Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.
“The Advance”52 pages
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of the windshield as a point. The object moved past this member at about 50
degrees per second. This object was peculiar in that it had what can be described
as a halo around it with a dark undersurfa,ce. It crossed rapidly and then slowed
down and started to climb in lazy circles slowly. The pattern it made was like
a falling oak leaf inverted. It went through these gyrations for a couple minute
and then with a very rapid acceleration disappeared to the east. This object Dick
and I watched for approximately five minutes."
Shortly after, still another unknown object shot straight across the sky from
west to east, but not before Kaliszewski succeeded in radioing theodolite ob-
servers at the University of Minnesota Airport. Two observers there (Douglas
Smith, Richard Dorian) got fleeting glimpses of what appeared to them to be
a cigar-shaped object viewed through the theodolite, but could not keep it in view
due to its fast angular motion. In my conversations with Kaliszewski about these
sightings, I gained the impression of talking with a careful observer, in full
accord with impressions held by three other independent sources, including Air
Force investigators.
Discussion.—The October 10 sighting is officially categorized as "Aircraft,"
the October 11 main sighting as "Unidentified." When I mentioned this to Kalis-
zewski, he was unable to understand how any distinction could be so drawn be-
tween the two sightings, both of which he felt matched no known aeronautical
device. Clearly, objects performing such intricate maneuvers are not meteors,
nor can they be fitted to any known meteorological explanations of which I am
aware. Instead, these objects seem best described as devices well beyond the
state of 1951 (or 1968) technology.
5. Case 5. Willow Grove,Pa., May 21,1966
Skipping over many other pilot observations to a more recent one which I
have personally checked, I call attention to a close-range airborne sighting of a
domed-disc, seen under midday conditions by two observers. One of them, Wil-
liam C. Powell, of Radnor, Pa., is a pilot with 18,000 logged flight hours. He
and a passenger, Miss Muriel McClave, were flying in Powell's Luscombe in the
Philadelphia area on the afternoon of 5/21/66 when an object that had been
first spotted as it apparently followed an outbound flight of Navy jets from
'Willow Grove NAS made a sharp (non-banking) turn and headed for Powell's
plane on a near-collision course. As the object passed close by, at a distance that
Powell put at roughly 100 yards, they both got a good look at the object. It was
circular in planform and had no wings or visible means of propulsion, both wit-
nesses emphasized to me in interviews. The upper domed portion they described
as "porcelain-white", while the lower discoid portion was bright red ("dayglow
red" Powell put it). It was slightly below their altitude as it passed on their
right, and Powell pointed out that it was entirely solid, for it obscured the dis-
tant horizon areas. His brief comment about its solidity and reality was, "It
was just like looking at a Cadillac." He estimated its airspeed as perhaps 200
mph, and it moved in a steady, non-fluttering manner. He estimated its diameter
at perhaps 20 feet. Miss McClave thought it might have been nearer 40 feet
across. Each put the thickness-to-diameter ratio as about one-half. After it passed
their starboard wing, Powell could see it only by looking back over his shoulder
through a small aft window, but Miss McClave had it in full view when suddenly,
she stated to me, it disappeared instantaneously, and they saw no more of it.
Discussion.—Powell flies executive transports for a large Eastern firm, after
years of military and airline duty. I have discussed the case with one of his
superiors, who speaks without qualification for Powell's trustworthiness. At a
UFO panel discussion held on April 22, 1967 at the annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Society of Newspaper Editors, Powell was asked to summarize his sighting.
His account is in the proceedings of that session (Ref. 30). I know of no natural
phenomenon that could come close to explaining this sighting. The visibility was
about 15 miles, they were flying in the clear at 4500 ft., and the object passed
nearby. A pilot with 18,000 hours flight experience is not capable of precise
midair distance and speed estimates, but his survival has probably hinged on
not commonly making errors of much over a factor or two. Given the account
and accepting its reliability, it seems necessary to say that here was one more
case of what Gen. Samford described as "credible observers seeing relatively
incredibile objects". I felt that Powell's summary of his sighting at the ASNE
meeting was particularly relevant because, in addition to my being on the panel
there, Dr. D. H. Menzel and Mr. Philip J. Klass, both strong exponents of meteoro-
logical-type UFO theories, were present to hear his account. I cannot see how one
could explain this incident in terms of meteorological optics nor in terms of ball
97-818 68-4 Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.