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