North Korea: F-94 crew makes seven passes at a brilliant light, radar locks onto target
At 3:20 a.m. on May 26, 1952, ground radar warned the crew of an F-94 Starfire interceptor over North Korea of an unidentified target on its tail; pilot 1Lt John W. Martin and radar operator 1Lt Edward A. Monard made seven close passes at a brilliant white light, later locked onto it with the aircraft radar and watched it climb away at high speed.
Background
At 3:20 a.m. ground radar alerted the crew of an F-94 Starfire interceptor over North Korea that an unidentified target was on its tail. The jet turned and descended to 2,500 feet, and pilot 1Lt John W. Martin and radar operator 1Lt Edward A. Monard saw a brilliant white light above and straight ahead; on seven close passes, the first within 600 feet, its brilliance prevented them from identifying its shape, and the aircraft radar did not detect it. After ground radar again reported an unknown target on their tail, the pilot banked to get behind it, and the aircraft radar locked onto the object; within a minute the F-94 closed to 3.4 miles. The object then made a steady climbing turn and accelerated to nearly 15 miles from the jet in 12–15 seconds, breaking radar contact. Robert Powell estimates its speed at 5,371 mph with 16.7 g, roughly what USAF Brig. Gen. Charles Y. Banfill estimated shortly after the incident. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.