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This 92-page Project Blue Book file, released through The Black Vault, covers the 7 January 1948 sighting at Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky. It holds control tower witness reports, a record of the P-51 pursuit led by Captain Thomas Mantell, AMC requests for theodolite readings and weather data, and astronomical tables for Venus and the Moon. One analysis concludes the object was not Venus and calls the sighting unexplained. The file also includes a 1964 letter to the Simpson County coroner about Mantell's death.
“Headquarters”8 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
3 Incls
It is apparent, from the data given above, that the object sighted at Godman Air Force Base on 7 January 1948 was not the planet Venus. Therefore, this sighting must be considered as unexplained.
3 Incls
n/c A. B. DEYARMOND
Asst Deputy for Tech Analysis
Tech Intelligence Div
Intelligence Department ABD/amb
6-6398
P.213B
B.208
THU: MCIAT MCIAT-3 8 Nov 1943 1
TO: Attn: Mr. Money
MCIAT
Attn: Mr. Deyarmond
b. It is doubtful that Venus could be observed by the unaffected eye from the ground or 15,000 feet as it would probably be hidden by the high degree of sky brightness due to its proximity to the Sun.
c. Jupiter is the only other planet within $ \pm 90^{\circ} $ of the sun during this period and its magnitude of brightness is only -1.4 as compared with -3.4 of Venus, making it impossible to observe with the unaided eye. However, the following figures on the Moon are submitted for your information:
Time Local Altitude Arimuth
10:00 23° 00' 197°
10:30 26° 00' 204°
11:00 23° 00' 211°
11:30 20° 00' 217°
12:00 17° 00' 223°
12:30 13° 00' 228° Document, cited by the archive. 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. 93 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.