James E. McDonald statement, Symposium on UFOs, House Committee on Science and Astronautics

satellite objects as they shifted positions from time to time. Just before an F-86 arrived from Goose AFB at
Howard's request, First Officer Boyd and Navigator George Allen, who were watching the objects at that moment,
said the small objects seemed to merge into the larger object. Then the large object receded rapidly towards the
northwest and was out of sight in a matter of seconds. Such a maneuver of a number of satellite objects seeming to
merge with or to enter a larger object has been reported in other UFO incidents around the world.
7. Case 7. Goshen, Ind., April 27, 1950:
Another early airline sighting that seemed worth personally crosschecking involved the crew and passengers of a
TWA DC-3 on the evening of 4/27/50 (Refs. 4, 5, 10, 23). I have interviewed both the pilot, Capt. Robert Adickes,
and the copilot, Capt. Robert F. Manning, and confirmed all of the principal features first reported in detail in a
magazine account by Keyhoe (Ref. 31). The DC-3 was at about 2000 ft, headed for Chicago, when, at about 8:25
p.m., Manning spotted a glowing red object aft of the starboard wing, well to their rear. Manning sent to me a copy
of notes that he had made later that night at his Chicago hotel. Quoting from the notes:
"It was similar in appearance to a rising blood red moon, and appeared to be closing with us at a
relatively slow rate of convergence. I watched its approach for about two minutes, trying to
determine what it might be. Then I attracted Adickes' attention to the object asking what he
thought it was. He rang for our hostess, Gloria Henshaw, and pointed it out to her. At that time
the object was at a relative bearing of about 100 degrees and slightly lower than we were. It was
seemingly holding its position relative to us, about one-half mile away."
Manning's account then notes that Capt. Adickes sent the stewardess back to alert the passengers (see Keyhoe's
account, Ref. 31), and then banked the DC-3 to starboard to try to close on the unknown object. Manning continues
in his 4/27/50 notes:
"As we turned, the object seemed to veer away from us in a direction just west of north, toward
the airport area of South Bend. It seemed to descend as it increased its velocity, and within a few
minutes was lost to our sight..."
Discussion:
Although, in my interview, I found some differences in the recollected shape of the object, as remembered by the
two TWA pilots, both were positive it was no aircraft, both emphasized its red glow, and both were impressed by its
high speed departure. Manning remarked to me that he'd never seen anything else like it before or since; and he
conceded, in response to my query, that the decreased number of airline reports on UFOs in recent years probably
stems chiefly from pilot reluctance to report. Both he and Adickes, like most other pilots I have asked, indicated
they were unaware of any airline regulations precluding reporting, however. I mentioned to Adickes that there is
indirect indication in one reference (Ref. 5) that the official explanation for this sighting was "blast-furnace
reflections off clouds." He indicated this was absolutely out of the question. It is to be noted that here, as in many
other pilot sightings, an upper bound, even if rough, is imposed on the range to the unknown by virtue of a
downward slanting line of sight. In such instances, meteor-explanations are almost automatically excluded. The
Goshen case has no evident meteorological, astronomical, or optical explanation.
8. Case 8. Newport News, Va., July 14, 1952:
Another case in which experienced pilots viewed UFOs below them, and hence had helpful background-cues to
distance and size, occurred near 8:12 p.m. EST, July 14, 1952. A Pan American DC-4, en route from New York to
Miami, was at 8000 ft over Chesapeake Bay, northeast of Newport News, when its cockpit crew witnessed glowing,
disc-shaped objects approaching them at a lower altitude (estimated at perhaps 2000 ft). First Officer Wm. B. Nash,
at the controls for Capt. Koepke (who was not on the flight deck during the sighting) and Second Officer Wm. H.
Fortenberry saw six amber-glowing objects come in at high velocity and execute a peculiar flipping maneuver
during an acute-angle direction change. Almost immediately after the first six reversed course, two other apparently
identical discs shot in under the DC-4, Joining the other six. I am omitting here certain other maneuver details of
significance, since these are on record in many accounts (4, 5, 10, 11, 25). Although I have not interviewed Nash
(now in Germany with PAA, and Fortenberry is deceased), I believe that there has never been any dispute as to the