The Forgotten UFO War And Missing Air Force Airmen Of September 12, 1952

On September 12, 1952, there were 21 hours of sustained UFO activity occurring over the United States of America—an event not paralleled to this very day. Author Frank Feschino, Jr. has ferreted this out: the Nation's biggest ignored story, virtually alone, spending many years researching the aforementioned incident, traveling many thousands of miles on his quest to discover the truth about this forgotten series of events—our nations forgotten war with UFOs.   

God, but I know how that sounds... one must risk looking the fool sometimes to follow the evidentiary path, eh?  Right or wrong, at least you had the tubes or sack to look.

The story alluded to above is discovered in a hugely focused and intrepid research effort carried out over many years. Feschino is able to sequence the highly strange facts establishing a precise timeline of events for that dreadful day, a day which shocked countless Americans slack-jawed along the Eastern Seaboard, including the Nation's capitol.  Multitudes are amazed and terrified  as they watch numerous low-flying UFOs descend and crash-land on United States soil!  It's all in Feschino's books.

By gathering together several documented sources including (in order of usefulness) the official Project Blue Book, named news paper articles, and then first-hand witness testimonies, Feschino is able to establish that 25 different UFOs had flown over—or crashed—in 10 eastern states: Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and North Carolina.

Consequently, Feschino is able to pinpoint, plot and time-stamp 116 locations where these UFO sightings had occurred. Subsequently, he plotted all of the locations on a huge Master map, connected the points and established several definite flight paths of the UFOs testified to.  The breakdown of the various types of unidentified flying craft Feschino is able to establish are as follows:

1). Oval-shaped
2). Round-shaped
3). Round with flat top
4). Cigar-shaped
5). Saucer-shaped
6). Top-shaped

Four of the 25 objects had accounted for 13 crash landings in three states!  These states are documented to be West Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee.  Additionally, there were 8 landing sites where other objects touched down in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio—reported comparatively as operationally sound—seemingly in search of the 4  more obviously damaged and downed objects!  ET Search and rescue, perhaps? 

Oh, and reader, I forgot to mention one thing... all of the aforementioned UFO sightings, crashes, and landings actually happened on the same day that the "Flatwoods Monster" incident occurred in Braxton County, West Virginia.  ...See, the damaged flaming Flatwoods craft went down on the Fisher Farm that night amidst this flap of sightings as well as three other damaged craft, which were exploding, had pieces falling from them, engulfed in flames and making repeated crash landings throughout the country!  This was a night of unsurpassed strangeness!

Nonetheless, September 12, 1952 was also "DEFENSE DAY" in this country. You see reader, only six weeks prior to these sightings plaguing this country, the USAF Senior Public Information Officer, Moncel Monts (as mentioned in the previous "Forgotten War" article) had stated, "The jet pilots are, and have been under orders to investigate unidentified objects and to shoot them down if they can't talk them down."  

Remembering that "shoot down if they can't talk them down" is for the lawyers—military brass wanted one of the "damned things," and our boys were out there to make that happen—it is sad, if almost comical, and the height of official obfuscation and disingenuousness that all of these September 12th 1952 sightings provoked were attributed to a single "fireball meteor, flying over Washington, D.C. that night at a very low-level." The same alleged meteor, reader, also zig-zaged to fly west another 200 plus miles for its crash-landing on the Fisher farm in Flatwoods!  Meteors can take an astonishing amount of control over themselves in 1952... ...even land and take off again...  

...But wait, there is another not well-known incident also occurring that dreadful night amidst this flap of September 12, 1952 and its numerous UFO sightings. This incident—another very well covered-up occurrence involving a USAF F-94 Starfire jet fighter—details that same jet vanishing into thin air while being tracked by several military radars! 

Pilot 2Lt Jones

Documented, the 2-man crew of this Air Force jet was actually in voice communication with TWO major Air Force bases... when it simply disappeared for no apparent reason after allegedly flaming-out! Now, for the record, the last approximate location of the jet was actually known, and one of the Air Force radars tracking the jet was one of the biggest and best that the Air Force had at that time!  It was nicknamed, "HOMER." 

Despite a massive "air sea rescue" operation, which went "Immediately" into motion after the Starfire jet vanished and covered "over 46,000 square miles"—according to the Air Force—the plane was never found. Unexplainably, the pilots failed to eject from their aircraft and additionally, not one piece of wreckage of the jet was ever found. To this day—and along with their jet—the two airmen, pilot 2nd Lt. John A. Jones, Jr. of Florida and Radar Operator 2nd Lt. John DelCurto of Oregon... ...are still MISSING.

