DC-3

Bimoteur de Douglas conçu pour le transport ne pouvant dépasser la vitesse de 400 km/h. La version militaire (cargo) du DC-3 est le C-47.

Diverses observations d'ovni ont été faites à l'occasion de vols de DC-3, telles que celle du capitaine Emil J. Smith, son copilote et une hôtesse le vendredi 4 juillet 1947.

Whitted-Chiles (1948)

le samedi 24 juillet 1948 à 02:45, les 2 pilotes d'un DC-3 de Eastern Airlines, John B. Whitted (ancien pilote de B-29) et le capitaine Clarence S. Chiles (8500 h de vol, ex-commandant de bord de transport aérien), partis de Atlanta (Georgie), aperçoivent à 1500 m (5000 pieds) d'altitude au-dessus de Montgomery (Alabama) un cigare volant d'environ 30 m (100 pieds) de long, dont une intense lueur bleu sombre émane des flancs, frémissant le long du fuselage comme le long d'un tube de néon, et possédant comme des hublots carrés d'où s'échappe une lumière intense, et dont une flammes rouge-orangée s'échappe à l'arrière. L'équipage ainsi que le seul passager éveillé le voient arriver de face sur une trajectoire de collision : Il fonçait sur nous à une vitesse effrayante, déclarera C. S. Chiles. Manœuvre d'évitement en catastrophe, un jet de flammes de 15 m fait vibrer l'avion, et affecte son pare-brise. L'ovni, toujours silencieux, reproduit la manœuvre de l'avion et disparaît dans un nuage. Au sol, la base de Robbins (Georgie) a vu un objet laissant une traînée lumineuse, et a estimé sa vitesse à 1300 km/h (500 à 700 miles/h) s1[GEPAN, Note d'information n° 3, 1981] s2[The DC-3 Hangar] s3[Shalett] [Keyhoe]. --

implique un disque conforme à ce schéma. vu un "objet brilliant, se déplaçant vite" à 1 mile de distance environ. Tous 2 l'observèrent clairement. Il était sans ailes. Lorsque l'objet passe devant eux, presque au niveau des yeux, ils voient deux rangées de "fenêtres" le long du fuselage. Elles luisent d'une lumière blanche aveuglante. Une lumière bleu sombre court sur toute la forme, le long de la base. Il y a une traînée de flammes rouge-orange qui secoue le DC-3 quand le missile vire de bord et disparaît hors de vue. Il semble que ce que les pilotes ont vu comme un fuselage en forme de cigare, était plutôt un disque, vu par la tranche. The jolt it imparted to the DC-3, however, is not surprising. I should say that the plane felt a light energy blast, a product of radiation pressure motor operation. Philip Klass cite un passager à bord du DC-3 ayant également observé l'ovni et ayant signalé voir seulement une trainée lumineuse sans forme physique discernable, impliquant que les pilotes se seraient trompés dans leur observation puisque le passager aurait sûrement observé les mêmes détails si le rapport des pilotes était exact. En fait, McKelvie, le seul passenger éveillé à ce moment à bord du DC-3, rapporta qu'il ne put rien discerner en terme de forme précise, ayant été si surpris que je ne pus ajuster mes yeux dessus avant qu'il soit parti s4[Clark 1992]. Klass parlera par la suite de la pluie annuelle de météores Delta Aquarids comme étant impliquée dans l'incident, signifiant que les pilotes auraient vu une boule de feu de ce flux particulier de météores. Cependant, comme le fera remarquer James McDonald en 1968, le radiant de ce flux était bien au-delà de 90 degrees éloigné du point de provenance de l'objet inconnu. En outre, Klass n'apporte pas d'explication quant à la remontée abrute de l'objet.

le lundi 27 décembre 1948, le vol commercial d'un DC-3 depuis San Juan (Puerto Rico) vers Miami (Floride), piloté par le capitaine Robert Lindquist avec 36 personnes à bord, s'"évapore" en vue de Miami. Nous approchons la piste à seulement 50 miles au Sud, dit le pilote à la tour de contrôle. Nous pouvons voir les lumières de Miami maintenant. Tout est correct. Attendons les instructions d'atterrissage. Le DC-3 disparaît de l'écran radar quelques secondes plus tard. Le point où l'appareil se serait écrasé est au-dessus de Florida Keys, où des eaux claires de seulement 20 pieds de profondeur auraient laissé le DC-3 visible. Une enquête officielle est menée pour comprendre comment le pilote expérimenté peut disparaître par une nuit claire et calme. Les équipes de recherchent inspectent le lieu où l'avion est supposé s'être écrasé, mais aucune trace de l'appareil n'est trouvée dans l'eau de vingt pieds de profondeur s5[The DC-3 Hangar].

Another of the many airline-crew sightings of highly unconventional aerial devices were Cases 1 and 2, widely reported in the national press (for a day or two, and then forgotten like the rest). La nuit du 20 janvier en 1951 est claire et froide à Sioux City au moment où le DC-3 de Mid-Continent Airlines piloté par Lawrence W. Vinther s'apprête à décoller pour Omaha et Kansas City, à 17 h 20 (CST). Dans la tour de contrôle de la CAA, John M. Williams remarque une lumière bizarre manoeuvrant haut vers l'Ouest. Soudain la lumière accélère brutalement, d'une manière excluant clairement toute origine météoritique ou aérienne, et Williams alerte Vinther et son co-pilot, James F. Bachmeier. The incident has been discussed many times, but to check details of these reports, I searched for and finally located all three of the above-named men. Vinther and Bachmeier are now Braniff pilots, Williams is with the FAA in Sacramento. From them I confirmed the principal features of previous accounts and learned additional information too lengthy to recapitulate in full here. The essential point to be emphasized is that, shortly after Vinther got his DC-3 airborne, under Williams' instructions to investigate the oddly-behaving light, the object executed a sudden dive and flew over the DC-3 at an estimated 200 ft. vertical clearance, passing aft and downward. Then a surprising maneuver unfolded. As Vinther described it to me, and as described in contemporaiy accounts, the object suddenly reversed course almost 180-degrees, without slowing down or slewing, and was momentarily flying formation with their DC-8 off it's port wing. (Vinther's dry comment to me was: This is something we don't see airplanes do.) Vinther and Bachmeier agreed that the object was very big, perhaps somewhat larger than a B-29, they suggested to newspapermen who interviewed them the following day. Moonlight gave them a good silhouetted view of the object, which they described as having the form of a fuselage and unswept wing, but not a sign of any empennage, nor any sign of engine-pods, propellers, or jets. Prior to its dive, it had been seen only as a light; while pacing their DC-3, the men saw no luminosity, though during the dive they saw a light on its underside. After about five seconds, the unknown object began to descend below them and flew under their plane. They put the DC-3 into a steep bank to try to keep it in view as it began this maneuver; and as it crossed under them, they lost it, not to regain sight of it subsequently. There is much more detail, not all mutually consistent as to maneuvers and directions, in the full accounts I obtained from Vinther, Bachmeier, and Williams. The dive, pacing, and fly-under maneuvers were made quickly and at such a distance from the field that Williams did not see them clearly, though he did see the object leave the vicinity of the DC-3. An Air Force colonel and his aide were among the passangers, and the aide caught a glimpse of the unknown object, but I have been unable to locate him for further cross-check. Discussion. - The erratic maneuvers exhibited by the unknown object while under observation from the control tower would, by themselves, make this a better-than-average case. But the fact that those maneuvers prompted a tower operator to alert a departing aircrew to investigate, only to have the object dive upon and pace the aircraft after a non-inertial course-reversal, makes this an unusually interesting UFO. Its configuration, about which Vinther and Bachmeier were quite positive in their remarks to me (they repeatedly emphasized the bright moonlight, which checks with the near-full moon on 1/20/51 and the sky-cover data I obtained from the Sioux City Weather Bureau), combines with other features of the sighting to make it a most significant case The reported shape (tailless, engineless, unswept aircraft of large size) does not match that of any other UFO that I am aware of; but my exposure to the bewildering range of reported configurations now on record makes this point less difficult to assimilate. This case is officially carried as Unidentified, and, in a 1955 publication, was one of 12 Unidentifieds singled out for special comment. A contemporary account, taking note of a then recent pronouncement that virtually all UFOs are explainable in terms of misidentified Skyhook balloons, carried a lead caption. Le Bureau de la Recherche Navale indique que les ballons de rayons cosmiques expliquent tous les rapports de soucoupes. Si c'est le cas, qu'est-ce qu'a vu ce pilote ? Certainly it would not be readily explained away as a balloon, a meteor, a sundog, or ball lighting. Rather, it seems to be just one more of thousands of' Unidentified Flying Objects for which we have no present explanations because we have laughed such reports out of scientific court. Bachmeier stated to me that, at the time, he felt it had to be some kind of secret device, but, in the ensuing 17 years, we have not heard of any aircraft that can execute instantaneous course-reversal. Vinther's comment to me on a final question I asked as to what he thinks, in general, about the many airline-pilot sightings of unidentified objects over the past 20 years, was: We're not all having hallucinations.

N - Août 1952, 21 h 25. - Volant de San Diego (Californie) vers Fort Worth (Texas), 2 pilotes dans un DC-3: le pilote Loran Pilling didn't come out and say he'd seen a flying saucer' but did indicate that he had seen something he couldn't explain. Neither could co-pilot Russ Fishback explain it.s6 [Dallas News, undated] It looked like the landing light of a plane and was at maybe 5000 feet, ahead of us. We were at 3000 feet. It was about 21 h 23 when we sighting it and we never got close enough to see a shape'." "Whatever it was could climb at a high rate of speed for later it raced up to 20000 or 25000 feet, and also could hover, for it seemed to hang in the air. On landing he and Fishback weren't the only ones to view the phenomenon. The field tower had been watching too. " Ne me demandez pas ce que c'était, dit Pilling. Tout ce que je sais c'est que j'ai vu quelque chose. [Convariety magazine 10 Sep 1952] The plane was in contact with the Fort Worth tower at the time. They deviated from flight pattern at the time to try to get closer, but the UFO would move away. (Investigation by NICAP.)

With regard to the crash of EgyptAir, Flight 990. "Nevertheless there is a strong element of mystery in many of them. It is the rule, and not the exception, that the major catastrophes come without warning. Whatever causes the crash seems to cut off communication simultaneously, for seldom is there any warning from the radio: only routine reports, and then... silence, until the wreckage is found with no survivors, and, in at least one case, no bodies!" This is regarding the 1955 crash of a DC-3 Airliner in the Rocky Mountains, where no bodies were found.s7[The Case for the UFO, the annotated edition, by Morris K. Jessup; Part 3, History Speaks - Disappearing Planes].

