Customer Reviews

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

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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

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.

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.

60 Plus years and UFOLOGY is still with us. It's periods of stagnation are periodically stirred to life by researchers who, seemingly come out of nowhere, bringing to mind one Richard Dolan, whose first book "UFO's and the National Security State" is, hardly arguable, Ufology's seminal work. As of this writing, Dolan has two more books in the works, both highly anticipated.
And so it is, that seemingly out of nowhere, Frank Feschino Jr. appears on the scene. Frank has taken two mostly forgotten chunks of UFO history and has not only bought them to life once more, opening a whole new vista of reality, but has connected them in an extreme, but plausible scenario.
The "forgotten" chunks are, namely, The Flatwoods Monster case, all but shelved by most if not all of UFOdom, and the little known history of the numerous American military pilots who may have died in aerial battles with UFO's after being scrambled to hunt them down. Not only to hunt them down, but as Lt. Col. Moncel Monts is quoted in the book; "The jet pilots are, and have been under orders to investigate unidentified objects and to shoot them down if they can't talk them down".
There is a vast amount of information in this tome, and it is not an easy read. That is meant in a positive vein though. There is a lot to digest here and one must travel slowly through the book in order to assemble the picture that Frank is trying to construct in the readers' mind. No easy feat for those of us who thought we already had that era of Ufology bottled up. Not so, as Frank proceeds to lay his documented cases of pilot disappearances' as a result of actual aerial dogfights with documented sightings of Ufo's. Then, as if that isn't enough, he ties the Flatwoods Monster (most likely a disabled UFO, possibly due to an American F-94C Starfire jet's missile strike), into the picture and convincingly ties the above together into a coherent whole.
Though there are plenty of documented facts in this book, it is also a book of speculation, but it isn't ungrounded speculation. Readers need to unscrew their minds on what they thought they knew, rather than reject this scenario out of hand. Frank has done his homework. Flatwoods Monster, aerial dogfights between American fighter jets and UFO's, government documents, flight logs, disappearing planes and pilots, government stonewalling and flat out government lies.
Frank deftly amasses a picture and story that is hard to deny. I commend him for his attention to detail and perseverance in rising to the challenge of re-writing a chapter long thought closed in Ufology. Definitely a seminal work in the field of Ufology.

Great smoking gun research. Very thought provoking case histories! A must read. Add this one to your collection.

This book adds another piece to the whole UFO mystery, giving some really good detail into a series of occurances comprising a major UFO flap that recently havn't gotten a lot of attention.

"Shoot Them Down!"(The flying saucer wars of 1952) by Frank C. Feschino JR. is a storehouse of 1950 UFO sightings encompassed by hundreds of old U.S. Air Force records relating to "hot pursuits" of UFO's throughout the country especially in the summer of 1952.

Feschino has obviously done a great deal of research and collection of these rather bizarre incidents, but with his bag of accumulated information he leads the reader into one major UFO case known as "The Flatwoods Monster" in central Virginia. Feschino's major premise centers around the idea that there were at least 3 or 4 UFO's engaged in some secret aerial "dog-fight" with U.S. jets and in the battle, several of these ufo's crash landed in the state of Virgina.

The author's evidence regarding the aerial "dog fight" that actually caused the Flatwood's UFO to crash land is circumstantial at best. However, he (Freschino), helps bolster that circumstantial evidence with his extensive research, witness interviews, and field investigation. He tries very hard to leave "no stone unturned." His theory is at at very least...plausable.

The book goes on to explore many other possible realted and similar incidents with tributes to the lost and forgotten pilots and the aircraft they flew. His list of early 1950's aircraft and pilot losses over the United States during this time period is staggering!

The book is worth a three(3) and 1/2 star rating, but the publishing format is somewhat skewed and has numerous typo's and redundant sentences. There were at least three times I read one paragraph and...a few lines later read the exact same paragraph! Even the author's name is spelled two different ways on the front and back cover of the book. In addition, I felt the price was a little too high on this item.

Despite redundant verbiage, the book in my opinion,is still "a keeper." The book is a good source of historical research and additional referral material for the UFO enthusiast. Mr. Feschino's (Feschno?) greatest asset is not necessarily his writing, or publishing skills but...his "bulldog" persistence and tenacity for investigations, and following through with his difficult task regarding a very difficult subject matter.

