View source for Wonsan-Sunchon UFO incident

{{Short description|1952 incident in Korea}}
{{Location map+|Korea|width=250|float = right|caption=Map of Korea showing the location of Wonsan and Sunchon, about 300 miles apart.|places=
{{Location map~|Korea|
lat_dir=N|lat_deg=39|lat_min=08|lat_sec=51|mark = Orange pog.svg | marksize =9 |
lon_dir=E|lon_deg=127|lon_min=26|lon_sec=46|label=Wonsan| label_size = 85 |position=right}}
{{Location map~|Korea|
lat_dir=N|lat_deg=39|lat_min=25|lat_sec=0|mark = Orange pog.svg | marksize =9 |
lon_dir=E|lon_deg=125|lon_min=56|lon_sec=0|label=Sunchon| label_size = 85 |position=left}}
}}

On the night of January 29, 1952, amid the [[Korean War]], four American military personnel aboard two different B-29 bombers reported seeing an orange globe-shaped light over two different cities in northern Korea: Wonsan and Sunchon.  Air Force UFO experts argue that widespread reporting of the incident contributed to the 1952 UFO flap that culminated in [[1952 Washington, D.C., UFO incident|sightings over the nation's capital]].<ref name="Ruppelt"/>{{rp|129}}<ref name="Peebles">{{cite book |last=Peebles |first=Curtis |author-link= |date=1994 |title=Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth |url= |location= |publisher=[[Berkley Books]] |page=57 |isbn=0-425-15117-4}}</ref>  
==Background==
Since the start of the Cold War in June 1947,  [[1947 flying disc craze|reports of unidentified skyborne objects]] had triggered fears the reports might represent new Soviet technology.<ref name="Ruppelt"/>  Three years later, in June 1950, Communist North Korea launched a military invasion of South Korea, igniting the [[Korean War]].  The United States and its allies directly intervened, soon matched by the direct involvement of Chinese forces.    

The Wonsan incident occurred during a stalemate in the Korea War.  The Communist-controlled port city of [[Blockade of Wonsan|Wonsan was under naval blockade]] by the U.S. Navy and its allies.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Siege of Wonsan |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2023/august/siege-wonsan |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute}}</ref>  Meanwhile, [[Sunchon]] was the site of a [[Battle of Sunchon (air)|major air battle]] in which [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|new Soviet-made supersonic jet fighters]] handily defeated their UN counterparts.<ref>Alan Stephens, 1995, ''Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946–1971''. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, p. 237. {{ISBN|9780644428118}}</ref><ref>Doug Hurst, 2008, ''The Forgotten Few: 77 RAAF Squadron in Korea''. Sydney; Allen & Unwin, p. 171 {{ISBN|9781741765236}}</ref><ref name="seidov">Igor Seidov & Stuart Britton, 2014, ''Red Devils over the Yalu: A Chronicle of Soviet Aerial Operations in the Korean War, 1950–53'', Solihull, England; Helion & Company,  pp. 272–276. {{ISBN|9781909384415}}</ref>

==Incident==
[[File:B-29 in flight.jpg|thumb|right|A B-29 in flight]]
On the night of January 29, 1952, around midnight, a [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29 Superfortress]] was travelling at 20,000 feet over Wonsan when the rear gunner and fire control man in the waist of the plane both spotted an unusual orange light.<ref name="Alsop"/>  They described the light as globe- or disc-shaped, which occasionally emitted blue flames like those of a cooking stove.<ref name="Alsop"/>    They estimated the light was about three feet in diameter, though they could not be sure of its distance and thus, its size.<ref name="UP"/>  The object reportedly  remained near the bomber for at least five minutes, during which the bomber was travelling as 200 mile-per-hour.<ref name="Alsop"/>   

The sighting was apparently corroborated by the crew of a second B-29 bomber from a different squadron based hundreds of miles away in Sunchon.<ref name="UP"/>  They reported a lighted orange sphere follow them for a full minute as they flew back to base.<ref name="UP"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-orange-globes-over-kor/58537881/|title=Orange globes over Korea|date=February 20, 1952|pages=2|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Publicity and legacy==
On February 19,  United Press's account of the incident was covered in papers nationwide.<ref name="UP">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/deseret-news-flying-saucers-seen-in-kore/141613288/|title=Flying Saucers Seen in Korea, Says Air Force|date=February 19, 1952|pages=1|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-mystery-in-the-s/141611386/|title=Mystery in the Skies Over Korea|date=February 19, 1952|pages=12|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Syndicated columnist team [[Joseph Alsop|Joseph]] and [[Stewart Alsop]] report the Air Force was taking the incident seriously, writing: "Here is a tale, in source at least, not laughable but close to laughable in substance, which is not being laughed off";<ref name="Alsop">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-flying-saucers-o/141609912/|title=Flying Saucers Over Korea?|date=February 19, 1952|pages=12|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Wrote the pair: "the Korean experience has convinced American experts of our earlier folly in underestimating Soviet technical capabilities... for example information has come in of Russian production of a genuinely supersonic jet fighter".<ref name="Alsop"/> The ''[[Huron Plainsman]]'' opined by quoting Shakespeare: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader-flying-saucers-command-atte/141619564/|title=Flying Saucers Command Attention|date=March 7, 1952|pages=6|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
On February 21, United Press reported that members of House Armed Services Committee were reluctant to open a congressional inquiry into the incident, preferring to let the Air Force investigate instead. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-congress-balks-at/141638839/|title=Congress Balks at Inquiry Info Flying Saucers|date=February 21, 1952|pages=8|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

By February 22, Lt. Gen. [[Otto P. Weyland]], commander of the [[Pacific_Air_Forces#Far_East_Air_Forces|Far East Air Forces]], released a statement about the incident and confirmed an on-going investigation.<ref>Stars and Stripes   (Pacific Edition) - 22 February, 1952</ref>  Said Weyland:  "We can’t say there’s nothing to it, but unless we can get more data, I don’t think we can expect a conclusive answer."  Weyland was skeptical that a jet was responsible, saying "You’d have to be looking right up the tail pipe of a jet to see the glow and I can’t say that I ever have."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-news/5209822/|title=Article clipped from The Morning News|date=February 28, 1952|pages=4|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>  In March, the incident was covered in [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]].<ref name="Peebles"/>  On April 7, the incident was covered in [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]], then the most widely-read magazine in the nation.<ref name="Ruppelt"/>  

In 1956, retired [[Project Bluebook]] chief [[Edward J. Ruppelt]] recalled that the incident "didn't start a [[1947 flying disc craze|rash of reports]] like the story of [[Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting|the first UFO sighting]] did back in June 1947, but it was significant in that it started a slow build-up of publicity that was to far surpass anything in the past."<ref name="Ruppelt">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17346|title=The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Project Blue Book - The Complete 1956 Report on UFOs by an Officer of the U.S. Air Force|first=Edward J.|last=Ruppelt|date=February 18, 1956|publisher=Pantianos Classics|via=[[Project Gutenberg]]|isbn=9781789872330}}</ref>{{rp|129}}  Writing in the 1990s, historian [[Curtis Peebles]] agreed that reports of the Korea sightings were the first large-scale publicity about UFOs in years and contributed to the 1952 wave of reports.<ref name="Peebles"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:1952 in aviation]]
[[Category:1952 in Korea]]
[[Category:UFO culture in the United States]]