UFO Photos

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

I timed the Saucer for seventeen minutes while the Lode star kept to its course. Twice it rose vertically to a final height of 40,000 feet, then it moved east toward the coast at a terrific speed. "There was a large fin-like obliqu

Captain Bicknell immediately after landing at Mombasa prepared an affidavit, which Merrifield and his seven men and two women passengers signed. One passenger. Captain H. R. F.

"There was a large fin-like object attached to the rear, although it wasn't clearly defined. There was no apparent propelling power when the Sauce moved. There were definitely no vapour trails." Captain Bicknell immediately

One passenger, Captain H. B. Fussell, a Newport, Monmouthshire, sports dealer, who had a pair of powerful binoculars said: "Through the glasses the object appeared bullet-shaped. Its colour was whitish-silver with three vertical black bands down the side. For ten minutes it remained stationary, then it suddenly rose vertically by 5,000 feet. "Again it became stationary, and the

"Again it became stationary, and then a minute later it rose again and moved laterally away at a great speed probably 400 m.p.h." Captain Fussell said that Dr. Urmer Liddell

Captain Fussell said that Dr. Urner Liddel's balloon theory did not fit what he saw. "Suppose it was a balloon—how could a balloon both hover motorless and move at 400 m.p.h. in the same weather conditions?" he asked. "I emphatically reject the theory.

"I emphatically reject the theory. The object was definitely metallic." A radio officer named Overstreet from the

A radio officer named Overstreet from the American freighter Robin Mowbray, who was another passenger, said: "I wouldn't swear but through the binoculars I thought I could identify a row of circular windows." Charles J. Vernon, also American

Charles J. Vernon, also American, and purse of the Robin Mowbray, said: "The object must have been immense, two or three times the size of the largest passenger plane." Three separate attempts to photograph the

Three separate attempts to photograph the object were made from the plane. Captain Fussell snapped it with his miniature camera. Mr. Overstreet shot 30 feet of colour film with a telescopic lens on his cine camera, and Mr. Vernon also tried to snap it. After landing, Captain Fussell doubled

After landing, Captain Fussell developed his film in the presence of a newspaper reporter and a commercial

## THE LULL

photographer, who certify that the film was not faked or retouched. Three exposures were blank, but the four

Three exposures were blank, but the fourth showed a small black object. Mr. Vernon's film showed nothing.

Mr. Vernon's film showed nothing, and Mr. Overstreet's colour-film has not been developed. During the night after the Savoy

During the night after the Saucer was reported, two unexplained flashes lit Mombasa. Captain Bicknell was born in Fenton.

Captain Bicknell was born in Exeter and lived in London before joining East Africa Airways in 1948. Radio Operator Merrifield's parented

Radio Operator Merrifield's parents live at Ellison Gardens, Southall, Middlesex.

A week later, on 4th March, 1951, The Sunday Dispatch referred again to this sighting and reproduced a sketch of the mysterious object, as under:

The newspaper made the following comments:

Flying in a cloudless sky over Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanganyika, Captain Jack Bicknell, pilot of a passenger plane bound for Mombasa, saw through binoculars "a metallic, bullet-shaped object which must have been more than 200 feet long". The Sunday Dispatch last week gave a detailed report of this Flying Saucer sighting, the most authentic so far recorded. When he brought the plane down

When he brought the plane down, Captain Bicknell drew a sketch of what he had seen. The diagram above was prepared for

The diagram above was prepared from Captain Bicknell's sketch and shows the "large object attached to the rear".