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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.
“Spencer”2 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
1. Date 7 January 1948
2. Time 1515 1445
3. Location Godman Field, Ky.
4. Name of observer Flight Leader NG 869 (Capt. Thomas F. Mantell
5. Occupation of observer Flight Leader
6. Address of observer
7. Place of observation Over Godman Field, Ky.
3. Number of objects 1
9. Distance of object from observer Not stated
10. Timo in sight Apparently over 1 hour and a half
11. Altitude above 15000 20,000 ft
12. Speed Approximately 500 mph
14. Tactics None
13. Direction of flight approximately $ 2 1 0^{\circ} $ from Godman Field
15. Sound Not stated.
16. Size Tremendous
17. Color Metallic
16. Shape Not stated
19. Odor detected Not stated
20. Apparent construction metallic
21. Exhaust trails Not stated
22. Weather conditions Not stated
23. Effect on clouds Not stated
UNCLASSIFIED
24. Sketches or photographs None
25. Manner of disappearance Not stated
26. Remarks: This information taken from a report describing a radio conversation between Flt. leader NG 869 who investigated the object at the request of Godman Field Tower. The Flt. Leader Capt. Thomas F. Mantell crashed and was killed after his last radio contact with Godman Field at 1515 hr 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.