Le 12 Janvier 1965, un avion de transport DC-3 décolle de Whenuapai (Nouvelle Zélande) pour un vol vers Kaitaia. As the twin-engined propeller plane flew over Kaipara Harbour, a broad estuary 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Auckland, the pilot, Captain Kirkpatrick, spotted an unusual gleam in the water below -- an unidentified submerged object or USO. He was about one-third of the way across Kaipara Harbour when he saw what he at first believed to be a stranded gray-white whale in an estuary.As he veered his DC-3 for a closer look at the object, it became evident to him that he was observing a metallic structure of some sort. Captain Kirkpatrick "noted that the thing was perfectly streamlined and symmetrical in shape... had no external control surfaces or protrusions... appeared metallic with the suggestion of a hatch on top...was resting on the bottom of the estuary and headed toward the south as suggested by the streamlined shape... was harbored in no more than 30 feet of water... was not shaped like a normal submarine but approximately 100 feet in length with a diameter of 15 feet at its widest part." After he filed his flight report, the Royal New Zealand Navy told Captain Kirkpatrick "that it would have been impossible for any known model of submarine to have been in that particular area, due to the configuration of harbour and coastline."

This section presents 56 near misses and 38 incidents of pacing by one or more UAP reported by U.S. commercial, military, and private air crew. A more complete yet abridged listing is included in Appendix B. In several of the following cases the pilot felt the proximity and/or dynamic flight behavior of the unknown phenomenon was so threatening that he executed an immediate and violent attitude, altitude, airspeed, and/or other flight path change. In some of these instances passengers were physically injured. This list of events is not exhaustive but only samples some of the more interesting cases. ("Pilot report form" indicates a signed, privately submitted report to the author) The following classification code is used: U = United States registration; F = foreign registration; C = commercial; P = private; M = military; T = test.

Coshen (1950)

Le 27 avril 1950 à 20 h 25 (L) au-dessus de UC Goshen, Indiana. Cette observation interressante à reçu une couverture non négligeable de la presse, probablement parce que les passagers furent alertés de la présence de la lumière non identifiée près de leur vol commercial. Le vol 117 de la Trans World Airways (DC-3) volait vers l'ouest en direction de Chicago à environ 2000 pieds d'altitude au-dessus de l'Indiana du centre-nord. L'officier de vol Robert F. Manning fut le 1er à voir une lueur rouge étrange sous et derrière eux sur leur côté droit. Elle grimpa rapidement en grandit en taille angulaire, ressemblant à un blob rond non métallique... rouge-orange.... Ca avait la même apparence qu'une Lune rouge montante, et semblait se rapprocher de nous à une rythme de convergence relativement faible. Je le regardais s'approcher pendant environ 2 mn, tentant de déterminer ce que ça pourrait être. Manning montra alors la lumière au capitaine Robert Adickes qui demanda à leur hôtesse, Gloria Henshaw, de venir dans le cockpit pour voir l'objet. A ce moment l'UAP était à la position de 4 h et légèrement plus bas en altitude, gardant la cadence à leur même vitesse. Il était à 1/2 mile environ. Le capitaine Adickes renvoya l'hôtesse à l'arrière pour avertir les passagers de la lumière. Il fit alors basculer son appareil sur la droite pour tenter de se rapprocher de l'objet inconnu. Comme les notes du capitaine Manning (27 avril 1950) l'indiquent, alors que nous tournions, l'objet sembla virer au loin de nous dans une direction juste à l'ouest du nord, vers la zone d'aéroport de South Bend. Il sembla descendre alors qu'il gagnait en vitesse, et en quelques minutes nous l'avions perdu de vue n1[cf. McDonald, in Anon., Pp. 46-47, 1968].

2. July 29, 1950 2200L UP 10 mi. N. Springfield, Illinois

Mr. Jim Graham, Chief Pilot for Capital Aviation Company was flying from Chicago to Springfield when he spotted something strange looking slightly above his aircraft. He was above Williamsville at the time, 13 miles NE from his destination. He described the object as a "blue streak about ten feet long and shaped like a sausage... it was trailing yellow fire." Suddenly it dove toward him and collided with his propeller. It "...exploded like a bomb" but no damage could be found to any part of the aircraft. Graham landed at Capital Airport safely. Several witnesses on the ground reported seeing the same object that night. (United Press wire, July 30, 1950; New York Times, July 31, 1950)

3. November 7, 1950 1915L UM E. of Lakehurst NAS, New Jersey

This frightening series of near-air misses took place over the Atlantic Ocean but within sight of land under an exceptionally clear and dark sky. The heaven was filled with bright stars. Lt. jg Robert Haven was flying a Navy AD-4Q on a routine night radar navigation flight out of NAS Atlantic City, NJ. He was at 3,500 feet altitude on a westerly heading back to land. To his right-front side an estimated five miles away and somewhat above him was a steady white light which he thought was the fuselage light of another aircraft. He thought it was at 4,000 feet altitude at the time and was moving to the SE. Lt. Haven instructed a crewman to turn on their airborne radar to "intercept" mode and also began a slight climbing turn to the left "...in order to get on this object’s tail." The motion of the other object was clearly visible in relation to the many background stars. As he rolled out on the same course as the object it turned somewhat more southerly so that the pilot thought he was directly behind it now. What follows is the pilot’s narration of what happened next.

"In less time that (sic) it takes to tell, this light, without making any kind of reversal turn, bore down on me in a slight dive, passing directly over my canopy, at an incredible speed, about 100 to 200 feet above. Puzzled at this, my first reaction was that we had originally met head-on, and that this was some aircraft without running lights and that it had been a close miss for both of us." Lt. Haven deliberately pulled up into the flight path of the light just after it had passed to see if he would experience its wash or slipstream "...but there was none." The pilot then told the other crewman onboard what had just happened and he "...disregarded his radar operation and proceeded to witness the following events. I pulled into a tight "flipper" reversal turn in order to see this light again. As before, it was till (sic) slightly higher than I, and this time I was positive we were on his tail. Pushing to normal rated power and climbing, I attempted to hold the light in front of me, this object made another head-on pass, veering slightly port and below so that my crewman could see it too. Still nothing but a single white light, close to 10 to 12 inches in diameter, it moved with fantastic speed." The pilot then tried (twice) to radio Lakehurst on 142.74 MHz but without any success. The pilot then used another frequency to ask for assistance from any other Navy aircraft in the vicinity. "The Commanding Officer and his wingman in two F9F-2 (Panthers) answered, and set course for Lakehurst."

During his radio transmissions the light made five to six passages by his aircraft and then the light and the pilot’s aircraft began a left-hand orbiting flight. He began a 60 degree climbing port (left) bank at 130 - 135 knots airspeed in order to gain altitude. But, much to his consternation, "This light continued to turn about me in wider climbing turns, making about two orbits to my one. " The pilot abandoned his climb upon reaching 11,500 feet altitude and only maintained his orbit so as to keep the light in sight. By the time his Commanding Officer arrived over McGuire AFB at 14,000 feet Lt. Haven turned his landing lights on bright and told the other air crew that the light was at about 18,000 feet and still climbing. When the other two jets arrived the object had risen to about 25,000 feet. Only the wingman of the other two jets saw the light. (USAF investigation file; handwritten note by pilot)

4. January 20, 1951 2030L UC Sioux City, Iowa

Captain Lawrence Vinther, 32, and FO James Bachmeier were flying their Mid-Continent Airlines DC-3 from Sioux City, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska under a moonlit sky. Just after takeoff of flight 9 from runway 31, the tower operator asked them if they could see a bright light visually aligned with the NW corner of the airport (from the tower’s vantage). They both spotted it, a red or orange light, and changed their course slightly to the NNW to better see what it was. Later, Captain Vinther said the light seemed to be about four miles distance at 8,000 feet altitude, perhaps 7,000 feet higher than their own altitude at that time. The airplane turned left in a slow arc and so did the light, still well above the two engine aircraft. They continued their left turn to near due south and the light was now in the SE at about their 11 o’clock position when it blinked on and off several times. When the light eventually reached their 9 o’clock position all that could be seen was a single, continuous bright white (like a landing) light. Then as the airplane continued a 360 degree left turn (now proceeding more northerly) "...the object made a sharp 90 degree turn and descended toward our plane at a terrible speed, crossing over and in front of our plane." As Captain Vinther said, "The next thing I knew, the object was on our left, travelling in the same direction, about 200 feet from our left wing and at the same speed." It stayed at this location for 2 or 3 seconds "...and then disappeared below our plane and was not seen again... The tower advised that the object was following just below our plane but we could not maneuver our plane so as to observe it again, and continued on our scheduled flight to Omaha."

Both pilots saw a huge cigar-shaped fuselage pacing them. It also had a long, slender "wing" mounted well forward on the fuselage. No (engine) nacelles were seen. The unidentified object remained right beside them at their own airspeed! Vinther was in near shock and almost couldn’t answer when Captain Bachmeier asked him what it was. It was at least as large as a B-29 bomber and had a small, short stabilizer on each end. He (allegedly) muttered, "I, I can’t believe it." After a total of about three minutes the object departed to the NW at a tremendous speed without producing any air turbulence.

One of the passengers who saw the object from his window was an Air Force Colonel who asked the flight crew to radio the sighting to ground authorities. Upon their landing they were met by several Air Force officers who interrogated them and went over their aircraft with some instruments. The official Air Force evaluation of the object was a B-36! Captain Vinther said (later), "It definitely was not a B-36." If this huge strategic nuclear bomber can hover at low altitude over an airport and fly at very low altitudes near a commercial aircraft with passengers then the United States had a truly marvelous weapon system indeed that never should have been phased out. Details of the control tower’s visual sighting of the original object will be omitted due to space limitations. (USAF Project Grudge file)

5. July 9, 1951 1340L UM Augusta, Georgia

Lt. George Kinman was flying an F-51 fighter plane over Augusta, Georgia on a sunny, clear day. He had flown for seven years, including jets, in the military at the time. He described his close call in these words. "I was cruising at about 250 mph (when) all of a sudden I noticed something ahead, closing in on me, head on. Before I could take evasive action - before I even thought of it, in fact - this thing dipped abruptly and passed underneath just missing my propeller. The thing was definitely of disc shape... white... pretty thick... it looked like an oval... it was about twice as big as my plane. It had no visible protrusions like motors, guns, windows, smoke or fire." Lt. Kinman banked rapidly to try to keep the object in sight. The object was nowhere in sight. Then, about fifteen seconds later the disc came at him again, dipping at the last minute; the unidentified object repeated this maneuver several more times over the next five to ten minutes! On its final pass the object zoomed upward instead of down, just missing his canopy. (Cleveland Press, July 30, 1951; UPI, July 30, 1951)

6. August 27, 1951 2000L UP Vandalia, Illinois

Private pilot Raymond Williams had just taxied out onto the runway to takeoff for a night flight around the city when he spotted "a big orange light with a blinding intensity." It was then at the SW corner of the airport. After he radioed CAA officials in the tower the light disappeared. Later he wrote, "Shortly after I had taken off I noticed the light again, approaching my plane. It came directly at me and then circled my plane twice before heading for Greenville. I followed it and it made a circle around that town and came back toward Vandalia." A commercial flight flying at 20,000 feet over Vandalia at the time was contacted and said he, too, saw the object.

