J.., ~J;'IC'ol' H AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION S\.li.JI.C'T rrPUM l.irrr~ ~ftc~ n;:: FEAF' fJrc/,:'. ! ;: ----- ARt.& II(I"Ci"Tt:J v .. Sollthoast Kor9& ""f."AMO iY t 00'\t'~) ji)OllCL Charles J. Uol:ren, Captain , USAF (ATLO) 1st :.:arine Airc raft i'ii:1g, Kor~a AFL 200-5, dated 29 APR 52; FEAF IR-35-52, dated 11 August 1952 SUMMAAY: (EMir cwd 1 II/ ,.,at. OW.C ,...,tuA It' ftMl OIN,..,v~nu P.Afl'~,~. LOll 111d0Ntft Gl l~><cc-lt/1. I.Jtrm lut vf rt;:NI1 "" A F F.,..,. l l tPsrf ll) 1. Thi~ report concerns visual and rada r sigbtings of an tmidenti~ied fiying o~ject by a pilot and a ground radar obs~r,er of the 1st Uarine llrcr3!'t 2o Ths object, flying at an altttude of ~po~oximately 10 , 500 f eet i n the vicinity of K-3, was raported as a ~ov1nr, ball of fir~ with a str ner of fla~o 3o The "object has been tentatively identified as a meteor by the Commanding Officer, Ma.rir.e Ground Control Intercept Squadron 3, Uarlne Air Control Group 2, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing: however if such is the case, the object~s speed was probably underestimated. C:uRtES 1. BANFI Lt . l Erl.;1.dio~ Jc:'ler~, P9A?' j Deputy of InLelliganoe ' Cl T ctf r- AF fO~M 1.12-PART II APfo'~Q...t:O I JU~ IJ W AJR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT A TIL Office, D/ I Fi!:AF IR-37-52 PAce 5. I call ed Ca~tain VEP~OR, the assistant strange bl i ps a..."ld Richzr.ond l S ' s re;:>or t . a nd was We co~plot~d our conver5ation at about 2l~o ooerations officer, cescribed the advised to infor~ D~vestate Abl~o 6. To ensure as accurat~ a reoor t as po:1s i ble l wrote down t.\.L Li tn"'~:.J, b~arin, , and distar.ccs of t he strange blios as I recalled the~ nnd tr~n had it Qnterect in th~ log book the facts I ~ished to incl ude in my T9?0rt, t o Devestata Ab11 . I ~stiT4ted that the blips as I recalled the~1, if connec~-3d a s one track, would h.:rve lndicat~d a speed of about. 1200 to 1400 knots. This s eamed too high so I consid~red that i t wa s possible that there would have b~en t~o aircraft one behind the other, moving a t 600 to goo miles per hour rather than only one atrcraft. At ~bout 2107 I called Devestat~ r~port approximately as rollow~: Able on t he AC-CI ohone and endeavor90 to Richmond 1S reports s t r .1nge non conventional aircraft ;:>assed him 500 yards on starboard .-d.ng about 1000 fe~t higher. Aircraft had ball o f fire at th<J r~a.-nith a very l ong strea::1er of fl~e. Object glimpsed at front before pas~Jing \fas no t of al"'lY type knokl. Aircraft -;vas going at a very high rate of 3peed. He notified c e when he checked in ove r K-3 a t 2057. I verified seP,ing several radar bl)ps on scone in direction 205 degrees at approximat9ly the same time Richmond 13 reported seal nb tr~ strange aircraft. Very conservative esttmate of ope~ o f 6 00 to eoo knots, because speed of 1200 to 1400 knots was toe high for one airc raft. It ifas probably t ,.,o, ona behind the oth~r. g. The circuit was W9ak and th~ cont r oller asked that I repeat the rnessaga. I repeated t he message three times, t.,~ last ttme very slo;vly, b9 f or e he wa s able to read i. t back correctly. Th~ ti. n~ .vas then 2123. Cent r o ller advi.9ed m~ to send any furthe~ information about the occurence over tha regul a r s~itchboard teleohon~. , .. -~ 9. At about 2300 menbers of th~ onc~ming err. watch w~r~ discussing the neteor .they had seen whilo at th~ ~ovi~ and 0 cr1b~d it as leavtng a long brilliant trailo On questioning them I det9r.:rl.ned that i. t had passed at about U' e tt of my sighting the str~,ge blips. I reportad tht3 to De7~state Able on th9 swttchboard ohone . The controller agreed that the rreteor was proba:,ly w'i".at I had ~een on the scopeo 10. On being relieved at 2400 I instructed my relief to ask for amplifying in- formation from Richmond 18 "'~en he r e ported out bound. He l ater reoorted t.o me tha t Richmond l S had no~hing furthe ~ to reporto /s/~o N. Nagr odsky LEO N N ACJ\ODSKY AIR INTELL1GENCE INFORMATjON REPORT ATIL Office, D/I FEAF STA'l~!J5N1' OF L T . NA".