Project Blue Book file, RB-47, July 17, 1957

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

time later, McClure recalls that he decided to check the ALA-6 against other air defense radars in the region. These operate at a lower frequency in L-band (1,000 mc.) McClure recalls that the ALA-6 seemed to give the correct bearing for the known location of these L-band radars. (This detail is not included in the original Piwetz report.) Unfortunately, McClure did not think to tune back to S-band to check the ALA-6 performance against the original signal. If McClure's recent recollection of having checked the ALA-6 against L-band radars is correct, it would seem that the transient malfunction had by this time cleared.

## THE SECOND INCIDENT:

The RB-47 turned west near Meridian and took up a true heading of $ 2 6 5^{\circ} $ on a path toward Waco, during which time the three Elint operators were to check out their equipments against radars and communications stations in the region. At 10:10Z, while the RB-47 was in the vicinity of Winnsboro, La., the pilot observed "a very intense white light with light blue tint" coming toward the aircraft from the 11 o'clock position. As the pilot and co-pilot watched, the luminous object cut in front of the RB-47, at a distance later estimated to be roughly two miles, and zoomed off to the right of the airplane, disappearing at roughly a 2:30 o'clock position.

The encounter would have been an unnerving one for the flight crew because the luminous object seemed to at first threaten a head-on collision. So far as the record shows, the RB-47 had not received any warning from the Civil Aeronautics Administration (Now the Federal Aviation Administration) traffic controllers or from any of the several nearby air defense radar stations that there was any other traffic near their altitude/position.

Large meteors, or "fireballs," on a near-horizontal trajectory often produce UFO reports, even from experienced pilots. For example, on Dec. 9, 1965, a former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot (Mr. A.G.M. of Toronto) wrote a letter to the USAF's Project Blue Book office describing a UFO he had seen while flying near Pittsburgh, Pa., at 4:45 p.m. (daylight) on Air Canada Flight #781.

Quoting from his letter: "We were at 18,000 ft., I was looking out the window toward the east when I saw 'it.' A sort of pencil shaped object flying horizontal for a split second, then going into a 70 $ ^{\circ} $ dive with an orange flame then appearing behind it. In a matter of just 3 or 4 seconds it was gone. Just like a rocket taking off...Am a former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot from the last war. I had never seen anything like it before, especially the rapid changes in direction and terrific speed." [Emphasis supplied.]

If this incident had occurred very late at night and/or over a thinly populated area, this particular UFO report might still be unexplained. However, because the same object reported by this RCAF pilot was also seen and reported by hundreds of observers on the ground, this UFO is known to have been a bright meteor. It left a characteristic meteor trail which persisted for 20 minutes and which was photographed by a man in Michigan who obtained four good pictures.

The RB-47 incident occurred at 5:10 a.m. Central Daylight Savings time, when there would be few ground observers if any. In the summer of 1957, it was not surprising that the RB-47 flight crew began to consider the possibility that the luminous object they had seen might be a UFO, for the U.S. was in the midst of a major "UFO Flap" that summer. Since the "discovery" of UFOs in 1947, there would be more UFO reports filed with the USAF in 1957 than in any previous year except 1952!