Category 9
Radar Sighting

Case Directory
Col. Blakeslee / F-84 Incident
Chitose AFB, Misawa AFB, Japan
December 29, 1952

Fran Ridge:
USAF crews of B-26 (Ashley and Wood) and F-84G (Col. Donald J.M. Blakeslee) saw object emitting 3 beams of light and tracked on airborne radar. (Weinstein; FUFOR Index) Several other incidents at the same time. Flying in an F-94 (Sallee and Rivkind) at 20,000 feet observed a brilliant object very low to the horizon that appeared to change color. The crew ended observation after 15 minutes when they were vectored to another target by Ground Control Intercept (GCI).

This report details the Colonel "Low" (actual name Col. Blakeslee) encounter, as originally described in Donald Keyhoe's book, "Flying Saucers From Outer Space". That original account is presented in Dick Halls report below.

Dan  Wilson:
In "Flying Saucer Conspiracy" (page 46) Keyhoe mentions that he has by an Air Force error mistaken Colonel Curtiss Low for Colonel D. J. Blakeslee in the December 29, 1952, rotating lights UFO incident. Also, in a Painesville, Ohio, Telegraph Newspaper artilce, January 22, 1953, the headline reads "Blakeslee Flies Jet in 600 MPH Chase After Mysterious Sky Balls." According to the article the objects were seen on December 29, 1952 and January 9, 1953, according to Col. Curtis Low, Commander of the 39th Air Division. Low reported "I've had our best brains trying to quess what they were." Donald J. M. Blakeslee was born and raised in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, two miles north of Painesville, one time home of Don Berliner who used to write for the Painesville Telegraph.

 

Project Blue Book Documents