The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

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

zoom down past one side of it, make a sharp turn, and flash back above it on the opposite side.

"They seemed to be shaped more like flattened spheres, rather than thin saucers. In fact, they looked and behaved somewhat like yo-yo's. They moved about quickly, but seemed to have no particular destination.

"Although the sun was above them, the side away from the sun, that is, the side toward us, appeared as if it were reflecting the sunlight. They were somewhat metallic in appearance, but seemed whiter than modern aircraft.

"We had a color motion picture camera with us, but were waiting for them to fly away from the direct rays of the sun. Instead, they disappeared away from us, and we were left with nothing but memories."

## Formation of Discs

Mid-August 1956; Boulder City, Nevada. A formation of five disc-shaped UFOs was seen about 10:15 p.m. (PDT) by Edison F. Carpenter, a research technician for a division of North American Aviation. At the time of the sighting, Mr. Carpenter was employed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

"My wife and I were sitting on the back step of our home. It was a clear night, not a cloud in sight and a slight breeze from the southwest. We were facing due south. . Suddenly from directly overhead, they had come over the house from the north, we both became aware of a group of slightly glowing objects as they flew to the south. The group numbered five and was in roughly this formation:

$$
\bigcirc \bigcirc \bigcirc \bigcirc
$$

Their shape was perfectly round as viewed from below and they had a sort of phosphorescent glow (pinkish in color). The general shape must have been round and flat rather than round like a ball because as they drew away the shape was like this rather than this O as a ball would appear from any angle.

"They held the formation illustrated while in view and maintained a spacing of approximately one diameter between ships. This diameter was about the diameter of a cigarette cross-section held at arm's length. They crossed approximately 60 degrees of sky, from the time they came into view over our roof until I lost sight of them, in about 6 seconds. I'm quite sure of the time element because pistol shooting is a hobby of mine and I've become accustomed to counting off 10 and 20 seconds for rapid and timed fire."

(In an accompanying letter to NICAP, Mr. Carpenter added an important point about the duration of some UFO sightings: "I am also aware that 10 seconds is a much longer interval than most people realize since it allows time for 5 aimed shots with a pistol." Some skeptics deny the validity of observations of several seconds duration, even when made by trained observers. Anyone in military service who has taken courses in aircraft and ship identification is also aware of how much detail can be observed in 2-3 seconds, and even in a fraction of a second with appropriate training).

## Rocketdyne Engineers

During a large flurry of UFO sightings in November 1957, four engineers for Rocketdyne, near Canoga Park, California, observed three UFOs flying in formation in bright daylight. One of the engineers, Harold R. Lamb, Jr., filled out a NICAP report form. [10.]

November 11, 1957: at 4:20 p.m. the group was driving in a generally ESE direction from the Rocketdyne SanSu facility toward Canoga Park, with the late afternoon sun to their back. One of the men happened to look up and saw three shiny objects crossing their path, from NE to SW. He alerted the others, and they all clearly saw a large narrow oval object (almost cigar-shaped) accompanied by two smaller nearly circular objects (slightly oval, as if discs viewed at an angle). The large UFO was silvery on top, but bright orange underneath, possibly reflecting sunlight. The two smaller UFOs were solid silver colored. Keeping the same positions relative to each other, a V with one of the smaller objects slightly ahead and one slightly behind the large object, the three UFOs accelerated and climbed away into the distance.

The four men compared notes, and arrived at a consensus of opinion that the UFOs were first seen at about 10,000 feet altitude, climbing to 30,000 feet, at an estimated 5000 mph.

## TELESCOPIC SIGHTINGS

August 11, 1958; Chautauqua Lake, N.Y.

Time: 9:15 to 10:30 p.m.

Observers: Fred C. Fair, Ph.D., and Gary Phillips.

Dr. Fair, a retired professor of Engineering, New York University, submitted the following log of observations of aerial phenomena. He and Gary Phillips were using a survey transit to observe the altitude and azimuth of certain stars.

"(1) A white light was observed moving across the sky to the right and away from the observers. When the transit telescope was sighted on the moving light, possibly a minute had elapsed since it was first observed. At first only one white light was seen, then a second was noted, then a third and finally a fourth light, all four being more or less in line, and each separated by an angular distance of about 2 degrees. It is the opinion of both observers that when the first of the four lights was seen, that there were no other moving lights in the vicinity. Which does not mean that the objects were not in the sky, but that they were not emitting visible light at that time.

Shortly after watching all four lights with the naked eye, the third light became about ten times as bright as the others, becoming brighter than Jupiter which was in the same sky area. The other three lights at this time were about as bright as a second magnitude star. A few seconds later this third light rather suddenly dimmed until it was the faintest of the four lights.

Due to the narrow field of view of a surveyor's transit telescope, it is rather difficult to locate and follow a rapidly moving object. By the time that Gary made his first observation through the telescope the moving lights had traveled from Northwest to Southwest, passing close to Jupiter. Gary made the statement that the objects were Flying Saucers, and that the telescope showed that what appeared to be a single light to the naked eye was several lights, and that there was a red light above the others. When Dr. Fair took his turn to observe the lights, three of the objects had already disappeared behind trees to the south. The very brief glance that Dr. Fair had showed several white lights, he thought there were five, and he observed a faint red light to the rear and above the white ones.

(2) Fifteen minutes later, while in a boat on Lake Chautauqua, while looking for meteors, a single white light was seen in the southeast sky traveling from south to north. The light slowly and continuously varied intensity, fluctuating from 5th to 3rd magnitude, but the time of the cycle was irregular, but of more than three-second duration per cycle. For several seconds the light appeared to be stationary and when it resumed its motion it was traveling in a direction opposite to when first observed. Total time of observation of this light was about five minutes. As it receded in the south it became too faint to be further seen.

At about this time a jet trail, making an arc of about 180 degrees was observed in a tighter radius than that described by the first four objects, but following essentially the same course. At the head of the jet trail Gary saw a red glow, possibly the exhaust from the jet.

(3) Still later a different type of lighting was seen close to the horizon in the western sky. We were still out on the lake at the time. A bright, rapidly blinking red and white light moved rapidly from right to left. Soon a similar blinking red and white light was seen to the right of this light, moving from right to left. It was fainter than the other which could have been due to being farther away. When the two lights passed each other they were separated by a vertical angle of about 2 or 3 degrees.