| iv> | | | | of an airplane 15,000 feet away in the clear air of |
| Do you believe in UFOs? Unidentified flying | | | | the sub stratosphere. |
| objects? With so many credible, yet unexplained, | | | | He looked and he looked and he looked. He |
| reports the questions should not be lightly | | | | rocked the F-84 back and forth thinking maybe |
| dismissed. Marvel at just one sighting, at Luke | | | | he had a flaw in the plexiglass of the canopy that |
| AFB, and draw your own conclusions. | | | | was blinking out the airplane, but still no airplane. |
| Whether you believe in them or not, there have | | | | Whatever it was, it was darn high or darn small. |
| been too many sightings of UFOs, Unidentified | | | | The object was traveling at approximately 300 |
| Flying Objects, Flying Saucers, or however you | | | | miles an hour, as it was necessary to reduce |
| refer to them, to be totally ignored. This curious | | | | engine power and "S" to stay under it. |
| article was extracted from "Project Blue Book", | | | | He was beginning to get low on fuel about this |
| written by "EJR" former chief of the Air Force's | | | | time so he hauled up the nose of the jet, took |
| project for investigating reports of UFOs. | | | | about 30 feet of gun camera film, and started |
| The incident took place at Luke AFB, Arizona, the | | | | down. When he landed and told his story, the film |
| Air Force's advanced fighter-bomber school that is | | | | was quickly processed and rushed to the |
| named after the famous "balloon buster" of World | | | | projection room. It showed a weird, thin, forked |
| War I, Lieu¬tenant Frank Luke, Jr. It was a | | | | vapor trailbut no airplane. |
| sighting that produced some very inter¬esting | | | | Lieutenant Olsson and Airman Futch (veterans of |
| photographs. | | | | the UFO campaign of 1952) worked the report |
| The sky was clear except for a few high cirrus | | | | over thor¬oughly. Confirmation from the photo |
| clouds, late morning of March 3, 1953, when the | | | | lab proved this was definitely a vapor trail, rather |
| pilot took off from Luke Air Base in an F-84 jet, | | | | than a freak cloud formation. But Air Force Flight |
| to add some more hours to his flight log. He had | | | | Service said, "No other airplanes in the area," and |
| been flying F-51s in Korea and had recently | | | | so did Air Defense Command, because minutes |
| started to check out in the jets. After take off, | | | | after the F-84 pilot broke off contact, the |
| clearing the traffic pattern, he climbed toward | | | | "object" had passed into an ADIZAir Defense |
| Blythe Radio, situated about 130 miles west of | | | | Identification Zoneand radar had shown nothing. |
| Luke. | | | | There was one last possibility: an astronomer said |
| He'd climbed for several minutes and had just | | | | that the photos looked exactly like a meteor's |
| picked up the coded letters BLH that identified | | | | smoke trail. But there was one hitch: the pilot was |
| Blythe Radio when he looked up through the | | | | positive that the head of the vapor trail was |
| corner glass in the front part of his canopyhigh | | | | moving at about 300 miles an hour. He was |
| at about two o'clock he saw what he thought | | | | unsure how many miles had been covered, but on |
| was an airplane angling across his course from left | | | | first picking up Blythe Radio, whilst flying on Green |
| to right leaving a long, thin vapor trail. He glanced | | | | 5 airway, he was approximately 30 miles west of |
| down at his altimeter and saw that he was at | | | | his Air Base. When the pilot had disengaged from |
| 23,000 feet. The object that was leaving the | | | | the chase, a further radio bearing confirmed his |
| vapor trail must really be high, he remembered | | | | position as almost up to Needles Radio, 70 miles |
| thinking, because he couldn't see any airplane at | | | | north of Blythe. He could see a lake, Lake Mojave, |
| the head of it. | | | | in the distance. |
| He altered his course a few degrees to the right | | | | Could a high-altitude jet-stream wind have been |
| so that he could follow the trail and increased his | | | | blowing the smoke cloud? Futch checked thisno. |
| rate of climb. It soon became clear to the pilot | | | | The winds above 20,000 feet were the usual |
| that he was gaining on the source of the vapor | | | | westerlies and the jet stream was far to the |
| trail, as he was right under the middle of it. But he | | | | north. |
| still couldn't see any object. This was odd, he | | | | Several months later I talked to a captain who |
| thought, because vapor trails don't just happen; | | | | had been at Luke when this sighting occurred. He |
| something has to leave them. | | | | knew the F-84 pilot and he'd heard him tell his |
| His altimeter had ticked off another 12,000 feet | | | | story in great detail. I won't say that he was a |
| and he was now at 35,000. Still climbing, the F-84 | | | | confirmed believer, but he was interested. "I |
| began to mush; it was as high as it would go. The | | | | never thought much about these reports before," |
| pilot dropped down 1,000 feet and continued | | | | he said, "but I know this guy well. He's not nuts. |
| onnow he was below the front of the trail, but | | | | What do you think he saw?" |
| still no airplane. This bothered him too. | | | | I don't know what he saw. Maybe he didn't travel |
| Nothing in 1953 flew over 55,000 feet except a | | | | as far as he thought he did. Maybe, it could have |
| few experimental airplanes like the D-558 or those | | | | been the smoke trail from a meteor that he saw. |
| of the "X" series, and they don't stray far from | | | | But if he did know that he'd covered some 80 |
| Edwards AFB in California. | | | | miles during the chase, I'd say that he saw a |
| He couldn't be more than 15,000 feet from the | | | | UFOa real one. And I find it hard to believe that |
| front of the trail, and you can recognize any kind | | | | pilots don't know what they're doing. |