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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.
AIRAYS AND AIR COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, ATC DETACHMENT 733-5 AP BASE UNIT (103D AACS SQ) Codman Field, Fort Knox, Ky. 9 January 1948 STATEMENT OF T 3GT QUINTON A BLACKWELL I, T Sgt Quinton A Blackwell, AF18162475, was on duty as chief operator in the Control Tower at Godman Field, Ky. on the afternoon of 7 January 1948. Up until 1315 or 1320 matters were routine. At approximately that time I received a telephone call from Sgt Coox, Col Hix's office, stating that according to St Knox Military Police and "E" Town state police, a large curcular object from 250 to 300 ft in diameter over Mansville, Ky. and requested I check with Army Flight Service to see if any unusual type aircraft was in that vicinity. Flight Service advised negative on the aircraft and took the other info, requesting out GO verify the story. Shortly afterward Flight Service gave Godman Tower positions on an object over Irvington, Ky. then Owensboro, Ky. of about the same size and description. About 1345 or 1350 I sighted an object in the sky to the South of Godman Field. As I wanted verification, I called my Detachment Commander, 1st Lt Orner, to the Tower. After he had sighted the object, he called for the Operations Officer, Capt Carter, over the teletalk box from the Traffic Deck. He came up stairs immediately, and looked at the object through field glasses in the Tower. He then called for the GO, Col Hix. He came to the tower about 1420 (appx) and sighted the object immediately. About 1430 to 1440 a flight of four F-51's approached Godman Field from the South, enroute from Marietta, Ga. to Standiford Field, Ky. As they passed over the tower I called them on "B" channel, VHF and asked the flight leader, MG 869, if he had enough gas and if so, would he mind trying to identify an object in the sky to the South of Godman Field. He replied in the affirmative and made a right turn around with two planes and proceeded South from Godman Field. The fourth plane proceeded on to Standiford Field alone. The three ship formation proceeded South on a heading of 210°, climbing steadily. About 1445 the flight leader, MG 869, reported seeing the object "ahead and above, I'm still climbing". To which a wing man retorted,"What the Hell are we looking for?" The leader reported at 15,000 ft that "The object is directly ahead of and above me now, moving about half my speed". Then asked for a description he replied "It appears metallic object of tremendous size". At 15,000 ft, the flight leader reported,"I'm still climbing, the object is above and ahead of me moving at about my speed or faster. I'm trying to close in for a better look. This last contact was at about 1515. About 5 min. afterward, the other two ships in the flight turned back. As they passed over Godman MG 869 reported "It appears like the reflection of sunlight on an airplane canopy". Shortly afterward, the same pilot and plane took off from Standiford and resumed the search. He went to 33,000 feet one hundred miles South and did not sight anything. I left the Control Tower shortly afterward. The foregoing statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. statement is the best of my US COFFE /3/Quinton A. Blackwell QUINTON A. BLACKBILL T Sgt AP13162475 Dec-733d JBU CERTIFIED A TAUS CORP
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.