BW - EP129—009: Radio, Roswell And The Flying Saucer Craze—UFO Sightings During The Korean War

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

Like with Germany, Korea was divided into occupation zones after World War II. The Soviets helped establish communism in the North, while the US supported the South. By June of 1950 fighting along the border had been going on for months. However on the weekend of June 24th, bulletins increased and it became clear a major crisis was underway. After a UN Security Council meeting President Truman‘s motion to send troops was approved. Less than five years after the end of World War II, the U.S. was back at war. That August the manager of a Montana semi-pro baseball team took color film of two UFOs flying over Great Falls. The next year, several V-Shaped formations were spotted flying over Lubbock, Texas. Witnesses included professors and students from Texas Tech University.Then in the summer of 1952 some of the most famous UFO sightings of the 20th Century occurred. In July, a series of sightings happened at three separate airports in Washington, D.C. Simultaneously in Norfolk, Virginia, Pan-American pilots saw eight large, glowing red objects.The sightings made front-page headlines around the nation, and led to the formation of a CIA Panel. Ten days later, two US Air force Colonels saw three unusual aircrafts flying in formation over Carson Sink, Nevada. And perhaps most sensationally, in Flatwoods, West Virginia on September 12th, six local boys and a woman reported seeing a UFO land and a spade-headed creature near the landing site. It was met with considerable skepticism.