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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
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# Two Fliers Cling To Story Of Observing Sky Monster ## BOTH AIRMEN Scoff At Theory It Was Meteor, Comet Or Army Balloons Giant Sighted Over South Described As "Gadget" Made By Man. Atlanta, Ga., July 25—(UP)—Two Eastern Air Line pilots who reported seeing a huge flamehooting Buck Rogers sky monster near Montgomery, Ala., yesterday maintained stoutly today that what they saw was a "man-made gadget." They said they will be flying the same route again this week and this time they'll be armed with still and movie cameras in case the giant craft turns up again. Capt. C. S. Chiles, Atlanta, and Co-Pilot John Whitted, Hapeville, Ga., claimed they saw the huge ship, a wingless affair four times the circumference of a B-29 fuse-tage, on a routine flight from Houston. Tax. early yesterday morning. Today they refused to let skeptics shake their story. They denied suggestions that it might have been a meteor or comet, or an Army radar observation balloon. Whitted, an Air Force pilot during the war with the rank of First Lieutenant, said he had worked with radar equipment overseas and the idea that the monster was a balloon was "fantastic." Chiles agreed. He was an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel during the war, he said, and declared that "it was definitely not a balloon." Chiles was also sure that it was not a meteor or comet. "It was a man-made gadget," he said, "and it was definitely jet-propelled." The clearest thing he saw, Chiles said, were two rows of windows, each about the size of "house-windows." "The windows were all lighted up from inside," he said. "either by electricity or possibly by jet fuel. But inside they were so easy to see." "You could see right through the windows and out the other side," Chiles said. Neither pilot reported any sign of life aboard the "monster." Both agreed that they passed the ship within 750 feet and that they got about a 15-second glimpse of it. They will leave here tomorrow on the same flight for Howtou. On the way back, early Wednesday morning, they will pass over the spot where they saw the monster. Chiles said. He is a camera enthusiast and plans to take along a movie camera and also a still camera. Chiles said he had a camera along when they spotted the monster Saturday but that it was back in the ship and they couldn't get to it in time. Only one of the plane's passengers aboard was awake at the time and he saw a "continuous light" at the time the pilots reportedly saw the craft. He was C. L. McKelvie, Columbus, Ohio. Chiles said he learned later that McKelvie also had a camera, on a strap around his neck, but he didn't have time to use it.
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.