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

fighter. He saw them flying nearby and contacted Nowra radar to ask if they had him on their scope; they informed
him that they had three separate returns, at which juncture he described the unidentified objects. Under instructions
from the Nowra radar operator, he executed certain maneuvers to identify himself on the scope. This confirmed the
scope-identity of his aircraft vs. the unknowns. As he executed the test maneuvers, the two unknowns moved away
and disappeared. No explanation of this incident was offered by Naval authorities after it was widely reported in
Australian and New Zealand papers about three months after it occurred.
Discussion:
It is mildly amusing that the press accounts indicated that
"the pilot, fearing that he might be ragged in the wardroom on his return if he abruptly reported
flying saucers, called Nowra by radio and asked whether the radar screen showed his aircraft."
Only after getting word of three, not one, radar blips in his locality did he radio the information on the unknowns,
whose configuration was not publicly released. This is in good accord with my own direct experience in
interviewing Australian UFO witnesses in 1967; they are no more willing than Americans to be ridiculed for seeing
something that is not supposed to exist.
3. Case 37. Capetown South Africa, May 23, 1953:
In November 1953, the South African Air Force released a brief announcement concerning radar-tracking of six
successive passes of one or more unknown high-speed objects over the Cape. On January 1, 1967, in a transoceanic
shortwave broadcast from South Africa, the authenticity of this report was confirmed, though no additional data
beyond what had been cited earlier were presented. In the six passes, the target's altitude varied between 5,000 and
15,000 ft, and its closest approach varied between 7 and 10 miles. Speeds were estimated at over 1200 mph, well
beyond those of any aircraft operating in that area at that time.
Discussion:
This report, on which the available information is slim, is cited to indicate that not only visual sightings but also
radar sightings of seemingly unconventional objects appear to comprise a global phenomenon. By and large, foreign
radar sightings are not readily accessible, and not easily cross- checked. Zigel (Ref. 38) briefly mentions a Russian
incident in which both airborne and ground-based radar tracked an unidentified in the vicinity of Odessa, on April 4,
1966, the ground-based height-finding radar indicating altitudes of well over 100,000 ft. Such reports, without
accessory information, are not readily evaluated, of course.
4. Case 38. Washington, D.C., July 19, 1952:
By far the most famous single radar-visual sighting on record is the one which occurred late in the evening of July
19, and early on July 20, 1952, in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. (Refs. 2, 4, 5, 10, 24, 25). A curiously similar
incident occurred just one week later. The official explanation centered around atmospheric effects on radar and
light propagation. Just before midnight on July 19/20, CAA radar showed a number of unidentified targets which
varied in speed (up to about 800 mph) in a manner inconsistent with conventional aircraft. A number of experienced
CAA radarmen observed these returns, and, at one juncture, compatible returns were being received not only at the
ARTC radar but also on the ARS radar in a separate location at Washington National Airport, and on still a third
radar at Andrews AFB. Concurrently, both ground and airborne observers saw unidentifiable lights in locations
matching those of the blips on the ground radar.
Discussion:
I have interviewed five of the CAA personnel involved in this case and four of the commercial airline pilots
involved, I have checked the radiosonde data against well-known radar propagation relations, and I have studied the
CAA report subsequently published on this event. Only an extremely lengthy discussion would suffice to present the