Documents / Document
Project Blue Book documents on the Killian case, compiled by Dan Wilson
NICAP · 83 pages · text by OCR
This NICAP compilation by Dan Wilson gathers Project Blue Book records on the sighting of 24 February 1959, when American Airlines Flight 139, flying from Newark to Detroit, and two United Airlines crews saw three lights over Pennsylvania and Ohio. It includes the record card, pilot statements, Air Force letters and correspondence with an Akron UFO committee. The Air Force concluded that the lights came from three B-47s refueling from KC-97 tankers. Book excerpts disputing Captain Killian's later claims are also included.
“The Times”42 pages
- p. 1 …DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Local □ Ground-Visual □ Ground-Radar
GMT 25/0045Z □ Air…
- p. 3 …the area at the time on a night refueling mission .
on 9 March 1934, the report…
- p. 8 …the newspapers blew up the real report given . Capt. is in New York at this time…
- p. 16 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies, can last well over an hour, depending on…
- p. 18 …This time coincides perfectly with the sighting of the three lights by the commercial airlines.
If…
- p. 19 …The tower operators on duty at the time of the sighting reported that three lights were…
- p. 23 …the Angler Intersection the lights turned toward the South and disappeared. At approximately this same time…
- p. 24 …This occurred approximately ten times during the period of the sighting. Captain indicated at times the…
- p. 27 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies, can last well over an hour, depending on…
- p. 28 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies, can last all over an hour, depending on…
- p. 31 …THIS WOULD ACCOUNT FOR THE LENGTH OF TIME OBSERVED AND THE ALTITUDE GIVEN BY CAPT. THIS…
- p. 33 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies, can last well over an hour, depending upon…
- p. 34 …Information from Pittsburgh is that a B-47 refueling operation was in progress at the time…
- p. 35 …the ground observers. As far as is known, none of these people were at any time…
- p. 38 …HE SAID THE LIGHTS APPEARED TO BE IN A UNIFORM LINE BUT AT TIMES CHANGED POSITION…
- p. 43 In 1958 the Unidentified Flying Objects Research Committee (UFORC) was formed. Its birth stemmed from the…
- p. 45 was informed that no aircraft was in his vicinity at that time.
The foregoing incidents related…
- p. 46 …for a long time. The other factors were the changing position of the lights and their…
- p. 47 …I have been making that same trip a number of times because the home office is…
- p. 50 …All the time, the mysterious objects remained abreast of the airplane which was flying at 350…
- p. 51 …the sight and sound of ground observers at this time. (Captain Killian lost sight of the…
- p. 52 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies and car last well over an hour, depending…
- p. 53 …also be seen? Yet at no time were the lights seen described as being either red…
- p. 55 …time contacted by ATIC.
Does the allegation made by the Air Force spokesman about the truthful…
- p. 59 …Why?
In twelve years the Air Force has been attacked and charged many times with "cover…
- p. 60 …The company at no time before this requested the Captain not to talk about this sighting…
- p. 61 …The evaluation is based upon all the facts gathered for the specific times and geographical area…
- p. 63 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies, can last well over an hour, depending upon…
- p. 64 …statement, published in the New York Times. October 8, 1955, that the world nations will have
- p. 65 …this'UFO controversy" the greatest enigma of modern times.
In summing up the airline case we…
- p. 66 …object and at the same time heard signals on his car radio. The object from West…
- p. 69 …The objects were visible for 45 minutes, during which time the airliner covered about 260 miles…
- p. 70 …Meanwhile, although Killian did not know it at the time, three United Airlines crews along a…
- p. 71 …for a long time." Other factors were the changing position of the lights and their varying…
- p. 72 …He told the Detroit Times, "I never attached any importance to the fact that they may…
- p. 73 …Captain Killian pointed out, as did other observers at the same time, that the airplane was…
- p. 74 …For the next 40 minutes they all watched the three lights. During this time the lights…
- p. 75 …see both the UFO and the star of Orion at the same time.
Capt Killian also…
- p. 76 …The time duration of a refueling operation varies, can last well over an hour, depending on…
- p. 79 Galley 25-THE WORLD OF FLYING SAUCERS
utes, all the way to Detroit, and the pilot…
- p. 80 …to see the earthly aircraft operating at the same time and place? If the unknowns moved…
- p. 82 …the time that ground observers reported the lights.
Everything checked. Every detail of the incident was…
PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
24 Feb 59 Pennsylvania & Ohio □ Was Balloon
□ Probably Balloon
□ Possibly Balloon
□ Was Aircraft Refueling Opr
□ Probably Aircraft
□ Possibly Aircraft
□ Was Astronomical
□ Probably Astronomical
□ Possibly Astronomical
□ Other
□ Insufficient Data for Evaluation
□ Unknown
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Local □ Ground-Visual □ Ground-Radar
GMT 25/0045Z □ Air-Visual □ Air-Intercept Radar
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE
□ Yes
□ No Civil Airlines □ Other
□ Insufficient Data for Evaluation
□ Unknown
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS 9. COURSE
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING
Capt American Airlines pilot, Two United Airlines Pilots, Control tower operators at Pittsburg airport, and ground observers near Akron, Ohio. Capt on UAL flight near Youngstown, Ohio also witness the refueling. 11. COMMENTS
Verified as refueling operation.
3 B-47's being refueled by EC-97.
About this file
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 83 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.