1955: Radar-Visual Sightings, June 1-8: Article

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A number of researchers have amassed large files containing UFO reports made by highly skilled military and civilian personnel.  Many of these reports contain eye-witnessed accounts of aircraft UFO encounters, backed by radar reports of the same objects.  Often, multiple radar sites tracked the same objects.

The following account of a radar-visual sighting was extracted from a report by Captain Laddie Marin, of the Air Force Special Security Office, Headquarters, Northeast Air Command, APO 862, New York, N.Y.  The report was sent to the Director of the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C. on July 18, 1955.

Capt. Marin began the report with a series of radar and visual sightings by RB-47 bomber crews from June 1 through June 8.  He states in his cover letter that the Air Force Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was not able to correlate the sightings with any known activity.  The final part of his report details a radar-visual incident involving an air-to-air refueling aircraft, as follows (typos, caps, lack of punctuation, etc. is as written):

“TOW DC97S ARCHIE 91 ARCHIE 29.  OUT OF HARMON AFB ON REFUELING MISSION BACK TO HARMON.  REPORTED SIGHTING OBJ AT 0705Z.  KC 97S ALT 20,000 FT.  WEATHER CLEAR.  NO CLOUDS ABOVE AIRCRAFT.  SCATTER CLOUDS AT 1000 FT. LEVEL.  NO REFLECTION POSSIBLE FROM CLOUDS.  PILOT OF ARCHIE 29 LT. H. H. SPEER.  AIRCRAFT MADE CONTACT WITH RADAR SITE.  SITE PAINTED OBJ ON SCOPE AT 0707Z.  HELD INTERMITTENT CONTACT FOR 49 MIN.  ARCHIE 29 IN POSITION TO CLOSE ON OBJ.  INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY SITE.  POSITION OF OBJ 290 DEGREES FROM STATION AT APPROXIMATELY 80 MILES.  FIRST APPEARED TO BE HOVERING OBJ AT 10 O’CLOCK POSITION RELATIVE TO AIRCRAFT.  ARCHIE 29 TRIED TO CLOSE.  OBJECT BEGAN TO MOVE SLOWLY N.E. 050 DEGREES T.H.  RELATIVE TO SPEED OF ARCHIE 29, 275 K.  PILOT OF ARCHIE 29 MAINTAINED VISUAL CONTACT WITH OBJ CALLING DIRECTION CHANGES OF OBJ TO SITE BY RADIO.  DIRECTION CHANGES CORRELATED  EXACTLY WITH THOSE PAINTED ON SCOPE BY CONTROLLER.  OBJ BEGAN CLIMBING.  ARCHIE 29 PILOT LOST VISUAL CONTACT WITH OBJ’S EST ALTITUDE 40-50,000 FT.  OBJ THEN ACCELERATED TO SPEED OF ESTIMATED 1600 K AND MOVED OFF IN N.E. DIRECTION.  PAINTED ON SCOPES.  FIGHTER SCRAMBLED WHEN OBJ STARTED TO CLLIMB, BENT WEAPON ON FIGHTER.  NO CONTACT MADE.  RADAR OR VISUAL.

AT SAME TIMES RADAR SITE WAS ALSO PAINTING 5 SMALLER OBJ’S ON SCOPES 5-10,000 FT. BELOW THE KC97’S ARCHIE 29 AND ARCHIE 91 AT 300 DEGREES 60 MILES FROM STATION.  OBJ’S MOVING VERY FAST.  CHANGING DIRECTION AND AZIMUTH…. FORMING CIRCULAR PATTERN.  CHANGING TO LINE ABREAST.  TRAVELING 10-20 MILES THEN CHANGING DIRECTION.  CONTROLLER ESTIMATES SPEED IN EXCESS OF 1500 K.  C119 AIRCRAFT ENROUTE FROM GOOSE PASSED WITHIN 5 MILES OF OBJ’S.  NOT KNOWN IF OBJ’S SEEN BY 119 CREW.  INTEREGATION OF CREW’S OF ARCHIE 29 ARCHIE 91 AND C119 BEING CONDUCTED BY BASE INTELL OFFICER …

