Overview
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 sightings over the nation's capital.
Background
Since the start of the Cold War in June 1947, reports of unidentified skyborne objects had triggered fears the reports might represent new Soviet technology. Meanwhile, Sunchon was the site of a major air battle in which new Soviet-made supersonic jet fighters handily defeated their UN counterparts.
Incident
On the night of January 29, 1952, around midnight, a 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.
Publicity and legacy
On February 19, United Press's account of the incident was covered in papers nationwide. Syndicated columnist team 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"; 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". 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. By February 22, Lt. Gen. Otto P.
Weyland, commander of the Far East Air Forces, released a statement about the incident and confirmed an on-going investigation. 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." In March, the incident was covered in Time magazine. 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.