a week after a flurry of UFO sightings in the Norfolk area, he was the only pilot on the base on intercept-ready status at about 10 p.m.

‘I was riding around the base in a Jeep, when the alert whistle sounded,’ he recalled. ‘I sped out to my waiting F9F Panther jet and in less than two minutes, I was beading toward Norfolk.’

Flying with his external lights off, he was being vectored toward an unknown flying object spotted by Norfolk radar. As he neared where the object was supposed to be, that object suddenly dropped off Norfolk’s radar screen.

‘I had no radar in my Panther, so I searched visually, and began running low on fuel,’ he said. ‘I got approval to return to Edenton.’

As he proceeded south at 20,000 feet, with his outside running lights turned on, he spotted a bright light well below him on the port side, near the ocean surface.

‘I looked away for a couple of moments to steady my course for Edenton and when I looked back through the windscreen, I was astonished to find that the object had climbed vertically to my altitude and was only about 2,000 teet away and almost directly ahead of me,’ he remembered.

He quickly adjusted his heading to aim right at the UFO and increased his speed to more than 500 miles an hour. As he got closer, he could clearly see that the UFO was disk-shaped with blinking red lights.

‘I guess it was my Korean combat experience, but my reaction was to squeeze the trigger on my control stick to blast this ‘enemy.’’ he said.

Nothing happened. The guns were empty!

‘With full throttle, I got to about 350 feet from the UFO when my entire cockpit was bathed in a strong, blue-white light,’ he recalled. ‘Everything seemed to be motionless.’

As he glanced at his gloved hand on the throttle, he was shocked to discover that he could see through the glove, and the flesh, to see the bones of his hand.

‘lt was like an X-ray,’ he said. ‘For what I think was several seconds there was no sound—not even the sound of my engine. Suddenly, there was a flash, and the UFO broke away at incredible speed, as sound and motion returned.’

As reported by newspapers in the following days, a similar flash was seen by a Navy pilot over Norfolk and a civilian near Oriental, N.C. Marine helicopters searched where the flash was seen, but found nothing. Ground-controlled interceptors with radar also failed to make contact after a helicopter spotted the mysterious object south of Norfolk earlier in the day.

On his return to Edenton, Ed was whisked to Cherry Point, the headquarters for Marine Air on the East Coast, and subjected to an intense debriefing by several Marine colonels and others for several hours. He was told in no uncertain terms to say absolutely nothing about the incident.

‘There were other UFO sightings that night, and the Marines were really concerned,’ he said.”

http://files.afu.se/Downloads/Magazines/United%20States/UFO%20Newsclipping%20Service/UFO%20Newsclipping%20Service%20-%202005%2007%20-%20no%20432.pdf

Wikipedia article: “United States Marine Corps”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps

Wikipedia article: “Grumman F9F Panther”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F9F_Panther

Article: “Edenton Marine Corps Air Station (historical) in Chowan County NC” (northcarolina.hometownlocator.com):

https://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,2091948,n,edenton%20marine%20corps%20air%20station.cfm

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=February+1953

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1953

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)

Satellite photo of Washington, North Carolina (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO Radio Interview: “Kevin M. Day, USN ret./M.Ed, The USS NIMITZ UFO Incident Witness”

Streamed live: 19 March 2019

(Podcast UFO, Sebago, Maine)

Source: Martin Willis Live Shows (YouTube channel)

Video text:

“Alejandro Rojas with UFO Updates, Guest and witness to the USS Nimitz TIC-TAC UFO Incident, Kevin Day, USN ret./M.Ed for an in depth discussion on what happened off the coast of San Diego in 2004 involving the USS NIMITZ & USS PRINCETON.

KEVIN DAY is a retired United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer. A former Operations Specialist and TOPGUN Air Intercept Controller with more than 20 years experience in Strike Group air defense including war-time operations.

An expert operator of the highly advanced SPY-1 radar system with years of service onboard AEGIS equipped ships including the USS VINCENNES, USS CHOSIN, and USS PRINCETON. Kevin has logged hundreds of air-to-air intercepts of suspect aircraft in both training and war-time operations. It was Kevin’s team in USS PRINCETON’s Combat Information Center that discovered the fleets of anomalous air contacts, now known as the TIC TAC UFOs, in the sky’s [sic] above the Southern California Operating Area in November 2004. Because the unidentified air contacts were in too close proximity to the NIMITZ Strike Group while they were conducting at-sea training exercises and represented a potential hazard to safe flight operations, Kevin recommended investigating the contacts with a pair of F/A 18 Super Hornets launched from the USS NIMITZ.