This book would benefit from more careful editing--too many misspelled words and grammatical errors. It's too bad that this detracts from reading and comprehension of the otherwise well-researched information.

Frank Feschino Jr has written an excellent book about the Summer of Saucers wave in 1952. This is a good sized large format paperback book that covers a lot of ground. Excellent cites and referenced, this is a must have for the serious researcher.

Mr Feschino delves into the many hundreds of incidents of pilots and flying saucer interactions that happened in the very eventful year of 1952. Project Blue Book has over 100 cases that are listed as unknowns from the summer that year alone. This is a group that was very quick to assign an explanation to every sighting or incident out there.

There was a shoot them down order given by top Air Force brass which is well documented in this book. Also, many very good cases are detailed, along with old articles from newspapers at the time. Even the Flatwoods Monster gets a look at, since that infamous incident happened at the end of summer. (I am also waiting for his new book on the subject of the Flatwoods Monster.)

Frank Feschino's writing style has markedly improved from his first book. There are a lot less typos and other syntax errors in this book. Mr Feschino keeps on track with the subject at hand. Highly recommended for those interested in this remarkable case from yesteryear.

Indeed 'Reality' is revealed, considered, and then assiduously chronicled by Frank Feschino. In the final analysis (and we'd have never heard about it otherwise, good reader!), Feschino came, he saw, and he wrote it down. "Veni, vidi, scripsi," it could be said?

The data are revealing, reader! Feschino reports them to us in detail. Indeed, we weren't in 'Kansas' any more after 1952... and may not, I submit --remembering a wealth of old history scribed in old ink and stone... ...epic poetry indicating same-- have ever been in 'Kansas'! Roll that and smoke it!

See, even if it turns out that UFOs were not really the cause of a documented loss of men and machines, it remains that men and machines were lost engaging something causing that loss! These brave men should get some kind of recognition for their sacrifice, and they have not!

Moreover, this is a 'cause' that is another subject of one of those ubiquitous cover-ups festooning the whole of a ufological milieu for decades!

One can be, therefore, tantalized with the distinct possibility that the United States, et al, went to undeclared war with, and was first to fire upon... an off world intelligence! Additionally, that war continued, that loss of men and machine went on unabated, until we stopped trying to, "Shoot Them Down"!

Which is to say that we lost that undeclared war, eh?

This is some kind of serious read, sincere scholarship, and it is without cant or bias, verily! That data are merely followed, period, is the aspiring thrust.

Oh -- and with regard to some "amateur aviation historians" and the like, too conservative aviation writers, or other uninformed individuals working in the aerospace industry, but pontificating widely on that which they know nothing. These believe and otherwise counsel that "air wars" between UFOs and American fighter aircraft can only be Science Fiction. They protest too much and without the smallest competence as they do so.

It remains, just to start, that Air Force intelligence at Project Blue Book documented twenty-eight official "UNKNOWN" cases involved American fighter aircraft and UFOs.

These UFO incidents, reported officially by crack American fighter pilots, include: intercept attempts, running and head-on passes made by UFOs, the individual chases made after them, and then other direct close aerial encounters with "Unknown Objects," seemingly under intelligent control. These 28 incidents occurred between 1948 and 1960. Thirteen of these fighter aircraft/UFO cases occurred during 1952, alone.

In 1956, former 1952 Project Blue Book Chief, Captain Edward J. Ruppelt wrote, "In the summer of 1952 a United States Air Force F-86 interceptor shot at a flying saucer." He also stated:

"Other assorted historians point out that normally the "UFOs" are peaceful, Gorman and Mantell just got too inquisitive, they just weren't ready to be observed closely. If the Air Force hadn't slapped down the security lid these writers might not have reached this conclusion. There have been other and more lurid duels of death."

So much for the "historians," the "aviation writers," and the "uninformed," eh? Moreover, history would repeat itself. Consider reader, during the United States' greatest UFO flap ever, the Summer Of Saucers 1952, the American Military --Air, Land, and Ships at sea-- was under now well known and unambiguous orders to shoot those UFOs down!

Science Fiction? That's not the record, reader, for the record!