The Temple, Oklahoma Fish-Shaped Craft on US-70 (Eddie Laxson)

Wednesday, 23 March 1966. US Highway 70 crosses Cotton County, Oklahoma, near the Red River and the Texas border.

William E. "Eddie" Laxson was no casual observer. He was 52, a civilian electronics instructor at Sheppard AFB since 1951, and a pilot with more than 8,000 flight hours. In 1942 he had taught aircraft identification at the University of Arkansas.

About 5:05 a.m. Laxson was driving west, about 8 miles south of Temple. Something was parked on the road ahead.

He stopped about 300 feet away and walked to within about 50 feet. It looked like "a conventional aircraft (C-124) without wings or motors," with "a plexiglas bubble on top, similar to a B-26 canopy." Shaped like a fish. "75' long, nearly 8' from top to bottom and about 12' wide." Silver. A porthole, a door, short supports underneath, bright lights fore and aft. On its side he made out "TLA" with the last two figures "38."

Then he saw the man. Entirely human, about 5 feet 9, in green Air Force style fatigues and a tan baseball cap. He was checking the underside with a flashlight. Then he climbed in by steps from the bottom.

About 40 seconds later the craft rose from the pavement with "a high speed drill type of sound" and "a sound like that of welding rod when an arc is struck." Laxson felt a magnetic effect on the hair of his arms. It lifted vertically to about 50 feet without banking, then sped southeast toward the Red River at about 720 mph.

Down the road, Laxson found trucker C. W. Anderson of Snyder, Oklahoma. Anderson said the object had been following him, and he had watched it in his rearview mirror for several miles. He saw it settle, then fly toward the Red River. He never saw the crewman. "I know that people will say that Laxson is durned crazy," he said. "But that's what I saw."

The Air Force questioned Laxson, and Project Blue Book opened case 10270, with his drawing, teletypes and a letter from Maj. Hector Quintanilla. Investigators searched for a conventional or experimental aircraft. "Although there are numerous helicopters and other experimental [aircraft] in the area, none could be put in the area of Temple at approximately 0500, 23 March 1966." The verdict was Unidentified. It is one of the few Blue Book occupant cases to carry that label.

No hoax allegation has surfaced. What puzzles commentators is how ordinary the crewman looked. Human, in military-style fatigues, beside serial-like lettering. Some suggest a man-made, perhaps secret, vehicle. Kevin Randle has stressed how unusual a fully human occupant is.

APRO, NICAP and the Center for UFO Studies documented the case, and it sits in HUMCAT. J. Allen Hynek, Coral Lorenzen, Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark all wrote about it. Randle compares Laxson's sketch to the one Lonnie Zamora drew at Socorro. No photographs. No traces. Just a pilot's careful description, and a file still marked Unidentified.