The NIMITZ Strike Group’s Air Defense Commander concurred and Kevin’s team conducted the now famous intercept. Interestingly, it was to become Kevin’s very last tactical intercept. It was also Kevin’s very last underway in the Navy prior to his retirement.”

The 14 November 2004 USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group 11 UFO incident occurred about a hundred miles south west of San Diego, California.

To my knowledge, four U.S. Navy personnel, Kevin M. Day, David Fravor, P. J. Hughes and Jim Slaight, have talked about the UFO incident on the Internet.

Kevin M. Day was a radar operator aboard the USS Princeton.

David Fravor, who chased the UFO (resembled a white Tic Tac), was flying his F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighter.

At the time of the UFO incident, Fravor was the commanding officer of the VFA-41 Black Aces, a U.S. Navy strike fighter squadron.

P. J. Hughes was an aviation technician aboard the USS Nimitz.

Lieutenant Commander (later Commander) Jim Slaight was the pilot of the second F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysJKU_Lq8ak

Wikipedia article: “USS Nimitz UFO incident”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nimitz_UFO_incident

Wikipedia article: “USS Nimitz”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nimitz

Wikipedia article: “USS Princeton (CG-59)”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_(CG-59)

Wikipedia article: “Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F/A-18E/F_Super_Hornet

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/02/ufo-podcast-interview-nimitz-encounters.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Kevin+Day

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=USS+Nimitz

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=David+Fravor

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Radar

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Radars

(Podcast UFO/youtube.com image)

Freeze-frame of the Tic Tac UFO (filmed from a U.S. Navy

F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighter on 14 November 2004)

(U.S. Department of Defense/disclose.tv/gstatic.com image)

USS Nimitz ahead of USS Princeton (text by Wikipedia)

(wikimedia.org) (wikimedia.org image)

F/A-18F Super Hornet (wikimedia.org)

(wikimedia.org photo)

UFO Article (Blog): “The US Government’s Cash-Landrum UFO Investigations, Part Two”

7 March 2019

(Blue Blurry Lines, U.S.A.)

Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Colby Landrum, Vickie’s seven-year-old grandson, sighted a UFO over the Piney Woods, near the town of Huffman, Texas, on 29 December 1980, at around 9:00 p.m.

Twenty-three U.S. military helicopters were trying to encircle the UFO, according to the witnesses. They sighted two types of helicopters, double rotor CH-47 Chinooks and Bell-Hueys.

All three UFO witnesses suffered severe physical injury as a result of the encounter with the UFO.

http://www.blueblurrylines.com/2019/03/the-us-governments-cash-landrum-ufo_7.html

Related posts:

https://realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/03/ufo-article-blog-us-governments-cash.html

https://realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Cash/Landrum

(ufocasebook.com photo)

(ufocasebook.com photo)

(ufocasebook.com photo)

Satellite photo of Huffman, Texas (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO Book Excerpt: “Gun-camera Shots Of UFO Over Ohio Bellefontaine, Ohio August 1, 1952”

By Major Donald E. Keyhoe

(Flying Saucers From Outer Space (Page 107))

Source: NICAP.org

“Keyhoe:

......the strange object was seen from the ground by several civilians near Bellefontaine. It appeared to be round, with a shiny, metallic gleam.

When the blips came on the scope, two F-86 jets were about ten miles from the UFO, on a GCI problem. The two pilots, Major James B. Smith and Lieutenant Donald J. Hemer, were immediately vectored toward the UFO.

As Smith and Hemer reached 30,000 feet, they saw a bright, round, glowing object maneuvering above them. To make certain it was not a ground reflection, both pilots changed course, circled, climbed, to view it from different angles. The UFO’s appearance did not change. Positive it was a solid object, both pilots switched on their gun-cameras and climbed at full power.

At 40,000 feet the mysterious device was still above them. Pulling up at a sharp angle, Major Smith tried to get a picture. But his F-86 stalled and fell off. When Hemer nosed up for a camera shot, the same thing happened.

