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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.
“Mission Control”1 page
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At approximately 1300 hrs. a call came to this Headquarters from State Police, reporting a flying object near Elizabethtown. Another report case in from Madisonville about ten minutes later. A third call came in from Lexington, Kentucky. (All these towns are south of Godman Field). We alerted the Tower to be on the lookout for flying objects. At 1445 hrs. the Tower notified me that an object had been sighted at about 2150. I went to the Tower and observed the object until 1550 hrs. when it disappeared behind the clouds. The object observed could be plainly seen with the naked eye, and appeared to be about one-quarter the size of a full moon, white in color. Through eight-power binoculars, the object seemed to have a red border at the bottom, at times, and a red border at the top at times. It remained stationary for 1½ hours. when I arrived in the Tower, Tech. Sgt. Quinton Blackwell had contacted there P-51 airplanes over the field and suggested that they have a look if they had sufficient fuel. When I arrived, they were within sight of the Tower, headed on a course of 2150. I heard one of the pilots report that he saw the object straight ahead and estimated the apped of 180 M.P.H. The pilot stated that the object was very large and very bright. /s/ Guy P. Hix Guy P. HIX Colonel, USAF Convancing CERTIFIED A TRUS COPY JAMES F. DUESLER, JR. CAPTAIN, USAF DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS; DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS. DOD DIR 5200.10
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