Suwon, Korea, January 1953January 1953

On January 24, 1953, a worker at a railhead near Suwon, Korea, saw two small, round objects that glowed a whitish silver color. The man watched them for three to five seconds as they flew in a gentle climb, moving faster than any F-84 aircraft he had seen. The objects disappeared into or behind clouds. He described them as about twelve to fourteen inches across, with a slightly convex shape and a dark line or shadow along the base.

The observer estimated the objects were roughly four miles away at an unknown altitude and flying west to east. At the time of the sighting, two F-86 jet fighters were in the flight pattern to his right, and another aircraft of unknown type was at low altitude to his left. The weather was clear with no unusual conditions.

The Air Force investigated by questioning the observer again the day after his initial report. During this second interview, the man changed some details of his original description. Investigators noted that his estimates of speed, distance, and how long he watched the objects were unreliable. The reporting officer also discovered that copies of a "Stars and Stripes" newspaper article about flying saucers sighted in Japan had been distributed at the base on the same day as the sighting, which the observer said he read after making his first statement.

An important clue emerged from officers at the base. Four jet pilots had completed 100 missions that day and made celebratory passes over the field. Two flew over during lunch time, and two others flew over around 4 p.m. (1600). During these maneuvers, the jets appeared only as tiny silver dots in the sky. The Air Force concluded that if an observer didn't follow the aircraft through their complete path, it would have been nearly impossible to identify them. The approving officer believed the observer probably saw two of the F-86 fighters when they were at a distance from the airfield.

The file lists the case evaluation as "probably aircraft." The full case file, consisting of 18 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.