Then Major Smith, climbing again to 40,000 feet made a second attempt. This time he was successful, and he clicked off several feet of film before the plane stalled.

As he began the camera run, Smith’s radar gunsight had caught the UFO for a moment. (Hemer’s radar sight was ‘caged’ - inoperative - so he saw no radar blips.) From the range of his radar set, Major Smith knew the unknown device must be between 12,000 and 20,000 feet above him to cause such a weak blip.

To confirm his estimate he quickly checked with his telescopic gunsight and found it just covered the UFO. But before he could get a better look, the object quickly accelerated, disappearing at a tremendous speed. Later, using the radar and optical sight data, Smith carefully calculated the UFO’s size. If it had been 12,000 feet above him, then it was about 24 feet in diameter. If it was at 20,000 feet, its diameter was not less than 40 feet.”

The UFO incident occurred near Troy, Ohio (radar at Bellefontaine), according to NICAP.org (nicap.org).

http://www.nicap.org/reports/520801troy_rep2.htm

Related posts:

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realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/03/ufo-case-directory-radcat-gun-camera-rv.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Radar

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Radars

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Gun+Camera

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Donald+E.+Keyhoe

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Donald+E.+Keyhoe+Book

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=August+1952

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Hovering object scanned by radar and seen by ground watchers, caught on film by a climbing jet pilot. These unretouched 35 mm  gun - camera movie frames, released to TRUE by the Air Force, were taken at 30,000 feet, near Wright Field, at 11 a.m. on August 1, 1952. (text by nicap.org) (nicap.org image)

Satellite photo of Troy, Ohio (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO Case Directory (RADCAT): “Gun Camera R/V Case Aug. 1, 1952 Bellefontaine, Ohio”

(NICAP.org)

The whole UFO case report:

“Francis Ridge:

This report is case #20, on the official clearance list. of 41 formerly classified Air Technical Intelligence UFO reports cleared for Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe by Albert M. Chop, Air Force Press Desk. In Donald Keyhoe’s book, ‘Flying Saucers From Outer Space’, the account on page 107 mentions that at 10:51 a.m. (Ohio time), August 1, 1952, radarmen at a GCI post had spotted a fast-moving UFO. The Intelligence report included the ATIC analysis. Later I found an unclassified copy. And thanks to William Wise (Project Blue Book Archive) and Dan Wilson (BB Archive Researcher), we have further documentation. This case illustrates the accuracy of some of the earlier books, and also shows that the Air Force actually listed this case as an Unknown. Some strange things were going on in the region that day. See my report below.

Brad Sparks:

Aug. 1, 1952; Nr. Troy [radar at Bellefontaine], Ohio (BBU)

10:51-11:13 a.m. (EST). USAF ADC radar site 664th AC&W Sq at Bellefontaine atop Campbell Hill at 1549 ft elevation (40°22'20" N, 83°43'10" W). tracked target 20 miles NNW of Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio, traveling 400-450 knots (500 mph) on a heading of 240° about WSW and vectored 2 F-86's piloted by Major James B. Smith and Lt. Donald J. Hemer, located 10 miles SW of the UFO. Jets made visual contact in 4 mins at 10:55, climbed to 48,000 ft, fell off, climbed again to 48,000 ft and Smith got a weak return on his radar gun sight, shot gun camera film of the 24-40 ft white round object or silver-colored sphere or disc estimated at 60,000-70,000 ft and filmed by gun camera a white round object [which then took off at high speed ?]. F-86s broke off intercept at about 11:05 or 11:13 a.m., apparently about 100 miles WSW of Dayton. Film reportedly shows UFO image in the upper right of the frames with noticeable motion to the lower left. 22 mins. (BB Rpt 8; cf. Ruppelt pp. 174-6; Keyhoe 1953 p. 107)”

http://www.nicap.org/520801troy_dir.htm

Related posts:

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realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Gun+Camera

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=August+1952

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1952

Hovering object scanned by radar and seen by ground watchers, caught on film by a climbing jet pilot. These unretouched 35 mm  gun - camera movie frames, released to TRUE by the Air Force, were taken at 30,000 feet, near Wright Field, at 11 a.m. on August 1, 1952. (text by nicap.org) (nicap.org image)

Satellite photo of Troy, Ohio (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)