1953: The Kinross Air Force Base Incident

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: November 23, 1953

Sighting Time:

Day/Night: evening

Location: Lake Superior, Michigan

Urban or Rural: –

Hynek Classification: RV (Radar / Visual) Observation supplemented with radar.

Duration: thirty minutes

No. of Object(s):  1

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s):

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses:

Source: Loy Lawhon, About.com  Original Source

Summary/Description: On the evening of 23 November 1953, an Air Force radar controller became alerted to an “unidentified target” over Lake Superior, and an F-89C Scorpion jet was scrambled from Kinross AFB. Radar controllers watched as the F-89 closed in on the UFO, and then sat stunned in amazement as the two blips merged on the screen, and the UFO left. The F-89 and it’s two man crew, pilot Felix Moncla and radar operator Robert Wilson, were never found, even after a thorough search of the area. [map id=”298″]

Full Report

Press article, regarding the incident, in the Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI), Nov. 25, 1953.

Above image (top of page): 1st Lt. Felix E. “Gene” Moncla, Jr., pilot of the F89C Scorpion jet. Moncla was accompanied by radar operator Robert Wilson in the rear seat.

“The Disappearance of Lt. Felix Moncla”

The channel that connects Lake Superior with the other Great Lakes flows through the Soo Locks near Saulte Ste. Marie, Michigan. On one side of the channel is the U.S., and on the other side is Canada. The fact that this area is on a U.S. national border makes it a restricted airspace. As such, it was monitored by the Air Defense Command in 1953.

On the evening of 23 November 1953, an Air Defense Command Ground Intercept radar controller at Truax AFB became alerted to an “unidentified target” over Soo Locks. He sounded the alert, and an F-89C Scorpion jet was scrambled from nearby Kinross Field. The jet was piloted by 1st Lieutenant Felix Moncla, Jr., with 2nd Lieutenant Robert Wilson in the rear seat as radar operator.

Ground Control vectored the jet toward the target, noting that the target changed course as the F-89 approached it at over 500 mph. Lt. Wilson had problems tracking the target on his onboard radar, so ground control continued to direct the jet to the target. For thirty minutes, the jet pursued the radar blip and began to close the gap as the UFO accelerated out over Lake Superior.

As Ground Control watched, the gap between the two blips on the radar screen grew smaller and smaller until the two blips became one blip. Ground Control thought that Moncla had flown over the target and that the two blips would separate again as he moved past it.

That didn’t happen. Suddenly, the single blip flashed off the screen and the radar screen was clear of any return at all.

Frantically, Ground Control tried to contact the F-89 by radio. There was no response. Marking the last radar position, Ground Control dispatched an emergency message to Search and Rescue. That last sighting was about seventy miles off Keweenaw Point in upper Michigan, at an altitude of 8,000 feet, approximately 160 miles northwest of Soo Locks.

After an all night air/sea rescue search, not a trace of the plane or the men was ever found. No debris, no oil slick, nothing was ever found.

Officials at Norton Air Force Base Flying Safety Division issued a statement that “the pilot probably suffered from vertigo and crashed into the lake.” However, this was merely speculation and was based on hearsay reports that Moncla was prone to vertigo.

The Air Force explained the unknown radar target at first as a Canadian DC-3, then later as a RCAF jet. Canadian officials responded that there were no Canadian aircraft in the airspace over the lake at any time during the chase. The Air Force finally stated that the F-89 had exploded at high altitude, ignoring the fact that this would have left a lot of debris on the lake surface.

NICAP investigators found that mentions of Moncla’s mission – chasing an unidentified target – had been obliterated from official records. Project Bluebook files simply listed the case as an “accident.”

Off the record, those that were present in the Ground Control radar room that day have expressed other opinions. They think that whatever the F-89 was chasing directly caused the disappearance of the jet…

Kinross AFB/F-89 Disappearance
November 23, 1953

On the night of November 23, 1953, an Air Defense Command radar detected an unidentified “target” over Lake Superior. Kinross Air Force Base, closest to the scene, alerted the 433rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Truax Field, Madison, Wisconsin, and an F-89C all-weather interceptor was scrambled. Radar operators watched the “blips” of the UFO and the F-89 merge on their scopes, in an apparent collision, and disappear. No trace of the plane was ever found.

U S Air Force accident-report records indicate that the F-89 was vectored west northwest, then west, climbing to 30,000 feet. At the controls were First Lieutenant Felix E. Moncla, Jr.; his radar observer was Second Lieutenant Robert L. Wilson. While on a westerly course, they were cleared to descend to 7,000 feet, turning east-northeast and coming steeply down on the known target from above. The last radar contact placed the interceptor at 8,000 feet, 70 miles off Keeweenaw Point, and about 150 miles northwest of Kinross AFB (now Kincheloe AFB).

The incident is not even labeled as a “UFO” case in Air Force records; instead, it was investigated by air-safety experts. There were several layers of scattered clouds (one with bottoms at 5,000 to 8,000 feet) and some snow flurries in the general area. Official records state, however, that the air was stable and there was little or no turbulence.

The Air Force later stated that the “UFO” turned out to be a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) C-47 “On a night flight from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Sudbury, Ontario Canada.” The F-89 apparently had crashed for unknown reasons after breaking off the intercept. In answer to queries from the NATIONAL INVESTIGATIONS COMMITTEE ON AERIAL PHENOMENA (NICAP) in 1961 and again in 1963, RCAF spokesmen denied that one of their planes was involved. Squadron Leader W. B. Totman, noting that the C-47 was said to be on a flight plan over Canadian territory, said “… this alone would seem to make such an intercept unlikely.”

