Shoot Them Down! - The Flying Saucer Air Wars Of 1952 [Paperback]

Frank Jr Feschino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2007

During the summer of 1952, Americans reported a record amount of UFO sightings to Project Blue Book, the Air Force group responsible for investigating unidentified flying objects. Author/Illustrator Frank C. Feschino, Jr. has written an exciting new book

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Frank Feschino, Jr.; 1st edition (August 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615155537
• ISBN-13: 978-0615155531
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's war with UFO's, October 1, 2007

By 

Rick Fisher - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shoot Them Down! - The Flying Saucer Air Wars Of 1952 (Paperback)

Frank Feschino should be applauded for finding out the truth and his many years of research into the UFO phenomena. Shoot Them Down will keep the reader on the edge of thier seats. Its sad to know the US Govt. kept a lid on this and reported many pilots deaths were caused by pilot error when in reality they had died in air combat with craft not of this world.
Rick Fisher - Paranormal Society of Pennsylvania

35 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction, Not Fact, January 21, 2009

By 

Charles G. Jarrells - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shoot Them Down! - The Flying Saucer Air Wars Of 1952 (Paperback)

While Frank Feschino has done a great deal of research, his conclusions are pure fantasy. Does anyone really believe a massive air battle was fought between US military aircraft and alien spacecraft, including attacks on two major USAF bases, along the US east coast in 1952? Why are there no eyewitness accounts? Why no photos of crashed aircraft, US military or alien, or smoking airbases? Why has no authoritative UFO researcher/author ever heard of or written about such a monumental incident?

The author divined this air battle after discovering what he believed to be a high number of mishaps involving US military jets of the period. (He also ties in an encounter with what appeared to be an alien being in West Virginia, but more about that later.) He can't believe these accidents occurred for benign reasons such as pilot error (especially running out of fuel), mechanical/electrical failure of various aircraft components, and weather related issues. Had he researched aircraft mishap statistics, however, he'd have discovered pilot/human error has accounted for the vast majority of aircraft crashes throughout aviation history.

I was particularly amused by Feschino's insistence airplanes don't just run out of fuel because aircraft have a fuel gauge that would alert aircrew of such an impending problem. (Automobiles have a similar gauge, but people still run out of gas. In fact, AAA gets more emergency service calls for motorists running out of gas than any other reason save flat tires. The difference is when an aircraft runs out of gas, the pilot can't simply ease off onto the shoulder and wait for help.) The fact is, first generation jet aircraft such as described in the book had extremely high fuel consumption rates, ever more so when afterburners were engaged. Early jet engines were called "thirsty" in the day. In that era preceding aerial refueling, early jets routinely went down due to fuel starvation.

The author also shows a significant lack of understanding about how (and why) the military uses it aircraft. For example, he repeatedly asks why the USAF would allow aircraft aloft if it knew weather conditions were going to be poor or potentially hazardous. The answer is quite simple, the military takes a "train like you fight, fight like you train" approach in preparation for its wartime missions. Considering the majority of the aircraft (F-94s) discussed in the book were radar equipped, all-weather interceptors, why should he be surprised these fighters were training in bad weather? And despite Feschino repeatedly reminding the reader the F-94 was the "state of the art" aircraft of its day, it was quite primitive. The F-94 was based on a jet trainer (T-33) and was never intended to be more than a stop-gap fighter pending the arrival of more advanced models.

As amazed as I was about some of the mishaps the author did include in his book, I was stunned he did not include perhaps the most famous UFO-related loss of a USAF jet fighter, the so-call "Kinross Incident." This occcured in Nov 1953 when an F-89 is said to have collided with a UFO over Lake Superior. This widely reported story was back in the news just a few years ago when the wreckage of an F-89 was found deep in Superior. How can Feschino report on all these other losses, yet omit perhaps the best known incident of its type in American ufology?

On the plus side, Feschino did a creditable job in his coverage of the "Flatwoods Monster", a purported alien encounter involving a half dozen or so local residents in rural West Virginia in Sept 1952. The story, one that got quite a bit of airplay at the time, remains one of the more intriguing incidents of early 50s ufology. The author tracked down and interviewed many of those involved in the original incident, including some who'd never spoken publically or been interviewed previously. Those interviews are even more valuable considering several of them have since passed away. Had he stopped there, I'd be writing a very favorable review. His interpolation of a flying saucer air war tied into the Flatwoods incident and clearly unrelated aircraft accidents stretches the imagination too far, however.

One other thing I found interesting, well-known ufologist Stanton Friedman does both a forward and epilogue for this book. Considering the almost comical play-by-play treatment the author gives this alleged aerial Battle of Jutland, one has to wonder if Friedman even read the book. Friedman also takes a verbal shot at a debunker who addressed the Flatwoods incident by pointing out the man's three degrees (including a PhD) are in English, not a scientific or technical area. And what is Frank C. Feschino's academic background? He's an art school grad and has an associate degree in film production from a junior college. Friedman does not address the author's academic credentials.

And my credentials? I have a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering with over thirty years experience in the aerospace industry, the bulk of that career having been spent in aircrew escape systems/life support equipment and aircraft mishap investigation. As an amateur aviation historian I've had several articles published in aviation/military history magazines in the US and UK. I've also been fascinated by UFOs for over 40 years after a sighting in the early 1970s.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GLIMPSE OF THE TRUTH, May 17, 2008

By 

Brian Whaley (Florida-USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shoot Them Down! - The Flying Saucer Air Wars Of 1952 (Paperback)

The truth about this incident has finally been revealed with the publication of this fantastic- well written book.
A -must read- for anyone interested in exploring one of this countrys greatest mysteries and cover-ups.