Documents / FOIA release
This secret Air Force OSI report was prepared by OSI District 51 at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand, and dated 6 September 1969. The archive release is attributed to the CIA. It covers a pilot's sighting on 24 August 1969 of what looked like a helicopter with folded rotor blades, plus a bright light, near the base. Royal Thai Army searches found nothing. The report concludes that the object was probably a village religious procession carrying ceremonial drums on poles and a powerful lantern. It also notes that earlier UFO reports at the base had possible explanations.
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the point of a fixedwing, On the night past, the pilot sighted 25 individuals gathered around a "lattice structure," in the said field had been a helicopter with its motor blades fixed. The pilot observed the object being moved into trees adjacent to the road. The pilot vectors the area and pin-pointed the location as VE 652280. USAF Security Police representatives subsequently advised that a sweep of the sighting area, from Ban Ka Mun Hin (VE 668235) to the vicinity of Ban Ram Kut (VE 641280), by Royal Thai Army (RTA) personnel between 0100 and 0400 hours, 24 August 1969 produced no results, nor did a joint RTA-USAF Security Police search at 1100 hours the same day. (OSI Evaluation re helicopter sighting: F-5). 3. (C) 5106-ASP-6J reported that on the night of 23-24 August 1969, some twenty Thai National residents of Ban Sang Hin (VE 682249) reportedly travelled to and from the Wat Si Sa-at, located in Ban Ran Rat (VE 641280), to make an offering. This religious procession followed the country road to Ban Ram Rat, passing through Ban Mong Bun (VE 668265) and Ban Khok Sawang (VE 657278). On their return trip, between Bun Mong Bun and Ban Sang Hin, members of the group noticed an aircraft circling overhead. One of the villagers, who was carrying a portable electric lantern to light their path, shined his light upward at the plane. Source (5106-ASP-6J) stated that this incident occurred sometime between 2400 hours 23 August and 0100 hours 24 August 1969. (F-3). 4. (C) In an effort to obtain further details, 5106-ASP-6, supra, travelled to Ban Sang Hin, where he questioned a villager (NPI, who allegedly took part in the pilgrimage to Nat Si Sa-at. This villager confirmed the information received from 5106-ASP-6J, and provided the following additional details: a. The religious procession left Ban Sang Bin at approximately 2000 hours 23 August 1969, arrived at the wet two hours later, and departed for home again at 2330 hours. Enroute, the villagers travelled along the country road more or less in a single file. Some carried flashlights to light the way, and at least one villager carried a powerful electric lantern. On the return trip, the pilgrims carried with them two large ceremonial drums. Due to the weight of the drums, they were suspended between two long poles, with several persons supporting each pole. (P-3). b. When the procession was nearing home, between Ban Nong Bua and Ban Sang Hin, members of the group observed an aircraft circling overhead, and the villager with the electric lantern directed its beam at the plane. When the plane continued to circle, and began to come lower, some members of the group became frightened and ran into the woods along the road. After the aircraft left the area, the group continued on its way, arriving at Ban Sang Hin between 0100 and 0130 hours, 24 August 1969. (F-3). (See attached sketch). COMMENTS OF THE APPROVING OFFICER: (C) The information in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, was furnished the Commander and Director of Intelligence, 56th Special Operations Wing and 56th Security Police Squadron, Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, upon receipt. (G) while the location of the pilot's sighting and the route ascribed to the religious procession do not coincide precisely, their proximity and the coincidence of timing makes it apparent that the helicopter with folded DD.NM.1395c SECRBT "NO POREIGN "ISSEM"
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.