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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.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Godman Field Air Force/Sightings - 7 Jan 1948 and 19 Aug 1948
TO: MCIAP
Attn: Mr. Deyarmond
1. Re Sighting of 7 Jan 1946: Reference is made to your conversation with Capt Sneider on 19 October 1948 concerning your desire for a check on the position and visibility of Venus on 7 Jan 1948 between the hours of 1330 and 1350 as compared to the position of an unidentified aerial object.
2. A verbal report was rendered you at 1400 hours, the date of your request, to the effect that Venus was not visible at the date and time mentioned. Extracted versions of pertinent information follow:
a. Statement by 1st Lt Paul I. Orner, 0-865766, Airways and Air Communications Service ATC, Detachment 733-5, Air Force Base Unit (103rd AACS Sq) confirms the fact that the weather station theodolite viewed and tracked the object; that the object was first seen at about $ 2 4 0^{\circ} $ azimuth $ 8^{\circ} $ elevation at 1400 hours, and that it disappeared from his view at about $ 2 5 0^{\circ} $ at 1645 hrs.
b. A statement by Colonel Guy T. Rix, Commanding Officer, Headquarters, 315th Air Force Base Unit (Res Tng) Goodman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky, dated 9 Jan 1948, states that on or about 1445 hours the object was first sighted at 215$ ^{\circ}$ and that it could be plainly seen with the naked eye, was about 1/4 the size of a full moon, white in color and apparently stationary for 1-1/2 hours.
3. Comment No. 2 to B & R from XC2XXE-144 to XC1AXD-3, dated 27 Oct 194g states as follows:
Position of Venue Time - local Altitude Azimuth
10:00 11° 00' 122°
10:30 16° 00' 127°
11:00 21° 00' 134°
11:30 24° 00' 140°
12:00 28° 00' 147°
12:30 31° 00' 154°
13:00 33° 00' 163°
13:30 35° 00' 171°
14:00 35° 00' 180°
14:30 34° 00' 188°
15:00 33° 00' 197°
21:15 32° 00' 200°
UNCLASSIFIED 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.