The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : ported a doughnut-shaped object moving easterly about 10 degrees above the horizon. [66.]

The Soviet Union announced a few days later that they had successfully test fired a multi-stage carrier rocket over the pacific (exact date not on record). However, the reported size of the UFO was far too large to be explained as a rocket payload.

## NORTH PACIFIC

Second Officer William C. Ash of the American S.S. Iberville, Capt. M. O. Vinson, Master, reported the following:

"At 1700 G.M.T. on September 21, 1961, while in lat. $ 31^{\circ} 30^{\prime} $ N., long. $ 175^{\circ} 30^{\prime} $ E., a few minutes before morning twilight, a white opaque mass about twice the size of a full moon appeared in the northwest at an elevation of about $ 20^{\circ} $ . It continued to climb toward the zenith and at about an elevation of $ 40^{\circ} $ the mass opened gradually to appear as a huge halo with a satellite in the center having very nearly the brightness of a first magnitude star. By the time it reached the zenith it had more than doubled in size reaching its maximum at the zenith and then diminishing as it proceeded to the southeast. As it diminished it continued to decrease in size but did not appear to shrink into a corona as it had appeared but rather faded out completely at an elevation of approximately $ 20^{\circ} $ . The entire mass was in view for approximately 8 to 10 minutes."

Weather partly cloudy, wind NW force 2, slight sea and small NW swell, temperatures: dry $ 7 4^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ , wet $ 6 7^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ , sea $ 7 9^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ .

(N.M. 43/61.)

## Atlantic Ocean

About 150 miles south of Goose Bay, Labrador, above the North Atlantic, another BOAC pilot observed UFO activity June 30, 1954. Capt. James Howard described the sighting to the London Sunday Chronicle:

"I had taken off from Idlewild airfield New York at 5 o'clock... headed northeast across the St. Lawrence River. . . It was 9:05 p.m. Labrador time and we were about twenty minutes' flying time northeast of Seven Islands when I first sighted the thing."

The UFO first appeared as a "dark blob" in the distance, similar to a flak burst, with smaller objects around it. "As near as I can describe it," Capt. Howard said, "it was something like an inverted pear suspended in the sky." The object was to the port side of the Stratocruiser, in a westerly direction. Capt. Howard pointed out the UFO to his co-pilot, Lee Boyd, and they noticed that it was moving on a course parallel to the

## CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

plane. The smaller objects were stretched out in a line, in front of and behind the larger object.

Anticipating the questions that would come when he reported this, Capt. Howard counted the smaller objects several times. "Six. Always six. Sometimes there were three stretched out in front and three behind. Sometimes five stretched out in line ahead and only one behind."

To rule out a flight of normal aircraft, Capt. Howard radioed Goose Bay. A minute later they replied: "No other traffic in your area." When he described the UFOs, Goose Bay said they would send a fighter to investigate.

As the pilots continued to watch, the large UFO appeared to change shape. "It turned into what looked like a flying arrow an enormous delta-winged plane turning in to close with us." The object appeared to grow larger, as if coming closer, but then changed shape again and seemed to hold its distance. Now it appeared more flattened and elongated, as the smaller objects continued to maneuver around.

The other members of the crew crowded forward to watch: George Allen, navigator; Doug Cox, radio officer; Dan Godfrey, engineer; and Bill Stewart, engineer. They all saw it, as did the stewardess Daphne Webster and many of the passengers.

The navigator lined the UFOs up with the window frame, and reported that they pulled ahead of the plane once, then dropped back. This reduced the possibility that the "objects" actually were some kind of illusion.

In a short time, the fighter pilot called in and said he was about 20 miles off at higher altitude. Capt. Howard confirmed that the UFOs were still pacing his plane. When the fighter pilot asked how they looked, Capt. Howard turned to look again. The small satellite objects had suddenly vanished. He asked the navigator what had happened. Allen replied: "It looked to me as though they went inside the big one."

At that moment, the remaining UFO began to diminish rapidly in size, apparently moving away at terrific speed. In a matter of seconds, the UFO diminished to a pinpoint, then disappeared. Eighteen minutes had elapsed since the first sighting.

Capt. Howard called it "the strangest eighty-mile journey of my life."

When they landed at Goose Bay, the crew was interrogated by a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer.

"It was a solid thing," Capt. Howard concluded. "I'm sure of that. Maneuverable and controlled intelligently - a sort of base ship linked somehow with those smaller attendant satellites. . . It must have been some weird form of space ship from another world."

## NOTES

1. Ottawa Journal

2. Copy of statement on file at NICAP

3. Report on file at NICAP

4. Windsor Daily Star; December 13, 1957

5. United Press International; April 13, 1959

6. Letter on file at NICAP

7. Letter on file at NICAP

8. Statements by Wing Commander William M. Lee, Director of Public Relations, RCAF, on file at NICAP

9. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner; February 16, 1960. Anchorage Daily News; February 16, 1960. Anchorage Daily Times; February 15, 1960

10. Letter on file at NICAP

11. Letter, signed by Lt. Col. Arnoldo C. Tesselhoff, Assistant Air Attache, on file at NICAP

12. Stringfield, Leonard H., Inside Saucer Post. .3-0 Blue. (Privately published: 4412 Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1957), p. 83 CRIFO Newsletter, June 1955, L. H. Stringfield, Ed.

CRIFO Newsletter, June 1955, L. H. Stringfield, Ed.

13. Official report from Argentine Embassy, on file at NICAP

14. C.I.F.E. has twenty counselor members, among them Army, Navy and Naval Air Force officers on active duty. Collaborating members include directors of astronomical and astronautical centers.

15. Keyhoe, Donald E., Flying Saucer Conspiracy. (Henry Holt, 1955), p. 212

16. Ibid., p. 26. London Daily Sketch, November 22, 1954