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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.
AIRMAYS AND AIR COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE, ATC DETACHMENT 733-5 AF BASE UNIT (103D AACS SQ) Godman Field, Fort Knox, Ky. STATEMENT OF PFC STANLEY OLIVER I, Pfc Stanley Oliver, was on duty in the Control Tower at Godman Field on the afternoon of 7 January 1948. When first heard of the ob- ject in the sky about 1320 CST, we received a phone call from Colonel Hix's office that a large object was sighted at Mansville, Kentucky, the supposed object was supposed to be about 250 feet to 300 feet in dia- meter at 1330 CST or more. Sgt Blackwell sighted an object to the southwest of Godman Field and he asked me if I saw it. I saw the object but thought I was imagining I saw it and Sgt Blackwell told me to look again. This time I was really sure I saw an object and then we called Lt Orner, who came to the Control Tower and he too saw the object. Lt Orner then called Captain Carter who, after coming to the Control Tower, also saw this object. Captain Carter called Colonel Hix who came to the Control Tower and he too saw the object. We all then attempted to figure out just what it could be and to me it had the resemblance of an ice cream cone topped with red. At or about 1445 CST we sighted five (5) P-51 aircraft coming on from the southwest and as they came over the Control Tower someone sug- gested contacting the aircraft. Sgt Blackwell contacted them on "B" channel (VHF) and aircraft acknowledged his call. Someone suggested they try to overtake the object and we requested the planes to try and the flight leader stated he would. The call sign of this ship was NG869. They turned around and started toward the southwest again. One pilot in the formation told the flight leader that he would like to continue on to Louisville with the flight leader giving his permission to do so. We kept in contact with the flight leader for about twenty-five (25) min- utes. The last contact we had with the flight leader was when one of his wingmen called and said "what the hell are we looking for". Flight leader stated he had the object in sight and he was going up to see what it was. He said at present he was at 15000 feet and was still climbing. Those were the last words I believe we heard from him. Other pilots in the formation tried to contact him but to no avail. In about another ten or fifteen minutes another P-51 took off from Standiford Field to look for the object. He gave me a call and asked if we still had the object in sight. He was told that at present the object was behind a cloud formation but he said he would try and locate it and in the meantime he tried contacting his flight leader but was unable to do so. He then reported he was unable to see the object and was coming back in when he came over the Control Tower. I received a call from Standiford Operations that the plane had crashed and the pilot was killed at Franklin, Kentucky. He then sighted UNCLASSIFIEL Meltt 1
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