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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.

  • p. 13 Use this form for inter-office correspondence within headquarters. Number all comments consecutively. TERIEL CQMMAND Use…
  • p. 15 # HEADQUARTERS GODMAN AIR FORCE BASE Fort Knox, Kentucky 3 February 1949 SUBJECT: Unidentified Aerial Object TO…
  • p. 18 Use this form for inter-office correspondence within headquarters. Use authorized office symbols to designate addressor…
  • p. 20 …Rix, Commanding Officer, Headquarters, 315th Air Force Base Unit (Res Tng) Goodman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky…
  • p. 29 …to Wright Field, Chio, arrived at this headquarters, this date, and made a thorough investigation of…
  • p. 37 …a call came to this Headquarters from State Police, reporting a flying object near Elizabethtown. Another…
  • p. 40 # UNCLASSIFIED HEADQUARTERS IN REPLY ADDRESS BOTH COMMUNICATION AND ENVELOPE TO COMMANDING GENERAL, AIR MATERIEL COMMAND, ATTENTION…
  • p. 43 # HEADQUARTERS AIR MATERIEL COMMAND IN REPLY ADDRESS BOTH COMMUNICATION AND ENVELOPE TO COMMANDING GENERAL, AIR MATERIEL…

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

TLEW/Maj Quintanilla/69216

Mantell Case, January 1948

23 July 1964

Coroner

Simpson County

Franklin, Kentucky

Dear Coroner,

In January 1948, at Franklin, Kentucky, an aircraft accident occurred and the county coroner, Mr Harry W Booker, examined the body of the pilot, Captain Thomas F Mantell, Jr.

The Federal Aviation Agency is conducting an investigation of a similar accident in which the cause of death is considered identical. They have expressed a desire for medical records or any other information regarding the condition of the pilot's body after the crash. I am enclosing a copy of their letter to us regarding this information. The case file at Wright-Patterson contains information on the wreckage but nothing concerning the pilots condition.

Any information which you may have, such as the autopsy report, medical findings, photos of the body, etc, would be appreciated by the Federal Aviation Agency. We request that you forward any available data which you may have to:

Dr Richard G Snyder, Ph D, AM-119 Federal Aviation Agency P O Box 1082 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101

Sincerely,

ERIC T de JONCKHELRE Colonel, USAF Deputy for Technology and Subsystems

2 Atchs

1. Ltr FAA, 20 Jul 64

2. Affidavit, 7 Jan 48

cc: Dr Snyder, PAA

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.