"It was all very spooky," Williams said. "It wasn’t an airplane but whatever it was the light was on the tail of it, and there was a small red light on top. Probably it was some military craft from Scott Field making a test run." The Air Force did not investigate the case further but relied upon several newspaper articles. (Vandalia Leader, August 30, 1951; USAF Project Grudge file)

7. September 15, 1951 Twilight UM 50 mi. W of Knoxville, Tennessee

Pilot A.S., 34, was flying an Air Force C-45 from Standiford Field, Louisville, KY to Elgin AFB, Florida on an IFR flight plan with his FO and five passengers on board. They were cruising at 6,000 feet altitude west of Knoxville heading south when both pilots sighted "three large glowing orange colored "balls" (approaching) in a (equilateral) triangular pattern, (there was) no apparent connection between objects. (They were) first observed dead ahead (and) then suddenly observed along side, moving at the same (forward) speed as my aircraft. (They) streaked off as I dipped my left wing toward (the) formation." They were brilliant, emitting off their own throbbing or flickering light, and their edges were fuzzy in appearance. Each object subtended an angle of over twenty degrees at one point and never changed shape. They did not break up into parts, give off smoke or vapor or change color. They all disappeared from sight by becoming smaller and smaller. This incident is not in Project Grudge files. (Pilot report form)

8. October 21, 1951 1250L UP 20 mi. E Battle Creek, Michigan

The following near-air miss CIRVIS report was evaluated by the Air Force as a balloon and lasted only from 3 to 5 seconds. Mr. N. Manteris was flying a Navion propeller-driven aircraft (N-91424) in the central lower Michigan peninsula at an altitude of 4,000 feet. The weather was bright and clear with unlimited visibility horizontally but heavy haze underneath him. Then he saw an oval-shaped, disc-like, highly polished object which was closing with his aircraft at an extremely high rate of speed. As it passed beneath his aircraft he estimated its altitude at about 3,000 feet. He noted an indentation in its top surface which outlined a dome or crown. He immediately did a 180 degree turn but did not see the object upon completing his turn. Four hours after the encounter, Mr. Manteris was giving an interview to an Air Force investigator and (allegedly) said, "...in the past, he has often laughed at reports of strange flying objects, but is "through laughing since his experience." Mr. Manteris was reluctant to tell his story "for fear people will think I have lost my marbles." He also said he was impressed the high degree of polished brilliance of the object’s surface. He saw no exhausts or vents on the object or vapor emanating from it. The investigator determined that there were no known Air Force aircraft in the vicinity at the time. (USAF Project Grudge file; Gross, UFO’s - A History 1951, Pp. 83-84, 1987)

9. November 24, 1951 1553L UM Mankato, Minnesota

A Civil Air Patrol flight of two 5-51 Mustangs were at 25,000 feet heading west in clear air. They were over Mankato in south-central Minnesota flying at 210 kts. airspeed. One of the two pilots (Capt. William Fairbrother) spotted a small white object which seemed to hang motionless in the air. Is shape was similar to the Northrop flying wing but of considerably smaller dimensions (estimated at eight feet). No trail or exhaust was seen coming from the object. Neither the second pilot (Capt. Douglas Stewart) i.e., the "wingman" on his left side nor ground control intercept radar detected the object. The UAP passed about 100 feet over and 100 feet to the left of the flight leader’s aircraft. The pilot executed an immediate 180 degree turn but, after doing so, could not see the object again. A check with ground authorities showed that there were no classified or other aircraft flights in that area and no meteorological conditions reported that could explain this incident. The Air Force classified this case as "Unidentified." (USAF Blue Book file)

10. March 1952 1430L UC Kirksville, Missouri

This 16 minute-long encounter took place en route to Kansas City, MO in the afternoon with the cargo aircraft flying above a solid undercast. The Captain of the TWA C-54 aircraft was the first to sight the silvery, disc-shaped object out his left window. It was located several degrees above his left wing but it was "...too far out to get a really good look at it." The object held its position for five to six minutes at a higher altitude before the pilot decided to bank gently toward it (to try to find out what it was). The range between them decreased for about 30 seconds but then the object began its own left-hand turn. The FO felt that the object was nothing more than a balloon of some kind. A third pilot in the cockpit also witnessed the object. "The pilot agreed halfway (with this assessment) - and since the company wasn’t paying them to intercept balloons, they got back on their course to Kansas City. After resuming their original course, however, the object was still visible off their left side but it wasn’t falling behind them as a free-flying balloon would do. The pilot then banked right 45 degrees. Then the object dropped back a small angular amount and then seemed to accelerate forward, still flying above their altitude. The pilot then flew the aircraft in a tight 360 deg. (right-hand) circle "...and the UFO had followed, staying outside" (all the way around the circle!). Then the object seemed to be descending so the pilot added full power and climbed several thousand feet to get above it. Then he banked toward the object, now below the aircraft. With the C-54 in a long and accelerating glide, the UAP descended even faster than before and finally disappeared into the cloud layer below. The crew last saw the object climbing steeply past their right wing and disappearing in several more seconds. (Ruppelt, E., The Report on UFOs. Pp. 80-81, 1956)

11. April 9, 1952 1430L UM Shreveport, Louisiana

The witnesses to this near-air miss were the flight crew of an Air Force C-46 flying near Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. They were flying at 9,000 feet on a heading of 90 degrees. They sighted a "disc-shaped, cream-colored" object about 30 to 40 feet in diameter ahead of them at about 4,000 feet altitude. At one point during their approach the object seemed to "...turn into the easterly wind" and its velocity was estimated to be between 200 and 400 mph. The Air Force’s Project 10073 Record Card states, "As object closed on C-46 pilot made 360 deg. turn ... and climbed into clouds which were at 12,000’." The Air Force quickly scrambled two F-84 jet interceptors to investigate but their pilots reported negative results. (USAF Blue Book file)

12. April 14, 1952 1834L UM Memphis, Tennessee

This brief Air Force file report states that U.S. Navy pilots Lt. jg Blacky and Lt. jg. O’Neil reported seeing a UAP while flying over the NAS Range Station near Memphis for between 45 and 60 seconds. They were on a heading of 18 deg. at 2,000 feet altitude when they first saw the other object approaching them on their left side. It flew straight and level on a 300 deg. heading and at 2,000 feet altitude beneath an overcast at 4,200 feet (visibility 15 miles). Its shape was similar to an inverted bowl with slots running vertically from top to bottom. It was glowing bright red. The two passed within about 100 yards of each other! No further information is available. (USAF Air Intelligence Information Report No. IR-170-52)

13. May 8, 1952 0227L UC 600 mi. off Jacksonville, Florida

Pan-American Airlines Flight 203 from New York city to San Juan, Puerto Rico (heading 180 deg.) had just passed over the San Juan Oceanic Control boundary at 8,000 feet altitude well off the coastline of Florida. At the controls of the DC-4 was Captain Cent and FO Gallagher. A solid overcast above 10,000 feet and the sky was unusually dark because of it. Since they had been informed that there were no other aircraft flying in the area they were not being particularly alert for other traffic. The FO spotted a white light ahead and slightly to the left of them as he turned to look out at their number four engine. It looked like a taillight on an airplane and he was very surprised at its presence. It seemed much whiter than a normal tail light. Then he looked at the number four engine and back at the light which had not changed appearance in any way. Then he checked the propeller controls, synchronized the engine rpm, and looked outside again. As Ruppelt writes, "In the few seconds that he had glanced away from the light, it had moved to the right so that it was now directly ahead of the DC-4, and it had increased in size." The FO then alerted the Captain to the light by pointing toward it. "Just at that instant the light began to get bigger and bigger until it was "ten times the size of a landing light of an airplane." It continued to close in and with a flash it streaked by the DC-4’s left wing" by an estimated 1/8th to 1/4 mile. Then two smaller (orange) "balls of fire" streaked by them. The two men just sat there with a "...sort of sick, empty feeling" all over. Captain Cent (later) told the Air Force investigator, "I always thought these people who reported flying saucers were crazy, but now I don’t know." The Air Force investigator on this case could not find any records of missile, aircraft, or ocean going traffic at that time or location. Meteors also were ruled out because of the overcast and low altitude. (Ruppelt, The Report on UFOs, Pg. 133-135, 1956)

14. June 20, 1952 2026L UM central Mississippi

Airplane Commander Lt. Milo Roberts and Lt. Julius Prottengeier (bombardier) were assigned to the 380th Bombardment Squadron, 310th Bombardment Wing M at Forbes AFB, Topeka, Kansas when this encounter occurred. They were in an Air Force B-29 (No. 44-62204) on a routine training flight at 17,000 feet altitude and flying at 190 mph. An object was seen approaching them at their 2 o’clock position "... at a high rate of speed." As the Air Intelligence Information Report states, "Airplane Commander attempted a left turn to avoid a collision, but aircraft was on C-1 autopilot and before action could be taken, object executed sharp left turn and passed from line of sight." The other object was seen distinctly with sharp edges. It was a brilliant white and cone-shaped at the rear and its body was about three times longer than it was thick. Its size was estimated at from eight to ten feet long (if at 400 to 500 yards) or 100 feet (if at 15 miles distance.) The nearest thunderstorms were 50 miles away and a light haze lay beneath them. (USAF Blue Book file, IR-37-52)

15. July 11, 1952 Night UM Osceola, Arkansas

Two U.S. Navy aircraft based at Millington NAS near Memphis were participating in a night training flight about ten miles NE of Osceola when they spotted an object in the distance. Lt. J. Martin was flying one of the aircraft and said (later) that he thought what they were seeing was a jet airplane distorted by the glare off its aluminum body. He was the first to see the other object, then about two miles away. It appeared to him to be a round ball. Over the course of the following three minutes both aircraft got within about a mile of the object. The other pilot was Lt. R. Moore who was flying with Mr. D. Wehner, an electronics technician who caught the other object on his airborne radar set. He claimed, "It was on our left and traveled across in front of us and disappeared in the distance to our right. I think it would be about 25 to 45 feet across and about seven feet high." They thought the object "... looked like a WW-1 helmet as seen from the side or a shiny shallow bowl turned upside down. We wanted to follow it, but our training ships couldn’t keep up with the saucer, or whatever it was." The object was moving at an estimated 200 mph and an altitude of 8,000 feet. (United Press wire story, July 12, 1952)

