Buck Matthews

Dogpatch Days

Recollections of a Non-Combatant in the Combat Zone

UFO's...or Pilot Humor?

In the summer of ’52, while I was at K-46, there were several sightings of strange lights over the end of the runway.

To my knowledge, no explanation was ever found. They even scrambled a couple of planes one night and the lights suddenly disappeared.

This gets even more strange because some time after that I was in the crypto room and read a debrief that was being prepared for me to send up the line.

A pilot reported seeing an odd-shaped object following his wingman and when he throttled back to get a closer look, it simply changed direction – without banking - and disappeared over the horizon.

We didn’t dare talk about it but I’ve always wondered if we were just being had by pilot humor.

© Copyright 2008 Buck Matthews. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without permission in writing from the author. Used with permission by BelleAire Press as a tribute to those American servicemen and women who served during the Korean War.