Petsamo: Balchen reports radar & rocket incident
Bernt Balchen informed USAF about radar detections and a rocket launch in Finland's Petsamo region, recently transferred to Russia. Gen. Kessler disputed the claims, deeming only two ghost rocket sightings possibly real without verification.
Background
Background
On October 14, 1947, Bernt Balchen, director of a Norwegian airline and a former USAF colonel, passed to USAF headquarters data on two radar positions and a rocket launch incident in the Petsamo area (Pechengsky District) of Finland. This territory had recently been ceded to Russia.
Witnesses and Dispute
Major General Alfred A. Kessler Jr., a former US military attaché in Sweden, contradicted the statements of another informant named Therien. He judged that only two ghost rocket sightings were potentially credible, but that evidence to confirm them was lacking.
Significance
The case connects to the wave of ghost rocket reports in northern Europe that had continued since 1946. Balchen's report points to military tensions in the Cold War, with radar and visual observations indicating unidentified flying objects. Kessler's scepticism underlines the uncertainty and the lack of authentication of such events in UFO historical collections.