16. July 13, 1952 0300L UC SW Washington, D.C.

National Airlines DC-4 flight 611 was under the command of Captain W. Bruen and was some sixty miles SW of National Airport and northbound from Jacksonville, FL. The sky was clear with 15 miles visibility and only slight winds. The flight crew saw a "round ball of bluish-white light... hovering to the west of the aircraft." The light then rose to the same altitude as the aircraft (11,000 feet) and stopped its climb; it then began moving parallel with the aircraft’s direction of flight off its left wing at the same speed. There were separated by about two miles distance. When Captain Bruen turned on all of his lights the object "...took off up and away like a star" at an estimated velocity of 1,000 mph. Neither the FAA nor the Air Force identified other air traffic in the area nor other conditions which might account for the sighting. And according to the official Air Force report of this incident, "no attempt to intercept or identify the object, has been reported." The flight crew made this report in accordance with JANAP 146. (USAF Air Intelligence Report IR-410-52)

17. July 20, 1952 0330L UC Richmond, Virginia

Captain William Bruen, 37, and his FO, N. Dixon, were flying a National Airlines flight toward Washington National airport and they had just begun their descent when they spotted a "whitish-bluish light... hovering" over dark woods below them. As the captain said later, then the light rose up "to about our altitude and maneuvered around a little bit... it went out to our left side. I thought it was some crazy airplane up there playing around with one light on.... It stopped several times and hovered. Then I knew it wasn’t any airplane. It came back toward us, and I was worried that the thing might ram us. I flashed on my lights, signaling to it. If you see another plane at night, it will acknowledge that signal. But when I flashed at it, it turned and zipped upward and disappeared off to the southwest. Went right up until it looked like a star. I’d say it was doing 1,500 to 2,000 miles an hour when it left us." He estimated its nearest distance to the airplane to be about a mile and its size "somewhat smaller than a DC-4." At first the object looked round but during its later approach the witnesses could make out a "star-blue color" in its middle with a white surround. Its body had no wings but was round and flattened. The total sighting duration was about four minutes. (Fort Walton (Florida) News, July 24, 1952; The Savannah Georgia Press, July 24, 1952)

18. July 22, 1952 2200L UP 10 mi. W. of Crossett, Arkansas

Private pilot A. Hanks was flying a light aircraft from Little Rock, Arkansas to Monroe, Louisiana and had reached the state border almost due north of his destination. There he sighted a "blood red star" some 2,000 feet higher than his own altitude approaching on his left-hand side. It traveled in a generally SW direction at about 100 mph but unexpectedly changed its course to parallel that of his aircraft (approx. heading of 175 degrees). He said (later to a reporter), "I thought at first it was an illusion. To test my theory, I made a 90 degree right turn. The "flying saucer" did the same. The thing followed my course for about 10 minutes, then suddenly swooped down approximately 2,000 feet below my plane. At first, I believed it to be a jet. After that swift drop, I changed my line of thinking." The red light followed his airplane flying beneath it, then, several minutes later, it suddenly rose back 2,000 feet above him. Then "it" began to accelerate at a tremendous rate of speed in its original SW heading. (Monroe, La. World, July 25, 1952)

19. July 24, 1952 1540L UM Carson Sink, Nevada

The two Air Force officers who reported this near-air miss were Lt. Col. John McGinn, 34, Deputy of Operations, Fighter Branch, USAF Headquarters and Lt. Col. John Barton, 34, USAF Headquarters, AFOOP-OP-D. They were flying in a B-25 bomber (No. 8860) having taken off from Hamilton AFB, California on Green 3 Airway; they were just east of Carson Sink, Nevada at 11,000 feet and 185 kts air speed. It was a clear day with excellent (50 mile) visibility when they both sighted a tight grouping of three "arrow-head" shaped objects in "perfect formation" at their one o’clock position. Each was silver white and slightly larger than an F-86 jet fighter and had a ridge running along its upper surface and each was seen clearly and sharply. They flew directly in front of the B-25 in a continuous bank only from 400 to 800 yards ahead! Both observers said that they are familiar with "... the latest U.S. experimental aircraft and these objects do not conform to any of them." (USAF Blue Book file)

20. August 13, 1952 Night UP near Dallas, Texas

This encounter was reported by Max Jacoby, Chief Pilot for Pioneer Airlines who, with Captain J. McNaulty, FO, was flying an empty commercial aircraft on a routine test flight. Unfortunately, not many details are given. When his aircraft was 15 to 25 miles from Love Airfield, Jacoby spotted a strange looking light in the distance. He decided to chase it to find out what it was. But each time he drew near to it "it eluded him and finally disappeared." The light turned and dove down but the appearance of its body "...did not change when it turned... I couldn’t tell whether it was just a light or a light coming from some object," he said. Jacoby said he delayed telling about the incident "because he feared he would be ridiculed." (United Press wire story, August 15, 1952)

21. Autumn 1952 2200L UC Trenton, New Jersey

An Eastern Airlines (Martin 404) flight from Washington, D.C. to Boston, MA was at 9,000 feet on a NE heading in very clear weather (the western sky was still very light). Its airspeed was 225 kts and everything seemed normal. Then both Captain John Warner, 33, and his FO sighted a yellowish light at their 9 o’clock position about ten miles away. It seemed to be heading toward them (approximate heading to SE) at their altitude and speed. As it drew closer the captain radioed New York Airways Traffic Control Radar at Islip, Long Island about the possibility of other unscheduled air traffic. Ground radar succeeded in detecting the other object but could not contact it by radio. Now both pilots could make out an "incandescent yellow elliptical shape" without any firm detail. The other object had no red or green navigation lights and simply passed in front of their aircraft about a mile ahead and, shortly thereafter, began a 30 degree vertical climbout on the same heading as before. Its color changed from yellow to a blue-white as it accelerated upward. Radar confirmed that the object was accelerating (about 800 mph) as it climbed over Fort Dix. The entire near-air miss lasted three or four minutes. Neither Warner nor his FO reported the event either to his company or the Air Force "...because of the climate of ridicule prevalent at the time." (Webb, W. 1952 Radar - Visual. The APRO Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 7, pg. 1, January 1979)

22. 13 Septembre 1952 1940L UP Allentown (Pennsylvanie)

Le pilot d'un Beechcraft Bonanza volait à 10000 pieds d'altitude de Allentown vers la station OMNI de Caldwell-Bright. La visibilité était de 12 miles environ avec la présence de quelque brume au sol. Soudain il voit un gros objet en forme de ballon de rugby (de football américain) (environ 3 pieds de long) en face de lui à la position haute de ses 11 h. It was "flaming orange-red in color." Its distance was judged to be from 150 to 200 yards and descending at a 30 degree angle. In the pilots own words, "My first impression was that it was a "falling star" and that I was on a collision course with it. I immediately pulled up into a sharp climb to avoid hitting it; but the object, instead of continuing on it’s (sic) downward course, very suddenly pulled up into about a 65 deg. climb and went directly over my windshield. I quickly made a 180 to the right but could no longer see the ball of fire. If the object was at the distance and was of the size that it appeared to me to be, I would estimate it was travelling at better than 700 miles an hour." This sighting lasted less than 15 seconds. (remainder of report illegible) (USAF Project Blue Book file)

23. December 4, 1952 2046-2053L UM 8 mi. SW, Laredo, Texas

This very near-air miss event took place after Lt. Robert Arnold, piloting an Air Force T-28 aircraft had been carrying out a training flight for two hours. He was tired and radioed Laredo tower for permission to land. But due to other conflicting air traffic he had to circle at 6,000 feet outside of the traffic pattern several miles away. Then he saw a bright bluish-white glowing light source below him (at about normal traffic altitude) which climbed rapidly to his level. It had no position or navigation lights of any kind. In order to keep it in sight he "steepened his turn to the left." Then it suddenly rose to about 9,000 feet in several seconds and dove back to his level. The astonished pilot then added full power and tried to chase the light. At one point he realized that the object was flying straight toward him at such a high rate of speed he didn’t have time to turn out of the way. As author Keyhoe (Pg. 26, 1954) described the event, "Three hundred feet away, the machine wavered for a split second. Then it flashed to one side, hurtling past his right wing, so fast it was only a blur." According to the Air Force’s investigative report, at one point, "The object then turned Eastward and immediately descended to the pilot’s altitude of 6,000’ again and proceeded Eastward until approximately 6 miles SE of the base again and it seemed to stop as if it were hovering, going straight away or coming straight toward the pilot’s aircraft. At this time the pilot added full power and proceeded directly SE toward the object. The pilot’s intentions were merely curiosity. Approximately 2 seconds after this action was taken by the pilot, the object appeared to close at a terrific rate in a head-on approach. At approximately 100 yards in front of the pilot’s a/c the object seemed to waver slightly in a vertical plane as if determining on which side of his aircraft to pass. The object passed very closely off the left wing of the a/c within 50 yards distance and the pilot noted a blurred reddish-bluish haze of undetermined size and shape but definitely no larger than his a/c. This action happened so rapidly that the pilot was unable to take any evasive action.... At this point, out of sheer fright, the pilot turned off all his running lights and spiraled steeply to the left, keeping the object in sight and leveled off at 1500." The object then appeared to level off from a descent towards the pilot’s aircraft, turned sharply to the right and then rose up into the atmosphere until it was out of sight. Other intriguing details are omitted here except to point out that the Air Technical Intelligence Center’s conclusion was that the pilot had seen another aircraft! In a letter dated April 12, 1961 from the skeptic and noted astronomer, Dr. Donald Menzel, to Maj. Robert Friend (ATIC) he wrote, "... I think he (the pilot) was still seeing Venus." (USAF Blue Book file; Keyhoe, D., Flying Saucers from Outer Space. Hutchinson, London, 1954)

24. December 10, 1952 1915L UM Hanford, Washington

The pilot and radar observer of an Air Force F-94 interceptor on patrol over the Hanford Atomic Plant were at 26,000 feet altitude when they sighted a light in the darkened sky. When they reported the light to their air intercept officer they learned that no aircraft were known to be in the area; then they initiated a standard approach. Upon closing with it, they saw a "large, round, white "thing" with a dim reddish light coming from two "windows." They also established a radar (ARC-33) lock-on but lost visual contact with it. As they attempted to approach it "...it would reverse direction and dive away. Several times the plane altered course itself because collision seemed imminent." (USAF Blue Book file; Ruppelt, E., The Report on UFOs. pg. 43, 1956).

