Talk:Donald Blakeslee

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Hello fellow Wikapediazoids. I've created this article because I noticed the absence of an article on this most famous of P-51 advocates. Unfortunately, I will likely not have time to complete the entry for a couple of weeks. I hope someone will step in to do so before then. Sofa King Thursday, 2007-03-01 T 21:58 UTC

Article improvement

Two initial sources and references have been provided. The article needs fleshing out. The records on his being an Flying ace vary. The List of World War II air aces has Blakeslee at 14.5 kills while one source has him at 15.5. Not a biggee but back in those days was a notable achievement because he was a flying commander.

Needs

• Decorations
• Public domain photo
• Official USAF bio (should be one somewhere)
• List of commands
• Correct bio tag

Anyone who can help will be appreciated. Morenooso 05:00, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

First Berlin Mission date

Every account I've read indicates that the first American daylight raid on Berlin, in which Blakeslee led the escorts, took place on March 4, 1944. It was not very successful because of poor weather. A second, more successful raid took place two days later on March 6. I'm pretty sure Blakeslee led that one too. In any case, Blakeslee was the first American fighter pilot over Berlin, but I'm pretty sure his first time there was on March 4. PhantomWSO (talk) 06:27, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Tonight's copyedit and an interesting wikilink to the National Air Races

When this article flashed across my Watchlist tonight, I spotted a minor omission and decided to correct. Well, I found another and then saw some missing wikilinks. By chance I decided to see if the Cleveland Air Races still exist and sure enough they do but as the National Air Races with a redirect. It makes a interesting wikilink to this aviator. --Morenooso (talk) 04:53, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

External links modified

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External links modified

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Donald Blakeslee's Korean Service and UFO Report Evidence

I've been researching Colonel Donald J. M. Blakeslee's Korean conflict service and noticed that this article does not include some truly interesting details. The article does accurately establish that Col Blakeslee did serve with distinction in the Korean War with this line in the section on Awards and Honors:

"When he served in the Korean War, he also earned the Legion of Merit, an additional Distinguished Flying Cross, and four more Air Medals."

However, it omits the stunning report that Col Blakeslee filed while serving in Korea and flying an F-84G Thunderjet. This UFO report was corroborated by additional credible witnesses, so it certainly doesn't do any disservice to Col Blakeslee that he reported it.

Many credible sources provide support for this claim. One source is the 22 January 1953 article that appeared in the Painesville Ohio Telegraph just seven minutes southwest of Col Blakeslee's hometown of Fairport Harbor, OH. It mentions Col Blakeslee by name in the headline and references the events of 29 December 1952 and 9 January 1953.

Blakeslee Flies Jet in 600 MPH Chase after Mysterious Sky Balls

Air Base in Northern Japan – Strange balls of colored light sometimes moving slowly and sometimes streaking through the skies over northern Japan so swiftly that a 600 – mile per hour U. S. jet couldn’t get near them were reported here today.

The objects were seen both on Dec. 29 and Jan. 9, according to Col. Curtis Low of Needham, Mass.; commander of the 39th Air Division, which is responsible for the defense of northern Japan. He said the glowing balls sighted only a few minutes flying time from a Russian Far East base, change continuously from red to green to white. They have been spotted, Low said, both by U. S. radar observers and American pilots.

At one time they appeared to be as far south as northern Honshu, he reported.

“These were well corroborated sightings by trained men – not the reports of a few imaginative people.” he said.

Col. Donald J. M. Blakeslee of Fairport Harbor, OH, chased one of the flying balls in his F-84 Thunderjet for seven minutes at 600 miles per hour but couldn’t get near it before it “disappeared into the night.” Turning back toward his base he again spotted what appeared to be the same ball of light at his altitude of 35,000 feet, but again it disappeared before he could close in on it or determine its size.

NICAP has preserved the Project Blue Book microfilm roll and ATIC reports as well as this newspaper article.

TAOsaucer (talk) 16:44, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

References