Captain Ruppelt, Director of Project Blue Book acknowledges the high level cover-up about UFO's that was well under way when he reported this incident in his 1956 book , THE REPORT ON UFO'S . The actual report was destroyed by the base commander who did not want to deal with the resulting inquiry after the air to air engagement had been recorded. Only the secret actions of an intelligence officer who kept a copy of the report and delivered it to Ruppelt saved the incident from simply fading into obscurity.
In 1952 an aircrew flying the F-94C, the two seated interceptor designed to counter the Russian TU-4 bomber during the cold war encountered the unknown. On routine night patrol over Hanford, Washington, the air crew was confronted with a desperate situation. They found themselves having to make evasive maneuvers as a disk shaped object made repeated attempts to ram them at high speed. Reportedly their aerial assailant approached them with such speed that they were unable to lock-on their weapons in order to defend themselves. The drastic confrontation continued for sometime until the unidentified craft broke off its assault on the aircrew. Dazed and shaken, the two F-94C pilots managed to land at their own airbase. It was there that they would report their harrowing encounter.
That was not the only aerial encounter with UFO's and American fighter pilots as a series of sightings occurred over the restricted airspace of the White House in 1952. Well documented communications between Washington National Airport, Bolling Airbase, as well as Andrews Air Force Base were all linked by an intercom system. On the weekend of July 19 th and 20 th and July 26 th and 27 th significant events took place that startled experienced radar technicians and Air Force officers alike. On one occasion Air Force Pilot, William Patterson, found himself surrounded by luminous objects in his attempts to pursue the unknown aerial crafts and requested what he should do. This rendered the radar room full of officials who had forbidden the press to take pictures of the radar scopes, silent. Luckily Patterson's bizarre aerial counterparts withdrew after he radioed his superiors in a tense radar room.
Senior Air Traffic Controller, Harry Barnes was convinced that the strange airborne objects were under intelligent control and monitoring the radio transmissions to the pilots. This he deduced from watching as the UFO's disappeared from the screens as Air Force jets from New Castle AFB entered the area and then reappeared once the jets departed from the radar screen. Witnesses that night and the evenings during the continued sightings continued to defend their findings that the radar returns were of solid objects not mirages created by weather phenomena.
The newspaper headlines that announced, Air Force Jets Chase Flying Saucers Over The White House, eclipsed news of the Korean War among other world events and stirred public concern. President Harry S. Truman supposedly demanded an explanation from his chiefs of staff at the Pentagon. General John Samford was ordered to hold the largest military postwar press conference since World War II in order to field questions by the press corps. He did acknowledge that some sightings were unknown but also explained other sightings away as being misinterpreted weather targets.
After observing blips on radar screens corroborated by visual sightings by airmen on the ground as well as airline pilots attempting to land and takeoff from Washington National Airport, the air traffic controllers concluded that they were observing real objects and not mirages created by temperature inversion layers in the atmosphere. Years later they would still justify their conclusions as researchers from the Condon Committee in 1966, reviewing Project Blue Book investigations once again interviewed them.
1956. Lakenheath Royal Air Force base will be yet one more site of a seeming menacing UFO air engagement. After observing multiple radar sightings of numerous UFO's in the airspace in vicinity of Bentwaters and Lakenheath Air Bases, air traffic controllers observe several of these strange crafts merge into one. One pilot is informed that his Venom fighter is being tailed by one object. He is ordered to affect evasive maneuvers, but soon finds out that he cannot shake his mysterious aerial opponent. The pilot attempts to fly behind his pursuer, but is unable and requests assistance. A second Venom fighter jet is vectored to the scene of the confusion, but the object disappears from the area. Several air officers involved in the incident testify to the fact that the radar returns given by the unknown intruder demonstrate the best proof yet. The pilot who was chased by his mysterious foe says that he saw something but didn't know what it was.
In 1959 in Redmond, Oregon a glowing disk that emits fire from its edges is seen hovering over the grounds of the airfield by a policeman who quickly reports his sighting. Air Force radar at Klamath Falls tracked a stationary object for more than ten minutes. A squadron of six F-102 Fighters were directed to converge on the object as were an F-89 Scorpion air crew along with a B-47 Stratojet bomber. In front of FAA officials, air traffic controllers, and ground observers the Air Force jets attempted to intercept the UFO. Suddenly the hovering craft accelerated straight upward at incredible speed. Two F-l02 Fighter jets nearly crashed disrupted by the turbulence caused by the powerful acceleration of the strange disk. It evaded the converging military planes, climbing to some 30,000 feet, still being tracked by radar, before departing from the area as one F-102 pilot vainly pursued and lost contact.
You have just read startling accounts of aerial encounters between military pilots charged with maintaining the security of our skies and the presence of the unknown. It is apparent by such events that there seems to be enough evidence from decades of reports that indicate that there are ominous incidents afoot. Grave concerns have been expressed by CIA officials as well as generals in various branches of the military that a war could be provoked by either of the two civilizations whether intentionally or accidentally. General Benjamin Chidlaw publicly admitted in 1965 that over 3.000 attempted intercepts over the mainland United States had already been made. He also commented that a lot of pilots and aircraft had been lost during these hazardous pursuits. Analyzing these events has led some researchers to conclude that an undeclared air war now exists. High up in the thin air of the frigid atmosphere, our airspace can suddenly and without warning become contested in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