25. February 13, 1953 2030L UM Vichy, Missouri

The three witnesses to this pacing incident were Captain Robert Bailey, his FO, and the crew chief of their C-47 Air Force aircraft. They were at 7,000 feet altitude, 170 kts. airspeed, and on a heading of 43 degrees. The captain first sighted a small diameter, round light as they neared the Vichy Radio Range Station. The light changed intensity and looked like it was on a converging course (238 degree bearing from aircraft’s position) and would (eventually) collide with their aircraft. He turned his landing lights on to try to signal to it and pointed it out to the other two men present. The light then stopped its approach and flew off their left wing at an estimated range of one mile while changing color from red through amber to green. After between five and ten minutes the light dropped back, increased its speed, "... and made three dives and zooms on a course parallel to that of the aircraft before disappearing." When contacted about the sighting Vichy radio indicated no aircraft in that area. The official Air Force explanation was that the three trained observers had been misled by the planet Venus. (Gross, L. UFOs: A History, 1953, January - February, Pg. 83; USAF Blue Book file)

26. August 6, 1953 1700-2400L UM Barbers Point, Hawaii

An estimated seventy five objects with lights on them were seen by many witnesses on the ground around Barbers Point Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, from the airport control tower, and from the air. Many of the objects also were detected by radar. At 9 o’clock the crew of a Navy patrol aircraft reported three head-on passes by a UAP. These close calls alarmed the pilot so much he landed immediately at Barbers Point airfield. Jet fighters were also scrambled and the same night the pilot of a TV-1 interceptor saw a "glowing blob" rising rapidly toward him. It came to a sudden stop just behind his aircraft then accelerated briefly until it was beside him for four more seconds before accelerating away out of sight at several times his own top speed. (Keyhoe, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy. Henry Holt & Co., NY. Pp. 63, 182, 1955)

27. August 9, 1953 n/a UM Moscow, Idaho

This near-miss incident involved three USAF F-86 jet fighters flying near Moscow, Idaho. The pilots saw a large (estimated 200 foot diameter) disc descending toward them on a head-on approach. Just as it would have struck at least one of the aircraft the object jerked aside out of the way. (Hall, The UFO Evidence, pg. 41, NICAP, 1964)

28. October 19, 1953 0010L UC 33 mi. NE Baltimore, Maryland

An American Airlines DC-6 was en route to Washington, D.C. from Philadelphia at cruise altitude (8,000 feet) just after midnight. The lights of Baltimore were clearly visible below and to their right side. The FO first saw a light ahead of them which was alternately covered by wisps of cloud and then visible again. It seemed to gleam in the moonlight. The object had no running lights and was closing rapidly at their own altitude. Captain J. Kidd yelled, "Give him the landing lights!" He also reduced his power. As soon as the FO had switched on their own landing lights the oncoming object sent a "blinding light back at the DC-6." Now temporarily blinded by the intense light the captain pushed forward on the control wheel and the aircraft went into a rapid dive. "Caught unaware, the passengers were tossed about the cabin, several suffering (minor) injuries." After he pulled out of the dive (at 5,000 feet) he angrily radioed to Washington National Airport air traffic control to complain about the near miss. He was told that "...no known air traffic was supposed to be in his vicinity and said medical personnel would meet the plane upon arrival." Both crewmen said that the object was huge, at least as large as their own aircraft. (Washington Post, October 20, 1953; Keyhoe, Flying Saucer Conspiracy, Pp. 60-62)

29. March 24, 1954 Afternoon UM Fresno, California

The Secretary of the Air Force was in an airplane en route to Palm Springs, CA when this pacing incident took place. The aircraft was above Fresno at cruise altitude (at least 5,500 feet) when everyone on board saw a "large metallic-looking object following their plane in a position about a 1,000 feet below and a like distance behind." Secy. Talbot ordered the pilot to turn around, but when the aircraft banked the UFO made a "tight little orbit and streaked away at an incredible speed." No report on this important event could be found in the USAF Blue Book files. (Gross, L. E. , UFO History 1954: January-May, pg. 61, privately published, Freemont, CA)

Dans le livre de Keyhoe Flying Saucers from Outer Space (1953), 2 PANs auraient par 2 fois tourné autour de l'avion dans lequel le Secrétaire à la Marine, Dan Kimball, était en route vers Hawaii vers avril en l'année suivante. L'Amiral Arthur Radford, volant dans un autre appareil 50 miles derrière, vit 2 appareils de forme discoïdale faisant des tours autour de leur appareil pendant près de 2 mn.

30. March 25, 1954 1520L UM NE of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Capt. Dan Holland, 33, was flying a U.S. Marine jet of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing at an altitude of about 26,000 feet over the Air Force’s guided missile range near Banana River in the afternoon. The flight of three aircraft he was a part of were passing to the east over the Atlantic Ocean coast at Ft. Lauderdale when he sighted a "round unidentified object" about twice the size of his own aircraft. It seemed to descend vertically out of the sky "like a falling star." Later he said, "I moved out of the way - thought the thing was going to hit us, and called to the others to look... It startled me by suddenly stopping 3 or 4 thousand feet above us. It looked like a gleaming white ball with a gold ring around the lower 1/3 of the ball... Then the thing accelerated faster than anything I’ve ever seen before and disappeared to the East at an amazing speed in about 15 seconds. We were doing over 400 and it made us look slow. I always thought anyone who said he saw a flying saucer should have his head examined, but I’m damned convinced now that saucers exist."

At one point he allegedly banked toward it and activated his gun camera but the UAP suddenly flew away toward the east "at a tremendous speed." The other pilots in his flight who were flying ahead of him did not see it. (UP wire story, News, Washington, DC, March 25, 1954)

31. April 13, 1954 before midnight UC Long Beach, California

Captain J. Schidel and his crew on United Airlines flight 193 were at an altitude of 5,000 feet in clear weather when he reported a near-miss with an "unidentified craft." He testified to the Civil Aeronautics Board that a "huge bulk came at him out of the blackness." It had one red light on its right side which appeared just before what he felt was an "unavoidable head-on collision." The frightened pilot put his aircraft into a rapid, steep bank causing some of his passengers and a stewardess physical injuries. "It was in sight just two seconds and made no movement to avoid me," he said. Local ATC personnel said there were no other aircraft in the area at the time. (Gross, L. E., UFOs: A History 1954, January - May. Pg. 71, privately published, Freemont, CA)

32. June 23, 1954 2100L UM 10 mi. SE of Columbus, Ohio

The pilot of an Ohio Air National Guard F-51 fighter, Lt. Harry Roe, Jr. was flying from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio at 240 mph on routine training flight when he said he was "followed in close formation by a (round, white) light for more than 30 minutes. He performed various maneuvers in an attempt to either lose the light or collide with it; however, it remained in relatively the same position to the aircraft ("a little above and behind him")." The sky was still illuminated by some twilight but there was no moon. The unidentified light eventually departed to the SE. During the sighting Lt. Roe thought he was seeing a jet aircraft but he never observed any exhaust flame or light. The Air Force investigators concluded that he had seen a light reflected into his eyes off the surface of his own canopy. Due to intense interest in the case shown by the local press the Air Force carried out "a complete investigation." The results of this complete investigation are not a part of the official Blue Book file, however. If the light had been an Air Force aircraft they would have likely offered that explanation to the press. (USAF Blue Book file)

33. September 26, 1954 2104L UC Altoona, Pennsylvania

This pacing incident involved a United Airlines DC-6 (flight 606) at FL190 and a ground speed of 382 mph. The crew sighted one object approaching them that was flat on its bottom and rounded on top. It was the color of "fire." Captain Picune reported that it flew parallel with his aircraft for about a minute and then pulled forward at "tremendous speed" disappearing from sight in the east. Unfortunately, the estimated separation distance from the airliner was not given. The Air Force’s speculation was that it was a "possible aircraft" but also concluded there wasn’t enough data for an evaluation to be made. (USAF Blue Book file)

34. November 19, 1954 2104L UC 130 mi. SE New Orleans

A National Airlines flight (Aircraft N918) was at 17,500 feet altitude flying direct to Tampa, FL. on a heading of about 105 degrees. The night was dark but forward visibility was not particularly good (about 10 miles) when the flight crew saw a light flashing blue and white and moving up and down and remained directly in front of their aircraft at an unknown distance. They watched this phenomenon from between three to five minutes when it then disappeared by moving to the NE until it was out of sight. Later the captain was contacted by Air Force investigators and he claimed he had seen a star. This explanation is found wanting if the light actually moved to the NE as the captain claimed. (USAF Blue Book file)

35. January 1, 1955 0544L UM 30 mi. W of Cochise, New Mexico

This display of aerial maneuverability certainly captured the attention of two Air Force pilots in their B-25 bomber. The instructor pilot sighted the object first and pointed it out to his student. The object looked like "two pie tins placed together at their rims... metallic, and large" (est. 120 - 130 feet across). During the seven minute-long sighting the UAP flew along with the aircraft it changed its attitude. It rolled so that they could see its top surface and also its side view. Finally it disappeared. The Air Force investigators labeled the object "Unidentified." (USAF Project 10073 Record Card and file)

36. January 29, 1955 2107L UM Winterset, Iowa

This sighting involved two air national guard pilots, Major A. Packer (132nd. Fighter Bomber Group) and Lt. D. Myers in a T-33A jet (52-9590). It was a clear (100 mile visibility), dark night. The Iowa ANG report stated that they were travelling on a heading of 030 degrees at 290 kts. near Des Moines, Iowa when they sighted a white light which varied in intensity at a constant frequency and which subtended an angle of about 1.5 degrees arc. It made a direct, head-on pass at the jet in level flight at 20,000 feet altitude. At the last instant the object rose and flew over the jet, "climbing rapidly to 35,000 feet." When the pilot tried to chase the object it out climbed and out turned him. The sighting lasted about 25 seconds. An Air Force investigator wrote, "It would appear in retrospect that the object was able to maintain contact with the observer aircraft by other than visual means...". "The object was highly maneuverable and showed some understanding of tactical maneuvers and used the excess speed and altitude to his advantage in every case." (USAF Project 10073 Record Card and file)

37. February 1, 1955 0655L UM 20 mi. E. Cochise, Arizona

An instructor pilot and his student in a TB-25 bomber (44-86894) were in level flight at 13,000 feet altitude on airway Green 5 under a bright moonlit night sky. Their ground speed was 238 mph. Then they saw a very bright, round object showing red and white hues about five degrees arc above the local horizon. At one point it subtended an angle of between six and ten degrees arc diameter. It approached them and hovered off their left wing for about five minutes before departing at an "extremely high speed" in a steady climb maintaining its parallel track (it took about three minutes to disappear from sight). This is another USAF Unidentified object. (USAF Blue Book file)