}itODSKY ll AUsl.l3 t. 1952 Second Lieutenant Leo U. NA:JRODSKY 053011/6709 US~C Co nding Officer, ~arine Ground Control Inter cept Sq~adron 3 Subject: Unidantified Radar Slehtiog 1. On 9 August 1952 I had the duty a3 Senior Watch ConLrolle r at. :.tGCI 5-3 CIC On coming on watch I noted that AC-CI phona circuit was wea~< and instructed teleohone man to check 1 t. He advised Devastate Able tha.t t"l eir tran~mi tter '"ere apparently 1teak. Devastate Able stated that, they would wort< on the 3. At 2047 I was "peaking", or r"3ad,justi.ng, the tu."'l ing of the con t,roll~r plan. 12 scope, tn order that I could en3 ur~ ~h~t the radar teller renorted all contact s . I wa~ tcni.ng o n an inbound target l ntP.r identified as Richmond l S , '.'fhich was then at 210 d4!grees, 3 0 miles. At 2050, YThen Rtc hmond 1~ :ms at 20 r.ri l~s I not11rl a waak tar- get at 205 d~grees, 15 m.i l es. On t he next s wJe;:> o f the trace Rtc:r:lOnd l S -;vas at 19 miles but the faint target did not reappaar and I attributed the first indication to 1nterfer ce. On the third sweeo Richmond 1~ was turning to~ard K-3 and wa3 about 17 1/2 miles from MOCI5-3. A target appaared at 205 degrees, 27 miles and I started to adjust the scope to get ~axim pic~ up on tr~t target. On the f ourth s~eep Rich- mond 1~ wa s at about 215 d e~s, 1~ oiles, and a target app~ared at 205 degrees, 32 . ~iles. I dtd not connect this tar t with the 3rd sween target, b e cau3e it was so far ~ !rO'I'!I 1 t and thought that two ru c h.":lond aircraft. were coining up from the south. Ch the fifth Slfeep, fifty seconds afte r the fir~t faint target had ap?eared, Rich!r.ond 18 .vas at about 220.degre9s, 15 mllas und a strong paculiar b]ip about 2 miles in length and curved at an angle of about SO d~gre~s from the trace of a noriJ'I.al target a~peared at 206 degrees, )S miles. I could not ~1 1 whether it ~as an aircraft or soma tJpe of lnterfarer.ce 'and dtd not co~nact it ~ith the previous blips. No more unusual blips Apoear~ ~d I dacid9d that they had all b 9en due to interference of sOT:le type. The a~ove 't>aarings and distances are as I racalle d them about seven or eight minut.es later, -. but I believe them'to be accurate within two miles and five degress. The radar teller scoP4 a.~ not peak~ as high as mine and he did not see any blip~ other than Richmond 13. I dtd not call theradar teller's attention to the uz1usuaJ blips I h ad see!'l, be- cause he was accur~tely reporttn~ all othe~ tracks, and I believed t hat jnterference had c:tused the wtd~ly spaced and peculiar blipso 4~ At 2057 Rit:hlllond l o reportP.d in and then a s'<ed i r I h.3.d seen any plots in his victnit y 3~ven to ntne nin~ta~ b~fore. I r e plie d that I had =~an what could hav~ been either S'3Y'sralr:>lan~s or noise at th.lt tir.l9. Nicr-1lond le' s co~me:1t. ~'lA3 ~hat it "Has not ll~e any air?lan~ ho ~ad '3Ver s~en and describ~d t~ object AS f ollo;::J: ~!J~bls:a j~t exh.~:.:!J~. IT"'"'( NOTe ll "0DLCD t.'i WHOL~ OR Iii p,\.<T. BY o r PE.R rriA:-1 tJ!dTi:O !.'T\f:S ,\IR I oJ ~c: ,; .... rr.c:c:;, L rt 'T !J( Pt. l'ol.'