| y January 1951 I was recalled to active duty and | | | | Sioux City, Iowa, when the airport control tower |
| assigned to Air Technical Intelligence Center as an | | | | operators noticed a bright bluish-white light in the |
| intelligence officer. I had been at ATIC only eight | | | | west. The tower operators, thinking that it was |
| and a half hours when I first heard the words | | | | another airplane, called the pilot of the DC-3 and |
| "flying saucer" officially used. I had never paid a | | | | told him to be careful since there was another |
| great deal of attention to flying saucer reports | | | | airplane approaching the field. As the DC-3 lined up |
| but I had read a fewespecially those that had | | | | to take off, both the pilots of the airliner and the |
| been made by pilots. I'd managed to collect some | | | | tower operators saw the light moving in, but since |
| 2,000 hours of flying time and had seen many | | | | it was still some distance away the DC-3 was |
| odd things in the air, but I'd always been able to | | | | given permission to take off. As it rolled down the |
| figure out what they were in a few seconds. I | | | | runway getting up speed, both the pilot and the |
| was convinced that if a pilot, or any crew | | | | copilot were busy, so they didn't see the light |
| member of an airplane, said that he'd seen | | | | approaching. But the tower operators did, and as |
| something that he couldn't identify he meant itit | | | | soon as the DC-3 was airborne, they called and |
| wasn't a hallucination. But I wasn't convinced that | | | | told the pilot to be careful. The copilot said that he |
| flying saucers were spaceships. My interest in | | | | saw the light and was watching it. Just then the |
| UFO's picked up in a hurry when I learned that | | | | tower got a call from another airplane that was |
| ATIC was the government agency that was | | | | requesting landing instructions and the operators |
| responsible for the UFO project. And I was really | | | | looked away from the light. |
| impressed when I found out that the person who | | | | In the DC-3 the pilot and copilot had also looked |
| sat three desks down and one over from mine | | | | away from the light for a few seconds. When |
| was in charge of the whole UFO show. So when I | | | | they looked back, the bluish-white light had |
| came to work on my second morning at ATIC | | | | apparently closed in because it was much brighter |
| and heard the words "flying saucer report" being | | | | and it was dead ahead. In a split second it closed |
| talked about and saw a group of people standing | | | | in and flashed by their right wingso close that |
| around the chief of the UFO project's desk I | | | | both pilots thought that they would collide with it. |
| about sprung an eardrum listening to what they | | | | When it passed the DC-3, the pilots saw more |
| had to say. It seemed to be a big dealexcept | | | | than a lightthey saw a huge object that looked |
| that most of them were laughing. It must be a | | | | like the "fuselage of a B-29." |
| report of hoax or hallucination, I remember | | | | When the copilot had recovered he looked out his |
| thinking to myself, but I listened as one of the | | | | side window to see if he could see the UFO and |
| group told the others about the report. | | | | there it was, flying formation with them. He yelled |
| The night before a Mid-Continent Airlines DC-3 | | | | at the pilot, who leaned over and looked just in |
| was taxiing out to take off from the airport at | | | | time to see the UFO disappear. |