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This Project Blue Book case file, digitized by the Internet Archive, covers Incident 144: two Eastern Airlines pilots reported that a wingless, cigar-shaped object with a flaming exhaust passed their DC-3 about 20 miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama, on 24 July 1948. The file includes an OSI interview with a Robins Air Force Base employee who saw a similar object, negative aircraft traffic reports from many bases, and later correspondence. A December 1948 intelligence report found fairly consistent descriptions across four related sightings.
“Headquarters”21 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
JULY 23, 1948 MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA (KEYHOE-1960 P 87) 3 WITNESSE00 ON JULY 23, 1948, AN EASTERN AIR LINES DC-3 TOOK OFF FROM HOUSTON EN ROUTE 01 TO BOSTON CAPTAIN IN COMMAND. HAD 8,500 FLYING HOURS. DURING THE 02 WAR HE HAD BEEN A LIEUTENANT COLONEL IN THE AIR TRANSPORT COMMAND. FIRST 03 OFFICER WHO LATER MADE CAPTAIN. ALSO WAS A VETERAN. HE HAD FLOUN 04 B-29-S. AT 2.45 A.M. ON THE 24TH, THE DC-3 WAS TWENTY MILES WEST OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, FLYING IN BRIGHT MOONLIGHT. SUDDENLY, A ROCKET-SHAPED OBJECT, BRILLIANTLY LIGHTED, CAME RACING ALONG THE AIRWAY. - *IT FLASHED TOWARD US AT TERRIFIC SPEED,* SAID LATER, *I VEERED SHARPLY, TOO, AND PASSED ABOUT SEVEN HUNDRED FEET TO THE 10 RIGHT. IT WAS ABOUT ONE HUNDRED FEET LONG, CIGAR-SHAPED, AND WINGLESS. IT WAS TWICE THE DIAMETER OF A B-29.* AS THE STRANGE OBJECT WENT BY, BOTH PILOTS SAW IT WAS DOUBLE-DECKED, WITH TWO ROWS OF WINDOWS OR PORTS. PROTRUDING FROM THE NOSE WAS SOMETHING LIKE A RADAR POLE. *A GLOW LIKE A BLUE FLUORESCENT LIGHT SHONE FROM INSIDE,* SAID CAPTAIN THOUGH HE COULD SEE NO OCCUPANTS, HE FELT THAT THE MYSTERY OBJECT WAS 17 INTELLIGENTLY CONTROLLED. *JUST AS IT WENT BY,* HE REPORTED, *THE PILOT PULLED UP AS IF HE HAD SEEN THE DC-3 AND WANTED TO AVOID US. THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS BURST OF FLAME FROM THE REAR. IT ZOOMED INTO THE CLOUDS, ITS ACT WASH ROCKING OUR DC-3.* ESTIMATED THE UFO-S SPEED AT FIVE HUNDRED TO SEVEN HUNDRED MILES HOUR. BOTH HE AND AGREED THE EXHAUST WAS A RED-ORANGE FLAME, THIS TO FIFTY FEET LONG. PASSAGE OF THE STRANGE OBJECT WAS OBSERVED BY THE ONLY PASSENGER WHO AWAKE ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR IN THAT SWIFT GLIMPSE. AW NO DETAILS, BUT A CHIEF AT ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, MACON, GEORGIA, CONFIRMED THAT A HUGE WIN OBJECT MATCHING THE PILOTS DESCRIPTION HAD RUSHED ACROSS THE BASE THAT NIGHT.
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 161 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.