38. June 16, 1955 2300L UC 40 mi. NE Springfield, Missouri

A Flying Tiger Airlines scheduled flight was at cruise altitude northeast of Springfield, Missouri when this event took place. The sky was dark; the flight crew sighted a blue-white disc travelling at "tremendous speed." At first it only looked like it was moving toward their aircraft but then ended up circling the airliner "in a tight turn." Then the object tilted up steeply and accelerated out of sight. His radio report to CAA authorities was to be only one of dozens that night from Chicago to Baltimore. (Keyhoe, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, pg.270-271, 1955)

39. December 11, 1955 2100L UC,UM Jacksonville, Florida

The crews of two separate airlines and witnesses on the ground saw a "fast-maneuvering, round, orange-red object." When two U.S. Navy jets (on a practice night-flying mission) were vectored to the area by a Jacksonville NAS controller they tried to approach it. But the object suddenly rose up to 30,000 feet altitude and then dove back down in a circle, buzzing the jets. Everything was detected on military radar. (Hall, The UFO Evidence, pg. 32, 1964)

40. May 22, 1956 2305L UM 50 mi. NW of Monroe, Louisiana

Earl Holwadel, 25, USAF, was in the front seat of a T-33 jet and an unnamed officer in the back seat during a night flight. Their heading was 50 degrees at 18,000 feet altitude when they both noticed a bright light due east of them travelling in a southerly direction. Holwadel decided to investigation the object and banked right toward the SE somewhat behind the object which was now seen in the SE from their location. The UAP looked like it was a great distance away at this time. "Suddenly it came straight at the observer (sic) at a rapid rate of speed.... The witness (sic) stated they crossed the rear of the object, experienced no wash, and then moved to the south of it. The object moved away and then returned at high speed on a westerly course. As the aircraft cruised in front of the object, odd and extremely bright lighting which did not resemble lighting of any known aircraft was observed. The shape (of the object) could not be clearly determined at that time....". The object’s maneuverability was "fantastic and it never appeared to change its flight attitude at any time during the encounter. "Mr. Holwadel stated that his aircraft passed under the ‘nose’ of the object at a distance of approximately 75 yards and on a heading of 330 deg., at which time an intensely bright white light flashed from the object, lighting up the canopy of the aircraft." A sketch of the UAP made by the main witness showed a bulky, squat cross-section, shorter than a C-47 aircraft but wider. the overall length of the elliptical-shaped object seemed to be about 30 to 40 feet. It had no visible wings but only stubby protrusions extending out from the edge of the object perhaps three to four feet long and 25 feet long on each side. Its bottom surface looked like it was made of steel with "ribs extending (downward) two to four feet and creating a wave-like impression." The meaning of this is unclear. The bright white light came from what looked like a "greenhouse-shaped dome" or cockpit window at its front end. One small, steady red running light was seen centered on the main body of the object. (USAF Air Intelligence Information Report 2D-UFOB-2-56)

41. August 16, 1956 0145L UC Azores (Atlantic)

This near miss incident took place at 4,000 feet altitude while Eastern Airlines flight 49 (DC-4) was en route to Laguardia, NY from POU. Their westerly heading carried them over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight crew sighted the strange light for from 20 - 25 minutes time and then radioed a near miss with the "bright white light" which was seen initially to the west of their course. According to the CIRVIS report (No. 170232Z) received through New York ARTCC," the object passed within 40 ft. of aircraft coming in from above and below. The meaning of this is unclear but suggests multiple passes made by the UAP. The pilot took "evasive action" according to the report.

42. November 1956 2300L UC Hickory, North Carolina

This near-miss with a UAP took place with a commercial aircraft flying from Laguardia Airport, NY to Atlanta at FL130 in a dark sky. Captain Dick Russell, FO, provided this (abbreviated) account of what happened. "He (the Captain) told me that he had seen UFOs a number of times before, but I’d almost forgotten, and all at once, he said, "Dick, look there!" And I looked up, out his windscreen and I saw an object which was saucer in shape, in fact like two saucers, one on top of the other, and ... uh... it was kind of an indefinite milky-green type of shape, almost an indefinite type of shape, and it was sitting there motionless. And I looked at him, wondered, ... I was stunned, and I said, "What is that?" And about that time it zoomed across the front of my windscreen and stopped and then flew off at about a forty-five degree angle. Very high speed. I could not understand what it was. I said, "What in the world was that?" He said, "Well, now you’ve seen one." He says, "You can’t tell anybody because they think you’re nuts." Well, I was about as convinced today as I was that night." "I’ve not seen one since." ("Pilots in Peril," interview for Fox TV production, Hollywood, CA, March 6, 1994)

43. November 14, 1956 2210L UC 60 miles from Mobile, Alabama

This close encounter received wide press coverage and intensive investigation and still remains as a classic example. Captain W. Hull had 17 years of flying experience and 15,000 hours flying time when he and his FO Peter MacIntosh were flying Capital Airlines flight 77 from Laguardia Airport, NY to Mobile, Alabama in a Viscount aircraft. Their heading was to the SSW and they were above a cloud layer only broken occasionally. Then they saw what looked like a "brilliant meteor" falling diagonally downward from left to right. The light decelerated rapidly but did not burn out or explode as they had expected. Rather, it came to an abrupt halt directly ahead of them. Hull said, "It was an intense blue-white light, approximately 7 or 8 times as bright as Venus when this planet is at its brightest magnitude. Pete shouted, "What the hell is it, a jet?" His first thought, of course, was that the object was a diving jet fighter which had turned sharply away from us and in departing, was giving us a view right up its glowing tailpipe. Instantly I knew that could not possibly be an airplane. "

Captain Hull then radioed Mobile Control Tower asking about their visibility of his aircraft and the strange light. They cannot due to the cloud cover. He went on, "It is directly ahead of us and at about our altitude, or slightly higher. We are right over Jackson, Alabama and have descended to 10,000 feet." He then requested that Mobile contact the USAF tower at Brookley Field some 20 miles to the SE to see if their military radar showed anything. "Just after this exchange, the object began to maneuver. It darted hither and yon, rising and falling in undulating flight, making sharper turns than any known aircraft, sometimes changing directions 90 degrees in an instant. All the while the color remained constant, a brilliant blue-white, and the object did not grow or lessen in size. MacIntosh and I sat there completely flabbergasted at this unnerving exhibition." Very soon thereafter the light "...began another series of crazy gyrations, lazy 8’s, square chandelles, all the while weaving through the air with a sort of rhythmic, undulating cadence, the likes of which neither Pete nor I had ever seen." The light then "shot out over the Gulf of Mexico, rising at the most breathtaking angle and at such a fantastic speed that it diminished rapidly to a pinpoint and was swallowed up in the night." Captain Hull completed his signed statement with these words, "I am seeking no publicity. I didn’t report this sighting to the press and not a word has ever been printed about it until this moment." (Hull, W.J., Personal statement, 1957; USAF Blue Book file, reel 27)

44. March 8, 1957 2145L UC Pasadena, Texas

Victor Hancock was piloting a DC-3 aircraft belonging to the Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. from Beaumont to Houston on a heading of about 250 degrees and an altitude of about 1,500 feet when this incident took place. In the right seat was Guy Miller, FO. Unexpectedly, an object with three very bright lights on it crossed in front of them travelling from south to north. Then the object came to a stop and maintained station with their aircraft (within a quarter-mile distance) for an undisclosed period of time before continuing on its way in the night sky. Its lights were so bright that the two men could not see its outline shape and it had no navigational lights at all. It did not move like an airplane moves. Miller said, "When it wanted to, it kept ahead of us easily. It would stop, or seem to stop, just under us. We would bank around, get close to it and it would be gone again." Hancock estimated its size to be "at least the size of our plane." The pilots watched as the object then flew toward the main runway at Ellington Air Force Base, cutting across military traffic. When it reached a point about 200 feet above the runway it then departed out of sight to the south. The encounter was also allegedly picked up by airport radar at Houston International Airport. (The Times, NY, March 10, 1957: The Chronicle, Houston, TX, March 9, 1957; APRO Bulletin, Pg. 5, March 1957)

45. March 9, 1957 0345L UC Atlantic Ocean, NE Jacksonville, Florida

Capt. Matthew A. Van Winkle, First Officer (FO) Dion W. Taylor, and Flight Engineer (FE) John Washuta were flying Pan-American DC-6 flight 257 with forty four passengers from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico. They were on autopilot flying at 19,000 feet altitude, 290 kts. airspeed and were about 350 miles NE of Jacksonville, FL [ 32 deg. 35’N; 80 deg. 30’ W]. Bound for a stop in Miami, the aircraft was on a southerly heading. Suddenly to their right front all three flight crewmen sighted a glaring, white, dazzling light with a pale-green tinged (core) with "an outer ring which reflected the glow from the center." (NICAP report) It approached them at high speed. Several passengers who weren’t asleep also saw the approaching light. The light source was variously described as a "round," "large, glaring spot light," "magnesium-flash white," "burning greenish-white appearance," "brilliant, greenish-white object," "clearly circular-shaped object," "not a meteor." "When it got closer," (Van Winkle) said, "he had noticed it was not shaped like any known jet." (UP wire story, March 9, 1957)

"It appeared to fly in level flight from the SW to the NE Capt. Van Winkle later said, "Instinctively, I thought it might be another plane heading straight toward us (so) I pulled the plane up and to the side... Since it was on automatic pilot, apparently I forced it too much and all the forty-four passengers except one or two who had belts fastened, came out of their seats and rolled on the floor." (Ibid.) Another account stated that three passengers and a stewardess were injured when the pilot "took violent evasive action" climbing sharply about 1,500 feet to avoid a possible collision with the object. The air crew radioed a CIRVIS report (following Joint Chiefs of Staff regulation J-146). According to Air Force report UFOB-702-101, their investigators found that the luminous object was roundish (sic) or oval in outline and the angular size of a basketball held at arm’s length, or about 20 degrees diameter! It appeared "bright green" with four exhausts protruding downward, the angular length of each being about one-fourth the diameter of the object.

The pilots of at least seven other aircraft spanning 300 miles all en route to Puerto Rico also saw the luminous object with sightings that ranged from seconds to three minutes. Air Force officials said that it was not a missile but rather a "seldom-seen form of a meteor, a ‘bolide,’ often referred to as a fireball." (USAF Blue Book Report). Interestingly, an article in the New York Journal - American stated that an unofficial report said a jet intercept task force accompanied by a radar plane was sent aloft to investigate from a strategic air command fighter base in the south. Reports from the air crew of the other six aircraft flying along the same route to Puerto Rico also were analyzed by Air Force investigators.

