Ingénieurs et techniciens

Case 395: July 6, near Pittsburg, California

Frank Tylman, of 559 Frederick Street, San Francisco, a construction engineer and World War I veteran pilot, reported that while driving two miles west of Pittsburg with his son Danny, 9, at 8:20 a.m. PST, he saw a disc-shaped object flying rapidly in a southern direction.

"It was shooting toward Mount Diablo," Tylman said. "It revolved in a counter-clockwise direction, as we viewed it." He estimated the height of the object at approximately 3,000 feet and said that it was moving "faster than jet planes." He described its width as about the same as a P-80, its color as silver, and its shape as "circular." He said "It had a definite thickness, being curved outward on both upper and lower surfaces. It left no smoke or vapor trail behind it. We heard nothing above the noise off the car and the wind." Tylman said it was in view for about 30 seconds before it vanished over the southern horizon.

Case 428: July 6, Encampment,Wyoming

In March, 1952, David A. Kenney, then an aviation instruments engineer with North American Aviation, and living in Redondo Beach, California, reported to CSI of Los Angeles that he and two others -­ his brother Joseph (now a NICAP member) and T. G. Moffett -- had seen an oval-shaped object in South Central Wyoming almost five years before. In a recent letter to NICAP, Joseph Kenney identified the exact location as Encampment. In David Kenney's letter to CSI of March 10, 1952, he wrote:

"On July 6, 1947, at 2:45 in the afternoon, I caught sight of an oval shaped object directly overhead and traveling north. Its span was roughly three times its chord and it flew with its span normal to its line of flight. It was visible nearly two minutes and did not appear to change course during this time. Along with two other witnesses present at the time, I was particularly impressed by its silence and the absence of smoke or vapor trails that would indicate conventional means of propulsion. Locale of the sighting was south central Wyoming. While accurate estimates of its speed, size, and altitude are impossible, our collective opinion was that it was very large and very high (by aircraft standards). When it had diminished to a barely perceptible speck, it was still well above the horizon."

Fifteen minutes after the Kenney sighting, Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Gibson, of 2007 Oakcrest, in Casper, saw a glittering disc traveling fast at high altitude in an easterly direction (Case 430). Casper is about 100 miles north of Encampment and while the directions reported in the two cases differ, the times of each sighting are close enough to suggest a possible connection.

Case 655: July 7, near Medford, Oregon

Radar technician David W. Chase, of Phoenix, Oregon, saw a disc-shaped object passing overhead in an easterly direction at 5:20 p.m. PST. The object appeared to be flying at a speed of 600 to 700 miles an hour, at an estimated altitude of 10,000 feet. The disc was flying on edge, like a wheel, at right angles to the surface of the earth, and its large, circular surface gave off an extremely bright light, comparable in color to the light of an arc welder's torch; it also reminded the witness of a brightly faceted stone, such as a diamond seen under a brilliant light. The object seemed to be following the contours of the terrain below it, dipping or bobbing up and down in an irregular pattern as it passed over small hills and mountains 500 to 1,000 feet high. It was in view approximately 60 to 70 seconds.