I have tried contacting the individual, but no luck as of yet.
The story is about a radar operator who witnessed a UFO on his scope back in 1956.
I was in the United States Air Force. I was stationed at the 916th AC&W Site located near Beausejour and at Milner Ridge, Manitoba. It was in the fall of 1956 when this happened.
You are probably wondering how an American was stationed there. During that era, we were in the middle of the cold war with the Warsaw Pact. Missiles were pointed over the pole and threats, real or imagined were on everyone’s mind.
I was on duty in the radar operations building manning the scopes and calling in plots of aircraft in the area. I noticed a return in the Northeast quadrant approx 175 miles from the site. It was a strong return, therefore I was convinced it was an aircraft. The next trace showed it very far from the first plot. Since there was no other traffic in that area and seldom any was there, I suspected I had a false signal. In order to confirm, I checked the HRI (height/range indicator). In plotting the track thru dead reckoning, I saw the return at 75,000 feet. When it came up on the scope again, I set another dead reckon and spotted it again at the same altitude. The speed was in the range of 6,000 to 7,500 knots. That was faster than any known aircraft at the time.
If I had not confirmed its location on the two independent systems, I would have just passed it off as a malfunction. I did track it for about 10 minutes. It flew a fairly straight course with some variation but always at the same altitude. The closest it came to our location was in the vicinity of MacArthur Falls area.
I reported this to the controller who called it a malfunction. I did not think he was convinced until the next day when I was called in to his office and instructed not to disclose what I claimed to have seen.
I have thought many times about what happened but rarely mentioned it for fear of being labeled some sort of nut.
I am a rational, reasonably intelligent person who would gain nothing by fabricating this story.
I have withheld the man's name; if I hear anything more from him I will note his response.
I am leery of testimony that appears decades after the fact. They don't seem to be accompanied by corroborating evidence from the time, such as diaries, letters, flight logs. I have no idea how long radar records are kept in storage but that would be a good piece of corroboration in this case.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting Catch-22. It's not formally reported or recorded at the time because the witness was told not to say anything about it. But when the witness finally gets brave enough to come forward long after the event, it's considered suspect because it's 50 years later.
ReplyDelete> it's considered suspect because it's 50 years later.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't my point, exactly. My comments would apply to current reports also.
I just can't give the benefit of the doubt to reports where no detail can be corroborated in any way.
No diaries? No flight logs? No radar records? The wife doesn't mention anything in her diary? No buddies who can corroborate the story was told at the time? Etc.
These stories aren't useless -- perhaps someone will hear about it and produce some evidence or at least a lead to other witnesses. But if that doesn't happen, can we give it any weight?