46. March 27, 1957 2035L UM Roswell, New Mexico

The pilot of an Air Force C-45 (Lt. Sontheimer) was flying near Roswell at an unknown altitude when he looked out his left-hand window and noticed three bright lights in a tight formation. Each was round and brilliant white and about the angular size of an aircraft landing light (at an unspecified distance). His official USAF report submitted to the Project Blue Book office stated: "The pilot of the C-45 claims that when he realized the objects were on a collision course with him he immediately flashed his taxi lights on. One of the objects shot straight up in the air above him the other two continued on passed in front of aircraft. When the pilot flashed his taxi lights the objects immediately blacked themselves out thereby disappearing from sight." (USAF Blue Book files)

47. June 3, 1957 2135L UC Shreveport, Louisiana

Trans-Texas Airlines flight 103 had departed Shreveport Airport headed for Lake Charles, 166 miles to the south. They were climbing to 9,000 feet altitude in the dark night sky when the control tower operator called the Captain’s attention to a small white light nearby the airplane. Its captain was Lynn Kern, 34, and FO, Abbey Zimmerman, 32. The time was about 2135L. The pilots saw an "unidentified object" approaching them from their 2 o’clock position "at a tremendous speed and 10 o’clock high. It then "...settled down and paralleled his course all the way to Lake Charles. Soon a second object appeared on the opposite side of his aircraft. Each appeared as a blue-green pulsating light and kept pace with their aircraft which was flying at 165 mph.; these objects paced the airplane for virtually its entire trip at a slightly higher altitude. "Captain Kern blinked his lights at the objects, objects lights flared extremely bright then went back to normal." Upon reaching Converse, LA the pilot radioed ground radar at England AFB (Alexandria, LA) and reported the objects. Air Force personnel said that they had two targets in his approximate area at 9,700 feet. A radar controller stated that since he saw "...nothing unusual about (the) sighting." he did not file a report. The Air Force summary pointed out that there was heavy B-47 aerial refueling operations in the area at the time. Interestingly, a tower operator at Shreveport Municipal Airport viewed both objects through binoculars until the aircraft and accompanying objects were out of sight. The lights disappeared from sight in a cloud deck to the SW. This report is one of the USAF’s Unidentified Cases. (USAF Blue Book file)

48. July 17, 1957 1132L UP Eagle Lake, Texas

This close encounter with a domed disk occurred with a Cessna 172 was at 1,500 feet altitude climbing to 4,500 feet at 80 mph while travelling VFR from Eagle Lake to Palacios near the Gulf of Mexico. According to the signed witness form from the pilot, C.M., 26, he and his passenger Mr. C. C. were in bright daylight with broken cumulus clouds covering about one-tenth of the sky. The passenger, a Church of Christ pastor, was learning to fly. Unexpectedly, they saw a very strangely shaped object appear almost directly ahead of them moving up and to their right. The sharply edged object was pointed at its left- and right-hand ends (7.5:1 width to thickness ratio) with a low, rounded dome on top. The object’s length subtended an angle that was almost as wide as one-half of the forward windshield! Its surface appeared metallic and its dome glass or plastic. "It was a vehicle foreign to this planet," he wrote. It remained in view for about sixty seconds before departing. The pastor was so upset, "...that he stopped flying the aircraft. I had to take over...". He stopped all further lessons after this event took place. (Pilot report form)

49. July 17, 1957 n/a UC 100 mi. E. of El Paso, Texas

A commercial airliner (flight 655) was flying from Dallas, TX to Los Angeles, CA when a near miss occurred. The other unknown object was described by Captain E. Bachner "at least the size of a B-47" jet aircraft but other than that he could not identify it. Because of the evasive maneuver which the captain felt necessary to carry out two passengers were injured and had to be taken to a hospital upon landing. There were no known aircraft in the area at the time. (Lorenzen, C. and J. Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story. pg. 79, Signet Books, New York, 1969)

50. July 24, 1957 2215L UC Amarillo, Texas

TWA flight 21 from New York to Phoenix at FL180 had reached northern Texas when Captain G. Schemel saw red and green lights suddenly appear ahead of him at his altitude on a collision course. The sky was dark with thin scattered clouds. Although visibility was greater than 15 miles the flight was operating under IFR conditions. According to the CAA report, eight of the passengers and two hostesses on board were thrown into the aisles and suffered minor injuries when he dove 500 feet to avoid hitting the oncoming object. "One elderly lady was thrown against the ceiling, receiving a bad head cut. Seven additional passengers and two hostesses received bad head bumps and bruised hips and legs." (Anon, 1957) The unidentified object quickly passed above his aircraft and out of sight. The Civil Aeronautics Board investigation of this close encounter could locate no military, commercial, or private aircraft an the area at the time. (Anon., Scientists say near collisions may involve space vehicles, UFO Investigator, Vol. 1, No. 2, pg. 9, August - September 1957, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois)

51. October 23, 1957 2015L UC Pampa, Texas

Two commercially rated pilots were flying a charter flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza from Kansas City, Missouri to Albuquerque during this event. Emerson Goff was flying with Harold Briggs, his passenger, about 10 miles NW of Pampa, Texas under clear, dark (no moon) skies when they sighted an "exceptionally bright star" slightly above their altitude and about 30 degrees on their left side. They were descending through 12,000 feet MSL on a heading of 210 degrees. At first, they estimated its range from them at about 40 to 50 miles, perhaps over Estelline or Silverton, Texas. However, very soon the light seemed to approach them at a high rate of speed, its apparent size increasing rapidly. And, as it became larger and larger, they could just see a "faintly solid elliptical shape with an apparently rounded upper portion," explained Goff. It was now about five to eight miles in front and perhaps 3,000 to 4,000 feet above them. "It was "lit up" so brilliantly in a bluish, greenish, white brilliance that it was really hard to discern just the exact shape it did have." It drew near to their aircraft and "maneuvered sharply... at high speeds." Then the light suddenly rose vertically an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 feet very quickly and leveled off and continued flying horizontally to the NW. The object did not change its attitude at any time during these maneuvers. The two astonished pilots watched it disappear into storm clouds about 30 to 40 miles to the NW. This encounter lasted about six minutes. At no time did the UAP change color or shape or emit a smoke or vapor trail. (The UFO Investigator, Vol. 3, No. 10, October-November 1966, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois).

52. June 9, 1958 1017L UM central Puget Sound, Washington

1st. Lt. Charles Scharf, 25, of the 318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at McCord AFB, near Tacoma was flying an F-102 (No. 1425) on a heading of 180 degrees and between 40,000 and 50,000 feet altitude and about 600 mph during this incident. The weather was clear and visibility was unlimited. He then observed a cylindrical shaped object (12:1 length to width ratio) that was pinkish-white and had a dark circle in its center. The object was first seen at 30 degrees elevation above his own altitude. It seemed to oscillate as it approached his position at a high rate of speed. It isn’t known whether either of these motions were objective object motion, aircraft motion, or a combination of both. The pilot banked left "to keep it in sight" and noticed that the object continued north and then appeared to climb, decelerate, and perform a "large 360 degree orbit." The UAP then circled the F-102 three separate times as it descended toward him. "It finally pitched up 45 degrees altitude (sic) and accelerated in a climb, rapidly disappeared on a northwest heading." Then the pilot descended and returned to base. The object was not detected on ground radar; the pilot did not check his on-board radar for contact during the event. The official Air Force explanation for this object was a "balloon." A U.S.Navy "Sea Balloon" had been launched twenty minutes earlier and was claimed to have reached an altitude of 40,000 feet by the time this sighting took place. What was overlooked or ignored were the following reported facts: (1) the cylindrical shape of the UAP, (2) the visual oscillations of the UAP, (3) the decelerations and accelerations of the UAP, (4) the relatively low wind velocities at that time and place, and (5) the 45 degree pitch up maneuver prior to departing. (USAF Project Blue Book file, Incident: NC-4320)

53. November 4, 1958 2103L UM Pope AFB, North Carolina

The pilot of a KB-50 USAF tanker was in the downwind leg of the traffic pattern during a ground controlled approach to Pope AFB about to make a night landing when he noticed an object on a collision course. He and his flight crew also noticed that "strange lights were observed in his cockpit while he was on the final approach...". [Note: The Air Force file does not discuss this further] He executed a go-around maneuver and climbed in altitude to await the disappearance of the object. Air Force tower personnel also saw the UAP hovering above the airport, watching it through their binoculars for twenty minutes. They are convinced it was not an atmospheric phenomenon of some kind. They said that "the UFO presented a hazard to aircraft operating in the area. (USAF Blue Book file - WDO-INT 11-WC23)

54. July 4, 1961 2215L UP NW of Akron, Ohio

Private pilot Ernest Stadvec, a B-29 bomber pilot in WW-2 and owner of a flying service had strange encounters on two consecutive nights. He was flying NW of Akron with two passengers on Tuesday night, July 4th at about 2215 local time when they saw a brilliant green and white light appearing above them and to their right side. They were at 5,000 feet altitude. He said, "The object we saw dived at us on a collision course to the extent that I actually called out to my passengers that the object was going to ram us... After the object came at us it reversed course and climbed rapidly into a clear night sky." He went on, "This happened again the next night [about the same time and altitude] when the object flashed up in front of us and again climbed into a clear sky. In both instances, the object climbed at tremendous speeds, leveled off and disappeared to the northwest." Radar at Cleveland Hopkins Airport detected a "meteor-like" object for several minutes. (Hall, R., The UFO Evidence. pg. 43, NICAP, Wash. D.C., 1964)

55. February 7, 1963 2345L UP Charlottesville, Virginia

Carl Chambers, pilot, and his passenger John Campbell were about 95 miles SW of Washington, DC en route to Pennsylvania in a light aircraft when they noted a star like light in the night sky which seemed to be flying toward them. After his encounter the pilot estimated the yellow-white light was about three feet in diameter. Concerning its flight dynamics he wrote, "After noting that its altitude and position changed rapidly, I radioed the Washington FAA and reported the incident.... For nearly an hour after, we stayed in contact with Washington. During that time, the object hovered off the right wing [easterly] and moved toward, under, and above the aircraft. Then it dropped off and a few minutes later appeared about 35 miles south of Washington...". Chambers was told by the FAA that another pilot in the area had reported a similar event at that time. (Hall, The UFO Evidence, NICAP, Pg. 43, 1964)

56. August 18, 1964 0529L UM 200 miles E. Dover (Atlantic Ocean)

This USAF Project Blue Book air-visual case is interesting because of the apparently intelligent responsive behavior of the UAP to the behavior of the pilots of a C-124 cargo (aircraft 31007 assigned to the 31st. ATS, 1607 ATW). Briefly, at least four crew members on a flight out of Dover AFB at 9,000 feet altitude, 200 mph true airspeed, sighted a round, diffuse-edged self-luminous object ahead of and about 500 feet below them on a collision course. The object was visible for about two minutes as they were flying between layers of scattered clouds. Lt. J. F. Jonke and a Major who were in control executed an evasive maneuver, turning from 260 degree heading to 340 degree heading while maintaining their altitude. As the airplane turned the UAP turned right and disappeared. They called Boston Center and were told no other aircraft were in the area and no radar contact was made with the other object. [AF IN : 10417 (20 Aug 64)E/der] (Unclassified: RUEASB 118)

