Engineering Division
Memorandum Report No. MCREXD-694-15D
25 April 1949
UNCLASSIFIED
persons at Fort Knox and other towns in Kentucky a few hours earlier. All saw it in the southwest and many thought it was only a few miles away. The Commanding Officer at Goodman Field observed it for 1 1/2 hours, (beginning at 145). During this time it seemingly remained stationary. It was "chased" by four National Guard pilots, one of whom crashed after having been up to 20,000 feet. It was also reported by persons in Lexington, Madisonville, and Elizabethtown.
The significant fact that emerges from these reports again is the inability to estimate distance. It appears possible that persons over parts of Kentucky and Ohio may have been seeing the same astronomical phenomena which was a great many miles away. Nevertheless each believed it to be relatively near his own location.
Incident No. 172.
A National Guard Pilot returning to Fargo, North Dakota, in a P-51 at approximately 2100 hours saw a small light in the air below him. He was then in the traffic pattern. He dived on the light. The light gained altitude. The pilot "chased" it up to 14,000 feet, making various passes at it and attempts to ram it as he climbed. He finally stalled out.
Several inferences can be drawn from the several reports about this incident. In the first place, when it is night, and a pilot is turning so steeply, and going such violent aerobatics, that he sometimes blacks out, as was the case here, it would be very difficult if not impossible to judge at the same time what another object was doing. In the second place, if the pilot kept his eyes intently on the object, as also was the case here, he would have great difficulty in knowing and reporting later what he himself was doing. The situation is very conducive to loss of orientation. In other words, it is impossible to infer
UNCLASSIFIED
DOWNGRADED AT 12 YEAR INTERVALS; NOT AUTOMATICALLY DECLASSIFIED. DOD DIR 5200.10