~to: m im:. Dl,,:.c-::Hlf' t :tTEU.l~ENCC. t.;SAF. AF ~OR'ft H2_,~RT II ~I~D I JU~E I H 6 AIR INiELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT AT!L Office, D/I, F~AF 2. Though the eraphic plot chartings i~dicate a slightly 9rr~tlc coprs~, the. Senior Watch Controller's written state~ant indicates a ~early const~t course bearing of 205, 205, 205, ond 206 re::~p2ctivel)' for the l~t, 3rd, .4~h and \ 5th s'N.1eps. No blip was observad on the 2:1d S"l9~ap. l''urther. t.h e c~rt B adnrl. t': :. to an ~rror of 2 miles and fiv~ de~re.s. TI.orcforo the constant cour~e~eadlng, of a moteorit e s eems to be subslantiat~d. 1 3. A rn~t~orite enter t~P. rth's atnosoher e at if llj~g a ne~horizont~l cours~, ~ould probably s~eed of 1500 ~.o.h. nt l O,OCO ft. altitude ~ay be conditions. . . 1S ,000 ~. o.~., eso~cially c!ec-~l<Jrate ver; r a'Ji dl:1. co~comitant ~th these AF FCR~ lll ?ART II A1R IN1ELL1GENCE INFOR~\ATION REPO~T A TIL Of fie~, D/I, FEAF 1. The follmrlng inforrn3 tton .'4a3 forwardad to Uarine Gr ound Control Inte r cept i Squadron 3 as Enclosurn l to Air Defense Scr:ti on Daily R~port for 9 Augu9t 1952 f rom t~e Air Control Detacr~e~t: A.. Pil ot. of RICH:AA~r lS en cours~ of OO'j, altitude 94CO feet, ~sp~ed 240 knot s , in vtcin"!.ty of K-3 'l t 20571 r<=!port.~d to Doodl~-bug t hot h~ hnd sighted a long strc~ner o f fla~ ~ith a ball of fir~ a t the f r onto This o~j~ct passed him 500 yards o~f his s tarboard win~, 1 000 feet above on a heading of 200 d rees. The :Jilot c~n:gh t Ot:lj' a brlof glirn~se, but statod u~is was a n on-conventional ty;>a ai:-crn ft., unkr1o.v:1 or ~rer seen ~efor'.! by him, traveling at a high r at.a of spe~.j. 1'he pilot r e questad t h nt Lt. NAGRODSKY, the officer reading the scooa at Doodle-~ug, verify his s i ghting by radar. Lt. NAGRODSlY verified the following plots: 1. 1st Plot EQ,?a65, miles from Doodle-bug heading 2nd Plot EQ3550, Time, not logged. from Doodle-bug . }rd Plot E~2842, fro:n Doodle-bug. not log?ad. nd.les from not 4th Plot EQ2535, Doodle-bug. B. Lt .. NAGRODSKY report~d th.,t tha first three bllos look ed normal, however, the fourth and l<!st 1 n~pec1rod to b e rath~r elongated. llo estimated lhe speed to bg bet .. r:en 60~00 miles per hour. Lt.. NAGRODSKY' s first estimate of the ~,lots w~re t .. o aircraft, but after further tuning of the scope and subse1111ent reoorts fro, RICID/.AN 1~, the Lt.'s conclusion with the ~ilot, that this was a very stubby aircraft, with swept back wir.gs, possible jet type. Obs~rvatton by th~ pilot w~s very limited due to the extremely high closin~ speed c. This ~essage was racet ved in Devast ate Able by 2nd Lt. n.g. SHAN at 2120 and relayed to Shirley. D. No plots were r orted t o Deia3~atc Able on th~ above sightings No jet aircraft wera scheduled to be in the area concerned. 2. Comments on tha report by the Commanding Officer of the Squadron it e r e : A. It is m:f opinion that Lieutenant NAGRODSKY' s final unidentified blips ~entioned in his r e port ware caused corract. (See Inclosure Nl) deduction that the by a meteor is B. If such is the case, it is apparent that his initial effort to provide a logical explanation for a series of observations which ~t the time seemed either unconnected or beyond credibility resulte d in an underesti~ate.of the object's speed, ~hich would be a~out 1,600 knots if considered as a attentio~ ~as focused o~ Rlc a~ l~. Af/ JHt.,1 112- PMH II f,h hO'Iltl I ~t~ E. I)~) A1R INTELLIGENCE INFORMATIOi'l REPORT Ntll. Ol'i'ica , D/ I , t':r..\ F