The ground control radar operator made the following statement:

“AT 0705Z THIS DATE, I RECEIVED A CALL FROM ‘ARCHIE 91’ A KC-97 ENROUTE TO HARMON AFB, HIS POSITION AT THIS TIME WAS 280 DEGREES TRUE N, 80 MILES FROM THIS STATION.  ‘ARCHIE 91’ REPORTED SIGHTING AN UNKNOWN OBJECT IN THE AIR TO THE LEFT OF HIS ACFT, SLIGHTLY ABOVE HIM, MOVING AT VERY HIGH SPEEDS.  IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER, ‘ARCHIE 29’ ANOTHER AIRCRAFT APPROXIMATELY 20 MILES TO THE XXX OF ‘ARCHIE 91’ REPORTED A SIGHTING OF THE SAME OBJECT IN THE SAME LOCATION. 

THE OBJECT WAS DESCRIBED AS FLYING A VERY ERRATIC COURSE, MAKING SHARP CHANGES IN DIRECTION.  BOTH AIRCRAFT REPORTED THAT THERE WERE NO CLOUDS WHATSOVER NEAR THIS ALTITUDE THAT MIGHT CAUSE A REFLECTION.

APPROXIMATELY 07-07Z I MADE RADAR CONTACT WITH A TARGET IN THE REPORTED POSITION, AND ALSO WITH SEVERAL OTHER TARGETS SLIGHTLY CLOSER TO THIS STATION.  THE SIGHTED OBJECT APPEARED TO BE MOVING VERY SLOWLY AT THIS TIME AND EXCELLENT RADAR CONTACT WAS MAINTAINED FOR SEVERAL MINUTES.  THE OTHER AIRCRAFT REPORTED ALSO, THAT AT THIS TIME THE OBJECT SEEMED TO BE HOVERING.  THE OTHER GROUP OF OBJECTS DETECTED ON RADAR WERE MOVING VERY FAST, SOMETIME IN A CLUSTER, THEN STRUNG OFF IN LINE FORMATION.  DUE TO SLOW ANTENNA ROTATION, HIGH SPEED AND CHANGING COURSE OF THESE OBJECTS, SPEED CHECK WAS NOT AVAILABLE.  ESTIMATE OF SPEED WOULD BE 1,500 KNOTS.  THIS GROUP OF TARGETS WAS DETECTED BRIEFLY ON THE HEIGHT FINDER AT FROM 5,000 – 10,000 FEET.

I ASKED ‘ARCHIE 29’ IF HE WOULD ATTEMPT TO CLOSE ON THE SIGHTED OBJECT USING CAUTION, FOR A BETTER REPORT.  THE PILOT OF ‘ARCHIE 29’, LT H.H. SPEER AGREED AND CHANGED COURSE TOWARD THE OBJECT.  APPROXIMATE RANGE TO THE OBJECT WAS 40 MILES.  THE OBJECT WAS STILL HOVERING IN APPROXIMATELY THE SAME LOCATION.  AS THE RANGE DECREASED, THE OBJECT BEGAN SLOWLY MOVING NORTHWARD.  AFTER TRAVELING NORTH ABOUT 10 MILES THE OBJECT MADE A TURN BACK SOUTH.  ‘ARCHIE 29’ CLOSED TO WITHIN 18 MILES OF THE OBJECT, THEN IT BEGAN TO MOVE OFF IN A NORTHERLY DIRECTION AGAIN ABOUT 070 DEGREES TRUE.  ‘ARCHIE 29’ REPORTED THAT THE OBJECT WAS MOVING NORTHWARD AND CLIMBING.  HE SAID IT LOOKED LIKE HE WAS NOT CLOSING ON IT ANY LONGER.  AT THIS TIME I REQUESTED PERMISSION FROM ‘DIGNITY’ (CONTROL CENTER) TO ‘SCRAMBLE’ A FIGHTER AFTER THE OBJECT.  REQUEST WAS APPROVED AND ‘SCRAMBLE’ WAS COMPLETED.  RANGE OF OBJECT BY THIS TIME WAS 330 DEGREES TRUE AT 80 MILES. 

