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Blue Book case file 1948-01 Godman AFB, Kentucky

Internet Archive (USAF / NARA) · 75 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Project Blue Book case file covers the 7 January 1948 incident at Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky, which the file itself calls the famous "Mantell case." It holds control tower witness statements describing a large, bright object and the three P-51s sent to pursue it, whose flight leader, Mantell, stopped answering after climbing past 15,000 feet. It also includes weather data and Air Materiel Command correspondence. One analysis concludes that the object was not Venus and that the sighting must be considered unexplained.

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

1. Date 7 Jan 19

2. Time 1420 CST

3. Location Control Tower, Godman Tla

4. Name of observer Dept J. P. Dusaler, Jr.

5. Occupation of observer Capt. USnP

6. Address of observer Couman Flâ. Ky

7. Placo of observation Godnam Tla Control Tower

8. Number of objects 1 at 1420

9. Distance of object from observer N/S

10. Time in sight From 1420 to 1600 CST - Over an hour and a half

11. Altitude X/S

12. Speed 360MPH - according to statement of Mantell

13. Direction of flight Apparently from 234 $ ^{\circ} $ to 259 $ ^{\circ} $ South to West

14. Tactics N/3

15. Sound N/3

16. Size Belisved large

17. Color Silver - bright

18. Shape like tear drop - round; later, object seemed fluid

19. Odor detected N/S

20. Apparent construction X/S

21. Exhaust trails No tail -

22. Weather conditions X/3. - Scattered but clear

23. Effect on clouds N/S

24. Skotches or photographs None

25. Manner of disappearance Obscured by clouds

26. Romarks: (over)

About this file

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. 75 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.