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This NICAP compilation by Dan Wilson gathers Project Blue Book records on the sighting of 24 February 1959, when American Airlines Flight 139, flying from Newark to Detroit, and two United Airlines crews saw three lights over Pennsylvania and Ohio. It includes the record card, pilot statements, Air Force letters and correspondence with an Akron UFO committee. The Air Force concluded that the lights came from three B-47s refueling from KC-97 tankers. Book excerpts disputing Captain Killian's later claims are also included.
“Cooper”1 page
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# Saucers trail AIRLINER Aug. # By Curtis Fuller # This amazing performance was witnessed by 39 persons on the plane for 45 minutes and 260 miles. AT 7:10 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25. an American Airlines DC-6 airliner took off from Newark, N.J., nonstop for Detroit, Mich. Aboard were 35 passengers. At the controls were Capt. Peter Killian of Syosset, N.Y., an airline veteran of 15 years, and co-pilot John Dee of Nyack, N.Y. Stewardesses were Edna La Gate and Beverly Pingree. After about an hour and a half in the air, the plane was cruising at 3,500 feet altitude between Philipsburg and Bradford, Pa. At 5:45 p.m. Killian looked off to the south where he saw three bright whitish lights in a single horizontal overhead. "At first I thought it was the Belt of Orion (a group of stars in a constellation) but then I took a second look and saw both the Belt and the foreign objects," Killian later reported. "When Dee caught the expression on my face he asked me if my eyes were tired. I then pointed in the direction of the 'things' and asked him if there were any lightning bugs in the cockpit. "The objects were by no means close to the plane, but one would move in at intervals, fall back again, and change its place in the formation while keeping abreast of the ship." Killian decided to let the pas-
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