December 17, 1956 — Fukuoka, Japan
4:20 p.m. Near Itazuke Air Base [now Fukuoka Airport] in Fukuoka, Japan, a USAF pilot flying an F-86D interceptor picks up a large blip on airborne radar. The pilot sees a tan object, round on top, at 9.2 miles and closes to within 5.7 miles. The object starts to pull away from the fighter and at 13.8 miles all radar disappears. The pilot estimates its speed as 1,700–2,000 mph. Both the pilot and his wingman report interference resembling ECM (radar jamming). [Eberhart]
Record Card:
FEAF Report:
Telex:
Sources:
“Jet Chase of Large Circular Object Investigated by Far East Air Force,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 2 (Aug./Sept. 1957): 1–2;
“Jet Planes Chased Big Flying Object,” Auckland (N.Z.) Star, October 4, 1957;
Donald Keyhoe, Flying Saucers: Top Secret, 1960, pp. 104-105;
Richard Hall, “Radar/Visual UFOs and Air Force Debunking,” IUR 18, no. 3 (May/June 1993): 15–16;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1956, November–December, The Author, 1994, pp. 52-58;
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1216, p. 240;
NICAP, “Radar/Visual from F-86”;