57. January 3, 1965 Dusk UC East Coast, USA

Capt. Bill Williams, FO, Ed Dynes, and FE, Charley Booth (all pseudonyms) were flying a four-engine Electra of a major airline on a commercial flight toward a large eastern city when this incident took place. The captain was a former military pilot with a total of 25 years flying experience. The flight crew sighted what they thought was another aircraft as they neared their destination but it unexpectedly changed its course and approached them head-on. The object was huge and delta-shaped and was only seen by a black silhouette against the dwindling skylight. "I called out ‘What the hell is it?’ ... Somebody said ‘Good God!’ ... It started to turn away, then as suddenly as it had appeared it departed... It disappeared at a tremendous speed - a speed of several thousand miles per hour. I did not report to the tower because I did not feel it was a near miss with a conventional aircraft.... And also because of the ridicule that was heaped on Captain Pete Killian of American Airlines," said the captain. (UFO Investigator, Vol. 3, No. 2, April-May 1965, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois)

58. April 25, 1966 2052L UP Near Ocala, Florida

Captain Fred Sharrer, Herbert Bates (FO), Frank Stockton, (executive assistant to the Governor of Florida), Governor Haydon Burns, Capt. Nathan Sharron, State Patrol Officer, four newspaper reporters, and three others were the witnesses to this prolonged close encounter at 6,000 feet altitude. They were in a Convair, propeller driven aircraft flying at 230 mph during a campaign-related flight. It was a clear, moonlit night. Two yellow-orange luminous spheres of light side-by-side (dumbbell shape) kept exact pace on the right side of their aircraft for about forty miles distance during their flight from Orlando to the Capital at Tallahassee. Passengers in the rear of the airplane saw the luminous globes for from three to five minutes while the flight crew watched them for about ten minutes duration. At one point Governor Burns asked his pilot to "turn into it." As the pilot did so the thing rose at a steep angle and quickly disappeared from sight. Its distance from the airplane wasn’t determined but some of those on board estimated the UAP to be at a near distance while others at a great distance. (Clearwater (Fl.) Sun, April 26, 1966; Kalamazoo Gazette, April 27, 1966)

59. May 21, 1966 1515L UP Willow Grove, Pennsylvania

This two-witness, daylight, near-miss with a domed disk incident at 4,500 feet altitude was carefully investigated by many people including the noted atmospheric physicist Dr, J. McDonald. William Powell was flying in his Luscombe single engine propeller-driven aircraft with his passenger, Muriel McClave. They were touring the Philadelphia area and were only about five miles NW of Warminster when they sighted a domed disk at their 11:00 o’clock position. It looked like it had been following several Navy jets that had just taken off from Willow Glen Naval Air Station field. But suddenly it changed its course (without banking) and approached their small airplane, passing on their right side by only about 100 yards. The object did not appear to rotate or have any exhaust. The disc was "dayglo red" with a low, white glistening dome centered on its top surface. This account is adapted from McDonald’s testimony before the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives on July 29, 1968. (Anon., 1968)

60. January 1967 Night UP SW New Mexico

Jimmie Moran, a passenger on a Lear Jet 23 en route to Las Vegas, NV from Houston, Hobby Airport, Texas was the first to sight the bright red light associated with a sharply defined object ahead of them at their 10 o’clock position in the dark sky. He was seated on the left-hand side of the passenger cabin. Flying at FL410 to the NW just beyond jetway J-86 which ended at El Paso, the pilot, Carl M., filed for a direct flight to Winslow (AZ) on a heading of 300 degrees. He was delivering the new aircraft to its owner. An unnamed FO was also on board and saw the UAP which kept pace with the jet off its left-hand side for 29 minutes. Their airspeed was 300 kts. (Mach 0.82).

In the pilot’s own words, "I told Jimmie and the other passengers in the back, that maybe it was a light on a weather balloon. A few minutes later my passengers called me again, saying the bright red light was moving, so I told them that the light was in a military flight training block, so it might be a military plane."

"The light had a red ray below the light towards the ground and about 2000 ft. below the first light, a second oval light appeared, then a third light, and then a fourth," said Capt. M. "Each had a red ray of about 2000 ft. from one to the other. Then the lights retracted one at a time until there was one light shining bright red. Then it ran the lights down again, but at a 40 degree angle. And then retracted the lights the same way." Capt. M. then radioed Albuquerque Center to inquire if they showed any aircraft at their 9 to 10 o’clock position. They replied they did not have any transponder signal there." At this moment the UAP’s light extinguished for 30 seconds and came back on again. "Then Albuquerque Radar (AR) called me and said they had the object on their radar"... 39 miles west of our aircraft and moving at the same heading. Next Albuquerque Radar contacted a National Airlines DC-8 then over Casa Grande, AZ heading for Houston and learned from its captain that "...he had been watching the light and said it did everything the Captain on the Lear Jet said it was doing. AR asked the DC-8 captain if he would like to make a "UFO" report, and the captain said no. AR asked the captain for his name, and he told them it was none of their damn business." It was at this point that the frightfully close near miss occured.

In the pilot’s own words, "AR called me to tell me the object was closing in on me, and before they finished telling me, the vehicle was so close that the blips on the radar screen became one. [The captain’s sketch of his cockpit window outline shows the UAP filling at least 75 percent of the window’s forward area!] The red light was so bright that when I looked up from the instrument Panel and would look back at the panel my eyes were having trouble ajusting (sic) each time to the panel white lights. At this close formation the encounter lasted 29 minutes.... My passengers in the back were hollering at me to get them away from the object... After a few minutes the bright red light of the vehicle went out, but I could not get a good look at the vehicle, because my eyes couldn’t adjust to the darkness before the vehicle turned the bright light back on. Then the vehicle slowed down [meaning unclear] to the point that I pulled away from him. The passengers were overjoyed when the light went behind the left engine... But that was short lived. The vehicle passed us up at a speed so that the red light was trailing the object like a comet for as much as 150 yards. It slowed down again, which allowed me to overtake the vehicle at Winslow. We both made a left turn over Winslow at 41,000 feet. The UAP remained with the jet to beyond Flagstaff (where the aircraft was now under Los Angeles Center control which, the captain learned, also had the UAP on their radar). The captain said, "My passengers were still hollering and in a panic for me to get them away from the vehicle. The UAP finally accelerated to the west at a 30 degree climb angle when we were only fifteen minutes from landing at Las Vegas. No official inquiry was made of this high altitude encounter. (Pilot report form)

61. October 27, 1967 0300L UP NE Jacksonville (Atlantic Ocean)

This fascinating aerial encounter involved Charlie Little, pilot of a Piper-Twin Commanche PA-30 (N7942Y). He was multi-engine rated and a flight instructor. Two other commercially rated pilots, and a passenger were also on board. Having taken off from Opa-Locka, FL to Morristown, NJ, they were headed ENE at 8,000 feet altitude in uncontrolled airspace under an IFR flight plan but were in radio contact with Jacksonville ARTCC for safety reasons. Stars were visible in the dark sky. Ground control helped them maintain a correct heading when their two VORs apparently displayed significantly large angular deviations toward the east. About half-way between Jacksonville and Charleston, SC over the ocean at least three of the occupants saw a light moving across the sky and interpreted it to be a commercial flight at high altitude bound for Miami. But the light began to descend and approach their airplane. The pilot radioed radar control to inquire if any other traffic was seen in their vicinity (now at their one o’clock position high and seemingly southbound). The answer was "negative."

Little turned his landing and taxi lights on. He said (later), "As the light came closer and closer, it was very apparent that we were going to pass very close and that the aircraft was not making any move to avoid us." He then asked for permission to descend immediately... "We may need all the way to the deck immediately." He received permission to do so even though permission was not legally required. Under the circumstances, he was probably trying to set an example of extra-safe procedures for the benefit of the other two pilots on board. Little then disengaged the autopilot, pulled the throttle back and pushed the wheel forward "...trying to avoid a head-on collision. We descended to 6,500 feet but the lights came closer and closer." Then they saw not one but six, huge, round, bright, white lights in a (horizontal) row. "A collision seemed imminent. Panicking, I yelled, ‘We can’t get away from him!’ The situation seemed hopeless; there was no way to avoid him. We were all going to die because the pilot in the other craft wasn’t paying attention." Little had to shield his eyes with his hands the lights were so intense. "Suddenly, a soft green light was all over our cockpit."

At the very instant of collision, "...the craft made an unbanked 180 degree turn, remained ahead for a few seconds and then "took off and disappeared like a flash bulb."" At least two of the witnesses agreed that the huge object was a gray equilateral triangle, each side at least 200 feet long and twenty feet thick. Its outer edges were very smooth and sharply defined (with no rivets, doors, antennae, windows, etc.) while at its center there was a triangular-shaped opening or hole large enough to fly through. It flew with one side directly forward. "As a pilot, I did not believe in UFOs but we had just had a near mid-air collision with one!" When Little told radar control what had just happened he was met with ridicule. Later he recalled, "I became very angry and threw the microphone on the floor instead of hanging it on the clip... We all knew we had just seen a UFO but we didn’t know what to say. We were afraid that if we told anybody we would lose our pilot’s licenses. This was very important to us because we were all hoping to become commercial airline pilots. It could be the end of our careers." Investigator Smith also discovered that Little was told by radar control that a United B727 captain allegedly had just reported the same shaped object over Washington (about 535 miles away)! I could not locate any record of this other claimed sighting which isn’t surprising given the continuing attitude of derision shown toward air crew by authorities on the ground and the understandable reticence to report bizarre aerial sightings.

One final word is appropriate. Is it possible that Jacksonville radar was actually tracking the UAP and not the aircraft when the several clock-wise deviating VOR "events" were taking place? It isn’t clear whether the aircraft had a transponder (they were relatively expensive at the time) so that ground radar might have had only a weak return from the aircraft’s skin paint. Indeed, broadband radar in the 1960s wasn’t particularly effective when it comes to a non-transponder equipped aircraft. The far larger radar "skin paint" return from the triangular object might have been significantly larger than that of the aircraft. If true, this would explain the progressive clockwise deviation of the ground radar’s track that also corresponded with the south-bound movement of the UAP before it apparently changed its heading to approach the aircraft. (Smith, W., A huge "open" triangular UFO, International UFO Reporter, Pp. 4-6, Sept./October 1984, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois).

62. July 8, 1968 2220L UP Warren, Ohio

Richard Montgomery was piloting a Cessna 172 Skyhawk and his brother Kenneth was in the right front seat. Elizabeth Soverns and Rosalind Rians were passengers in the back seat. They were flying at 4,000 feet altitude