The controversy of unidentified flying objects and their true intentions continues to baffle experts even today after more than sixty years of encounters in modern times. There has always been a divided consensus among analysts and witnesses alike as to whether or not these mysterious intrusions into our airspace represent a threat to national security. Some scientists have speculated that valid sightings documented by credible observers could actually be the clumsy or inept attempts at exploration by a misunderstood civilization. Others have observed that by defending our own airspace that we can actually incur hostilities unintentionally as our Air Force pilots attempt to give chase to the unknown.
History teaches us that there have been several ominous events that have indicated unfriendly intentions on the part of both human pilots and their seeming alien counterparts. Leading analysts point out that the repercussions could lead to a gamble that our world might not want to take by provoking war with an interplanetary civilization.
An infamous and still debated incident that occurred in Kentucky that still haunts aviation history is the death of Captain Thomas Mantell. Leading a flight of four P-51 Mustang Fighters, Mantell was summoned by the control tower at Godman Airfield to investigate a strange glowing object that had been observed in the sky for some 45 minutes. The veteran World War II responded leading his National Guard flight to an appointment with the unknown. As they climbed, one pilot requested to return to the airbase as he was running low on fuel. Another pilot reportedly experienced mechanical problems and broke off his pursuit. Captain Mantell's wingman also requested to withdraw from the mission. That left Mantell by himself whose message to the control tower was that he had made visual contact with the object and it just above him. He described it as large, metallic, and was gaining on it. Shortly after 3:30 PM, his aircraft was reported crashed.
While the official version of the incident was that Mantell's death was that he had lost consciousness due to experiencing anoxia when his unpressurized cockpit had exceeded 20,000 feet in altitude, many people disagreed with that finding.
There were rumors that Mantell's airplane had been radioactive and perforated with holes. Others had pointed out that the Air Force had not allowed the press to see the body of the deceased pilot. The Captain's wingman had made a comment on the tragic incident saying that whatever Mantell had seen had been more important to him that his family and his life. We will probably never really know what happened, but many people have considered Thomas Mantell as being a hero-the first victim of a hostile extraterrestrial encounter.
In 1948 over the night skies of Fargo, South Dakota, Lieutenant Gorman spotted an unidentified aerial light and attempted to intercept the object. That decision by the pilot led to spine tingling air to air engagement as time and again Gorman pushed his P-51 Mustang into acrobatic maneuvers in an attempt to identify the unknown. The pilot was unable to gain an advantage over his unknown aerial opponent, however and was forced to terminate the chase. After an investigation, Air Force officials determined that Lieutenant Gorman had been pursuing a lighted weather balloon.
A disturbing air to air incident was reported at San Antonio airfield in 1949 when a P-51 Mustang pilot reported being harassed by an unidentified flying object that dove on him and gave chase to his aircraft. Landing in a state of near hysteria, the pilot was immediately debriefed by intelligence officers as soon as he emerged from his cockpit.
According to former Blue Book Director, Captain Edward Ruppelt, one of the first reported aggressive actions taken toward a UFO by an American Air Force jet occurred as early as 1950. In this encounter the pilot tried to intercept an unknown aerial object that had the shape of a parachute canopy. The unknown craft slowly accelerated at first, but quickly flew beyond the speed of the F-86 Sabre as the pilot frantically radioed for assistance from his wingman while watching it outdistance his plane.
Unable to locate his partner who was at a higher altitude and out of radio range, the aviator followed the only course of action he could think of as he grappled with his strange encounter with the unknown. He charged up the six .50 caliber wing to wing mounted machine guns and fired at the object from a distance of a thousand yards. In his mandatory report for the unauthorized discharge of ordnance, he stated that there was no observed effect upon the strange craft as it escaped at blinding speed. Even with afterburners on the pilot could only watch helplessly as the unknown vehicle left him behind. The F-86 was a transonic fighter jet with impressive speed for its time, but was no match for this aerial intruder.
