Project Blue Book Case File
South Korea 37 degrees 57' N 125 degrees 31' E, November 1948 - Incident Number: 209November 1948
Summary
# Summary: South Korea, November 1948 (Incident 209)
In November 1948, multiple U.S. Army observation posts in South Korea reported spotting an unidentified aircraft flying east to west at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The first sighting occurred at Army Observation Post Number 1, located at coordinates 37 degrees 57 minutes north, 125 degrees 31 minutes east. The same aircraft was subsequently observed by Army Observation Posts Number 2 and Number 3 at nearby locations. All three posts tracked what they described as a twin-engine bomber type aircraft.
The investigating Air Force personnel concluded that the object was definitely a Soviet aircraft. The case file indicates there was no astronomical explanation for the incident. However, the OCR quality of the scanned documents is poor in places, making some details difficult to read with complete confidence. The file includes a 1949 letter from Air Force Weather Service headquarters recommending improvements to UFO investigation procedures, as well as a list of Dr. J. Allen Hynek's evaluations of similar cases from Project Grudge, a predecessor to Project Blue Book. The Air Force's final evaluation for this case is listed as "unknown," though the investigative summary states the object was believed to be Soviet.
The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 9 pages.
Reported location
South Korea 37 degrees 57' N 125 degrees 31' E, November 1948 - Incident Number: 209
Date of incident
November 1948
State / country
? / XX
Page count
9 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 3