#Hammond man montell fosky full

Mantell ignored suggestions that the pilots should level their altitude and try to more clearly see the object. They later reported they saw an object but described it as so small and indistinct that they could not identify it. The other two pilots accompanied Mantell in steep pursuit of the object. One pilot's Mustang was low on fuel and he quickly returned to base. Blackwell was in radio communication with the pilots throughout the event. Mantell-were already in the air and told to approach the object. Its speed was greater than 500 mph (800 km/h) in level flight.' įour F-51D Mustangs of C Flight, 165th Fighter Squadron Kentucky Air National Guard-one piloted by Captain Thomas F. Another observer at Lockbourne Army Air Field in Ohio noted, 'Just before leaving it came to very near the ground, staying down for about ten seconds, then climbed at a very fast rate back to its original altitude, 10,000 feet, leveling off and disappearing into the overcast heading 120 degrees. It remained stationary, seemingly, for one and a half hours.' Observers at Clinton County Army Air Field in Ohio described the object 'as having the appearance of a flaming red cone trailing a gaseous green mist' and observed the object for around 35 minutes. Through binoculars it appeared to have a red border at the bottom.

#Hammond man montell fosky full

Colonel Guy Hix, the base commander, reported an object he described as 'very white,' and 'about one fourth the size of the full moon. Two other witnesses in the tower also reported a white object in the distance.

At about 1:45 p.m., Sergeant Quinton Blackwell saw an object from his position in the control tower at Fort Knox. Reports of a westbound circular object, 250–300 feet (80–90 m) in diameter, were received from Owensboro and Irvington. On 7 January 1948, Godman Army Airfield at Fort Knox, Kentucky, received a report from the Kentucky Highway Patrol of an unusual aerial object near Madisonville. Three F-51D Mustang of the 165th Fighter Squadron, the unit in which Mantell was serving Now a dramatic new prospect entered thought about UFOs: they might be not only extraterrestrial but potentially hostile as well.' Previously, the press often treated UFO reports with a whimsical or glib attitude reserved for “ silly season news.” Following Mantell's death, however, Jacobs notes 'the fact that a person had died in an encounter with an alleged flying saucer dramatically increased public concern about the phenomenon. Jacobs argues the Mantell case marked a sharp shift in both public and governmental perceptions of UFOs. Ruppelt's other two 'classic' sightings in 1948 were the Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter and the Gorman dogfight.

Ruppelt (the first head of Project Blue Book) wrote that the Mantell crash was one of three 'classic' UFO cases in 1948 that would help to define the UFO phenomenon in the public mind, and would help convince some Air Force intelligence specialists that UFOs were a 'real' physical phenomenon. At high altitude he blacked out from a lack of oxygen his plane went into a downward spiral and crashed. Mantell pursued the object in a steep climb and disregarded suggestions to level his altitude. Later investigation by the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book indicated that Mantell may have died chasing a Skyhook balloon, which in 1948 was a top-secret project that he would not have known about. The event was among the most publicized early UFO incidents.

Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died in the crash of his P-51 Mustang fighter plane near Franklin, Kentucky, United States, after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object (UFO). On January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Class=notpageimage| Locations of Fort Knox and Franklin, Kentucky, United States