SHORTLY THEREAFTER, A MOMENTARY CONTACT WITH THE OBJECT WAS MADE ON OUR HEIGHT FINDER.  ALTITUDE WAS 35,000 FEET.  ‘ARCHIE 29’ REPORTED THAT OBJECT WAS GETTING MUCH HIGHER AND FADING FROM VIEW….

WHEN FIGHTER BECAME AIRBORNE, OBJECT WAS 110 MILES NORTH OF THE STATION.  FIGHTER PILOT, SHAKO 56, REPORTED HIS RADAR WAS INOPERATIVE.  WE REQUESTED HE CONTINUE MISSION FOR ATTEMPT AT VISUAL CONTACT.  WHEN SHAKO 56 REACHED ‘ARCHIE 29’ POSITION, THE OBJECT HAD FADED FROM VIEW.  BOTH AIRCRAFT WERE 150 MILES NORTHEAST OF STATION…

SIGNED 2^ND LT. CHARLES H. DENNEY USAF SENIOR DIR 640^TH ACW SQ

The Ground Elect. Officer reported that no temperature inversion was involved in this sighting.

“AT APPROXIMATELY 0700Z, I WAS CALLED INTO OPERATIONS BY THE SENIOR CONTROLLER, WHO IN TURN ADVISED ME OF UNKNOWN OBJECTS BEING VIEWED ON THE RADAR.  IN CHECKING ALL RADAR IN OPERATION, IT WAS FOUND THEY WERE FUNCTIONING PROPERLY.

“APPROXIMATELY FROM 1 JULY 1955 TO PRESENT, PERIODICALLY THROUGH THE DAY WE HAVE HAD WEATHER INVERSIONS CAUSING OUR RADAR BEAMS TO BEND TOWARD THE GROUND.  WE HAVE PERIODICALLY PICKED-UP THE SOUTH SHORE OF LABRADOR AND ANTICOSTI ISLAND DUE TO THE WEATHER INVERSION.  AT THE TIME OF THE SIGHTINGS, NO SUCH RADAR PHENOMENON WAS NOTICED.  ALL UNKNOWN OBJECTS SIGHTED ON THE RADAR WERE WITHIN THE CAPABILITIES OF OUT RADAR SET.

SIGNED 1^ST LT. ANTHONY G. SCARPACE AO-941448 GRD. ELECT OFFICER, 640^TH ACW SQ.

The pilot of Archie 29 made it clear they were seeing an object, not a star.

“AT 0700Z, THE NAVIGATOR GAVE US A HEADING OF 132 DEGREES TO HARMON.  JUST AFTER WE TURNED TO THAT HEADING LT. SCHNECK MADE HIS REPORT OF THE OBJECT.  I LOOKED OVER WHEN HE CALLED IT IN AND THOUGHT IT WOULD HELP IF I VERIFIED WHAE HE SAW BECAUSE I SAW THE SAME THING AT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME POSITION.  ‘ENRAGE’ IDENTIFIED BOTH OF US BY OUR PARROTT.  ‘ENRAGE’ DETERMINED THAT I WAS APPROXIMATELY 7 MILES CLOSER TO THE OBJECT SO HE HAD ME GIVE CHASE.  THE OBJECT AT THIS TIME WAS APPROXIMATELY 25,000 FEET.  MY ALTITUDE WAS 18,000 FEET.  THE DISTANCE WAS APPROXIMATELY 35 MILES.  WHEN I FIRST SIGHTED THE OBJECT, IT MOVED TO THE LEFT IN A VERY DEFINITE MOVEMENT AND A VERY FAST MOVEMENT.  THERE WERE NO SLOW INCREASE OR DECREASE IN SPEED.  IT WAS A VERY DEFINITE FAST MOVEMENT.  IT DID THIS TWICE.  WE TURNED TO A HEADING OF 080 DEGREES AND THAT PUT THE OBJECT AT 12 O’CLOCK POSITION.  WHILE TRACKING THE OBJECT, IT MADE SEVERAL TURNS TO THE NORTH AND SEVERAL TURNS TO THE SOUTH WHICH WERE VERIFIED BY ‘ENRAGE.’  WE CLOSED OUR DISTANCE TO THE OBJECT TO APPROXIMATELY 18 MILES AND AT THAT TIME I INCREASED MY POWER AND TRIED TO INCREASE MY SPEED BUT DUE TO RUNNING LOW ON OIL, I HAD TO DECREASE MY POWER ONCE MORE. OUR INDICATED AIR SPEED WAS APPROXIMATELY 210 MILES PER HOUR.  WHEN WE GOT TO WITHIN 12 MILES OF THE OBJECT, IT STARTED A DEFINITELY CLLIMB TO AN ESTIMATED ALTITUDE OF BETWEEN 35,000 AND 40,000 FEET.  AT O800Z, WE LOST CONTACT WITH THE OBJECT BECAUSE THE SUN WAS DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US….  THE OBJECT WAS SIGHTED BY AT LEAST 5 OF MY CREW MEMBERS.