The Air Force suggested that “… the pilot probably suffered from vertigo and crashed into the take.” Harvard University astronomer and UFO debunker Dr. Donald H. MENZEL accepted this explanation, adding that the radar operators probably saw a “phantom echo” of the F-89, produced by atmospheric conditions, that merged with the radar return from the jet and vanished with it when the plane struck the water.

Exactly what happened that night remains unclear, as the Air Force acknowledges, and serious unanswered questions remain. How likely is it that a pilot could suffer from vertigo when flying on instruments, as official records indicate was the case? If the F-89 did intercept an RCAF C-47, why did the “blip” of the C47 also disappear off the radar scope? Or, if Menzel’s explanation is accepted and there was no actual intercept, why did the Air Force invoke a Canadian C-47, which RCAF spokesmen later stated was not there? No intelligence document has yet surfaced that reports the radio communications between the pilot and radar controllers, and what each was seeing. Without this information, it is impossible to evaluate the “true UFO” versus the false radar returns and accidental crash explanations.

Resource: The Kinross Incident: What Really Happened to the US Air Force F-89 Fighter Jet and Crew Lost Over Lake Superior?

Please take the time to read this incredible report, and view the stunning Photo enhancement by Robert Morningstar.

My thanks to Robert and also to Dirk Vander Ploeg of UFO DIGEST for allowing me to source this article,and their kind permission for use of the stunning images.

My thanks also to Adam Jimenez of The Great Lakes Dive Co. http://www.greatlakesdive.com for permission to use the Sonar images.

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Through an incredible set of circumstances,we are presented with what may be the most important Ufological discovery in history.

Unfortunately as this story has developed over the months, further twists and turns have occurred.

Questions have been asked as to the authenticity the Great Lakes Dive company .

The Website hosted by GLDC has disappeared, and no one has been able to contact members of the dive team.

To Date 1/1/07 many of the Websites including this one, are at a loss to explain this apparent silence from GLDC.

Is it all a Hoax? Or Could the Company just be trying to protect its interests? a classic case of ‘Batten the Hatches’ until the company itself has more information?

Whatever the outcome be assured we will update this report with any new developments.

Lake Superior November 23, 1953.

History of the initial case

On November 23, 1953. A US Air Force F-89 jet fighter was scrambled from the Kinross AFB in Michigan USA.

It was dispatched to investigate an unknown object that had been tracked on Radar.

On board the Jet( known as the Scorpion ) was First Lt. Felix Eugene Moncla (USAF), Pilot and First Lt. Robert L. Wilson (USAF), Radar Information Officer.

Here is the original official report of the incident:

‘Aircraft took off at 2322 Zebra 23 Nov 53 on an active Air Defense Mission to intercept an unknown aircraft approximately 160 miles Northwest of Kinross Air Force Base.

The aircraft was under radar control throughout the interception. At approximately 2352 Zebra the last radio contact was made by the radar station controlling the interception.

At approximately 2355 Zebra the unknown aircraft and the F-89 merged together on the radar scope.

Shortly thereafter the IFF signal disappeared from the radar scope. No further contact was established with the F-89.

(The next 16 or so letters and the entire next sentence have been blacked out)

An extensive aerial search has revealed no trace of the aircraft. The aircraft and its crew are still missing’.

Note: It was claimed at the time that the F-89 and the unknown object seemed to merge on the radar screens. And only one object, the original unidentified object was still on screen.

And so the case remained, an extensive search was undertaken that November, but no trace of wreckage or the Pilots was found.

Lake Superior 2005.

It is here that this incredible story takes a dramatic twist .

In the summer of 2005 The Great Lakes Dive company (this company was composed of Engineers and Professional divers) decided to test some new equipment on two wrecks that had sunk in 1919.

Through a series of technical glitches and lack of time, they instead decided to spend some time looking for the F-89.

They had a search grid of the possible areas that the F-89 could have gone down, and using there new wide trajectory side scan sonar were amazed on their first pass to locate what turned out to be the missing Jet.

Image from the Great lakes Dive company’s Sonar (Source Ufo Digest)

Image from the Great lakes Dive company’s Sonar (By Permission of the Great Lakes Dive Co.)

What is even more incredible on closer examination of the surrounding area using the company’s ROV(remotely operated vehicle) Some 215ft from the aircraft there was a metallic object partially buried in the sand.

It is believed that this is just the top of a much larger craft. And it will only be through subsequent investigation will the full size be revealed.

(Source: Ufo Digest, Photo enhancements by Robert Morningstar)

The object was 15 ft long by 8.5ft wide.

A spokesman for the Great Lakes Dive Company has concluded that it was highly unlikely that on the lake bed with no other debris for miles, that the Jet and the adjacent object were not interconnected.

To date the Great Lakes Dive Company have been banned from further exploration until they reveal the location of the F-89 to the Canadian Government.

While this request is reasonable for the recovery of the F-89 it is imperative that further investigation of the Teardrop craft remains in the hands of The Great Lakes Dive Company.

It would be all to easy for the various Governments involved, both Canadian and American to hijack this discovery and quietly recover the two craft.

This must not happen. This case must be broadcasted far and wide. So that a legitimate and open understanding of whatever lies at the bottom of Lake Superior, is available to all.

Joe