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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.
“Hooper”1 page
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315TH AF BASE UNIT (RSS TNG) OFFICE OF THE AIR INSPECTOR GODMAN FIELD, FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY A/GFH/hmg 373. 2 9 January 1948 SUBJECT: Report of Observation of Unidentified Object in Skies Above Godman Field TO: Commanding General Eleventh Air Force 1612 South Cameron Street Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ATTENTION: Lt. Col. Chandler PIO Section 1. The inclosed certifications are of personnel from Godman Field who witnessed the object in the southwestern sky From Godman Field on 8 January 1948, with additional informa tion concerning the loss of a F-51, (NG869). 2. Standiford Tower, Standiford Field, Louisville, Ky., reported that two aircraft of an unspecified type were taking off from Standiford at approximately 1500 hrs. and would be directed to proceed to Godman to assist in determining a definite status of the reported object. These aircraft did not appear. Another flight composed of four P-51's flew directly over Godman Tower at approximately 1500 hrs., at which time they were asked their identification. Upon being informed that they were National Guard aircraft from Standiford Field, and upon their replying in the affirmative that sufficient gas was available, they were asked if they would deviate from their course to assist in determining the nature of the object. Their ET1 for the flight to Standiford was changed at that time. 3. The object, as it appeared to the undersigned, was circular in shape and, if it was a great distance away, was 1/10th the size of a full moon. If it was an earthly object, the size, as compared to the diminishing size of the 7-51's flying toward it, seemed to be at least several hundred feet in diameter. DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS; DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS. DOD DIR 5200.10 6 Inc1 E. GARRISON WOOD Lt. Colonel, USAF i. statement Air Inspector Pfc. Stanley Oliver 2. Statement T. Sgt. Q.A. Blackwell
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.