SIGNED LT. HOMER H. SPEER, JR. AO-1856075 AIRCRAFT CONDR KC-97 97^TH ARS (TDY EHAFB)

The pilot of the second KC-97 (Archie 91) verified the sighting.

“WE TURNED OFF AFTER COMPLETION OF REFUELING, THE TIME BEING APPROXIMATELY 0700Z, AND TOOK UP A HEADING FOR HARMON WHICH WAS 125 DEGREES.  SHORTLY THEREAFTER ‘ENRAGE’ CONTROL NOTIFIED ME OF AN AIRCRAFT AT 7 MILES OFF MY LEFT WING.  I VERIFIED THIS POSITION BY VISUAL CONTACT OF SAID AIRCRAFT.  SHORTLY THEREAFTER, AT 10 O’CLOCK TO MY POSITION, I NOTICED A BRIGHT LIGHT.  AFTER CONSULTATION WITH 3 CREW MEMBERS, WE DECIDED THE LIGHT WAS MOVING VERY RAPIDLY.  I DECIDED TO CALL ‘ENRAGE’ CONTROL TO VERIFY THE LIGHT.  I TOLD ‘ENRAGE’ CONTROL THAT IT WAS APPROXIMATELY 10 O’CLOCK FROM MY POSITION AT FROM 15,000 TO 20,000 FEET, AT ESTIMATED 50 MILES.  I ALSO TOLD THEM IT WAS MOVING VERY RAPIDLY SOMETHING LIKE THOSE FLYING SAUCERS.  SHORTLY THEREAFTER ‘ARCHIE 29’ CALLED ‘ENRAGE’ CONTROL AND VERIFIED MY ACCOUNT OF THE OBJECT…

SIGNED LT. ROBERT W. SCHNECK A0-775721 AIRCRAFT COMDR, KC-97 97^TH ARS (TDY EHAFB)

The co-pilot of Archie 29 verified the movement of the object in his report.

“AFTER WE FINISHED OUR REFUELING RUN AT APPROXIMATELY 0700Z, WE RETURNED ON OUR HOMEWARD COURSE AND WE HEADR LT SCHNNECK REPORT THE BRIGHT LIGHT THAT WAS MOVING VERY FAST AND ERRATICALLY.  RIGHT AFTER THAT THE AIRCRAFT COMMANDER SAW THE OBJECT AND POINTED IT OUT TO ME.  I COULD SEE IT…  WE TURNED TOWARDS THE LIGHT AND THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I NOTICED MOVEMENT.  IT APPEARED STATIONARY FOR QUITE A WHILE AND THEN IT MOVED IN EITHER NORTHERLY OR SOUTHERLY DIRECTIONS AT DIFFERENT TIMES.  EACH TIME IT MOVED, WE TURNED THE AIRCRAFT TO KEEP IT AT 12 O’CLOCK POSITION….

SIGNED LT. DAVID CUELDNER A0-3006255 CO-PILOT, KC-97 97^TH ARS