The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Approved For Release 2001/04/02 CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0 Description

Code	Date	Location	Witness	Description
P	10-2-61	Salt Lake City, Utah	Waldo J. Harris, several others	Disc hovered, wobbled, moved away when pursued. [Section I]
M	1-29-62	Eastern Holland	Royal Dutch Air Force pilot in F-86	UFO sighted, confirmed by radar, fled when pursued. [Section X]
AL	5-21-62	England	Capt. Gordon Pendleton, Irish International Airlines	Globular UFO with antenna-like projections, streaked below his Viscount. [Section X]
M	5-22-62	Argentina	Several Navy pilots	Series of sightings by flight of aircraft. [Section XII, Argentine chronology]
AL	8-2-62	Liberal, Kans.	Capt. Jack Metzker, Central Airlines; airport observers	Brilliant light source, hovered, streaked west; airport alerted, also saw UFOs. [29]
AL	12-22-62	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Pilots of Panagra and Aerolineas Argentina airlines; control tower operators	Bright circular UFO observed near end of Ezeiza Airport runway, took off rapidly. [Section X]
P	2-5-63	nr Washington, D.C.	Carl Chambers, passenger	Pulsating yellow-white light source, maneuvered around plane.
M	3-11-63	Hawaii	Air National Guard jet pilots	Rocket-like UFO sped over high above jets, which were at 40,000 feet. [30]

## THE PATTERNS

What professional and private pilots have seen is readily classifiable into three general types of UFO phenomena (corresponding very well with the Air Force ProjectGrudge Report; see Section XII):

* Geometrical objects, generally circular (disc, oval, ellipse)

* Maneuvering or gyrating lights

* Cigar-shaped or rocket-like objects

(Since military pilot sightings are covered in previous sections, they will not be detailed here. In general, they correspond to nonmilitary reports, so the latter are discussed in this section as typical pilot sightings.)

## Geometrical Objects

The earliest recorded UFO sighting by an airline pilot, during the initial flurry of sightings in the United States, was the report by Capt. E. J. Smith, United Airlines, July 4, 1947. Flying a DC-3 from Boise, Idaho, to Portland, Oregon, Captain Smith and his crew observed two separate groups of flat round objects ahead, silhouetted against the sunset. The UFOs were visible for about 10 minutes over a distance of about 45 miles, opening and closing formation. In the second group of UFOs, three operated close together, and a fourth was off to one side by itself. [31]

Since that date, dozens of pilots on all the major airlines have reported UFOs.

Private pilots, also, have witnessed typical geometrical UFOs. During July 1948, in Pasco, Washington, DonNewman(former Air Force pilot) watched a disc-shaped UFO with a dome on top maneuvering over the city at 1:00 p.m. "The exterior finish appeared to be spun or brushed aluminum," Newman said in his report to NICAP. The UFO alternately slowed and accelerated rapidly, diving, and climbing over the area. [32]

On March 18, 1950, Robert Fisher was flying his family from Chicago to Keokuk, Iowa. Near Bradford, Illinois, at 8:40 a.m., he spotted an oval, metallic-appearing disc ahead and slightly to the left of his Bonanza NC 505B. The UFO was moving on a course of about 120 degrees true. (Fisher was flying a southwesterly course, approximately 225 degrees.) The UFO shone in the sunlight, but when it flew below an overcast continued to glow, indicating that it was self-illuminated. It quickly moved off into the distance, at a speed estimated to be 600 to 1,000 mph. [33]

Near Goshen, Indiana, April 27, 1950, a bright orange-red disc paced a Trans World Airways DC-3, which was piloted by Capts. Robert Adickes and Robert F. Manning. As the crew and many passengers watched, the UFO pulled alongside the plane. It looked "like a big red wheel rolling along." Each time the pilot moved toward the object, it moved away as if controlled by repulse radar. When the pilot turned, the disc dove (presenting an edge-on view) and sped off to the north toward South Bend. [34]

A month later (May 29), an American Airlines plane departed Washington, D.C., enroute south over Virginia. About 9:30 p.m., First Officer Bill Gates noticed a light approaching the airliner

head-on and notified Capt. Willis T. Sperry. Flight Engineer Robert Arnholt also witnessed what followed. An unidentified object with a brilliant bluish light on the leading edge neared, and seemed to stop. Suddenly it darted to the left of the plane, stopped for a few seconds, then circled around to the right. There it was silhouetted against the moon, revealing a torpedo-shaped or narrow elliptical body. Finally the UFO sped away to the east. Captain Sperry called the speed "fantastic," and said it was "without a doubt beyond the limits of any known aircraft speeds." [35]

A "perfectly round disc" hovering above the Hanford atomic plant, Richland, Washington, was observed by four veteran pilots July 5, 1952. The four Conner Airlines pilots were interviewed by United Press when they landed in Denver, Colorado, and their story was put on the newswires that day.

Capt. John Baldwin (former Air Force pilot, with 7000 hours airline pilot experience at the time) said he was flying near the Hanford atomic plant at about 9000 feet. The UFO was noticed above the plane about 6:00 a.m. It was "just below a deck of wispy clouds about 10,000 to 15,000 feet directly above us," Baldwin said. He described it as "a perfectly round disc, white in color and almost transparent with small vapor trails off it like the tentacles of an octopus." [cf., September 24, 1959 FAA case below]

Capt. George Robertson, D. Shenkel (both former Air Force pilots) and Steven Summers confirmed Baldwin's report. "All of us have been flying a number of years," Baldwin said, "and we've seen all kinds of clouds and formations, but none of us had ever seen anything like this before."

At first, the UFO was hovering. Then it "seemed to back away" and tilt edge-on. "It became flat, gained speed and then disappeared quickly," Baldwin reported.

## DISC FORMATION

On the evening of July 14, 1952, a Pan American Airways DC-4 airliner, flying at 8,000 feet, was approaching the Norfolk, Virginia, area enroute to Miami. The senior Captain was back in the cabin and Capt. William B. Nash, temporarily acting as First Officer, was at the controls. In the righthand cockpit seat was Second Officer William Fortenberry. The night was clear and visibility unlimited. Norfolk lay about 20 miles ahead, on the plane's course of 200 degrees magnetic. Off to the right were the lights of Newport News.

About 8:10 p.m. EST, both men noticed a red brilliance in the sky, apparently beyond and to the east of Newport News. The light quickly resolved itself into sixbright objects streaking toward the plane, at lower altitude. The UFOs were fiery red. "Their shape was clearly outlined and evidently circular," Captain Nash stated. "The edges were well-defined, not phosphorescent or fuzzy in the least." The upper surfaces were glowing red-orange.

Within seconds, "we could observe that they were holding a narrow echelon formation--a stepped-up line tilted slightly to our right, with the leader at the lowest point and each following craft

Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0