Feschino spent well over a decade and countless hours researching this incident.  He obtained official Air Force documents, the Aircraft Accident Report, news paper articles, talked to the brothers of the two missing pilots and also obtained the Jones' personal documents from the Air Force as well.

After sifting and sorting through mountains of  what would prove to be a convoluted paper morass, Feschino found layers upon layers—upon layers—of covered-up evidence, countless lies and obfuscations, edited reports, fabricated information bits, and a bloated conspiracy to dispose of the truth regarding this incident!  He explains all this in explicit detail in his books. ...And yes, Feschino believes the incident was directly related to the "Shoot them down" orders, issued against flying saucers by the United States Air Force, remember. That Harry Truman had to have ordered all this puts another fine point on the tragedy. 

Consider reader, the summer of 1952 hosted the biggest flap of UFO close encounters in United States history!  Fresh on the heels of this are orders to the Military to shoot those UFOs down!  Jones and DelCurto go missing in their state of the art all-weather Starfire Jet on a night with over 20 hours of sustained UFO activity over a plethora of states.  Connecting these dots is not remotely unreasonable and no stretch at all!

Feschino is quoted as saying, "Whoever concocted the explanations given about the 'Flatwoods Monster' incident, probably wrote the script for the Jones and DelCurto story, too." 

Additionally—and chillingly—there are two missing reports in the September 12, 1952 case file of Major Aircraft Accidents!  These are inexplicably removed from the eleven cases of documented accidents for that day, cases: "52-9-12-3" and "52-9-12-5."   3 and 5... 

Where do aircraft accident documents and files have to go on the night of 21 hours plus of sustained UFO close encounters and where other aircraft are logged in as disappearing without a trace?  Stanton Friedman writes, "Surely, what has been found so far is just the tip of the iceberg of attempted military intercepts of UFOs and intercepts of our planes by UFOs."

Friedman adds, "Frank Feschino, Jr. has done an incredible job of collecting, arranging and chronicling data about the UFO events that took place during the summer of 1952...Most importantly, Frank's persistence in researching the overwhelming amount of mysterious fighter jet accidents that occurred in 1952 and through the 1950s is very revealing...if not startling."  Fine point, reader, on that!

In closing, Frank has given me permission to reprint the following WESTERN UNION telegram sent to the brother of the missing pilot from the head of the Air Defense Command, General Chidlaw—we remember Chidlaw's statement made to Mr. Gardner from my previous article regarding the loss of man and machine. The telegram states:

ADAAD-4 56 345. It is with deep regret that I officially inform you that on 22 October 1952, the Chief of Staff, Headquarters United States Air Force notified this command that your brother John A. Jones, Jr. was declared dead. The body was not recovered, however after the extensive search by the Air Force it was determined that conclusive evidence existed to warrant this action. Please accept my sincere sympathy in your bereavement.
General Benjamin W. Chidlaw Commanding General
Air Defense Command ENT Air Force Base Colorado Springs Col= 

The extreme irony?  Later on the Air Force and its parent Nation would find it convenient to pretend these two brave officers did not even exist!

Less than 2 weeks after Jones and DelCurto vanished with their jet, a CIA memorandum dated September 24, 1952 was written on the UFO subject.  It read, "SUBJECT: FLYING SAUCERS." This memo was sent from "H. Marshall Chadwell—Asst. director of Scientific Intelligence" to "Walter Bedell Smith—Deputy Director  of Intelligence."

In part, this revealing memo stated, "A worldwide reporting system has been instituted and major Air Force bases have been ordered to make interceptions of unidentified flying objects."    

Then, in December of 1952, TRUE Magazine printed an article written by pioneer UFO researcher, Major Donald Keyhoe, USMC retired.  Keyhoe made the following statements in "What Radar Tells About Flying Saucers," and wrote, "More than 300 times, Air Force interceptor planes have chased mysterious lights and unidentified objects revealed on radarscopes." He also stated, "Week after week, jet fighters are 'scrambled' at points around the country for 'saucer chases.'" Keyhoe then adds, "Unless an object attacks our planes, or is a threat to this country, the decision is left up to our pilots."

In his closing, Keyhoe stated the following. "'Even if they weren't hostile' another officer told me, 'barging in too close might scare them into attacking.'" Many years later, in 2005, Stanton Friedman stated, "So much for the notion that UFOs are not a threat to National Security. In other words, the notion that UFOs demolishing or disintegrating planes doesn't seem strange, at all—if our planes were attacking them."

What, who, where, what, and WHY, reader?  Where one follows the evidentiary path that path can become highly strange indeed.

Read on.

Rubbing of Jones' Empty Grave Headstone...