PROJECT BLUE BOOK

it axpeaured to be poing crossewind, He coduced this since he knew which
way he had teken off from idtehel, (The Nevy has some a/e based at i itehel,)

The vilot could not add any great anount of detail to his originol resort
excont thats

a. He was vositive that while he was north of the sirfield that he
could still see the object,

b. At ono time, between 2 and 3 (nositions of the a/c) on the chert in
the Form 112, he hed to ‘raci: uo’ the TB to keep the object from going out
of sight under the wing.

c. He was not sure of his fround track, Ve readily ndivitted that he was
concentrating on the object ana could only give on anoro:imate track,

d. He did not see the object at Position “6", he cstablished that
track by linins his a/e uo with the noint of lend, ‘Thet wes in the line
of sircht of the object when he lest saw it,

e. The size of the object did not change to any sreat extent meaning
that th: pilot was alvays about his same distance from the object,

f. The object did not gradually fede eway in the distance, it just

disapnearcd,

—+-

[7

+

ESE 0, SINT Koti GF
LASSIFIED .

APP7NDIX II

Mitchel AFB, New Tork - 21 January 1952

I, DESCRIPTION OF INCILENT

At aporoximately 0950 EST on <1 January 1952, a U.S, Navy pilot flying
a TBM aircraft sighted an unidentified object southeast of Mitchel AFB. The
TRM was on a heeding at approximately 45°. When first noticed, the object
was low at an angle of about 45° from the aircraft, The location of the
aircraft was about three runways Jengths fror: the end of, and lined up with,
Runway #30 (300°). The object appeared to te halfway between the aircraft
end tho end of the runway, The pilot's first imvression wos that the object
was oa parachute and he thinks he noticed wecge or pie-shaped serpregaticns on
the top, however, he realizce that the object was poing cross-wind and that it
could not be a crifting parachute, He judeed tre anguler size to be the sane as
the angle subtended by a house on the ground ana by watching the object cover
the equivalent of a city block, le judged the speed to be 300 knots, He judged
the altitude to be 200-300 fect. It appeared to be on a course of about 225°,

The pilot started a left turn (see overlay) in an attempt to identify
the object, He states that he kept the airspeed of the TBM at about 160
knots and kept a nearly constant altituce of 6600 ft. all during the turn,
Fe estimated that he wes pulling from two to three G's in the turn, At one
point near position #3 of the aircraft (see overlay) he had to increase his

angle of bank to nearly 90° to keep the object from disappearing under the
wing of the aircraft.

The pilot's version of the attenpted interception is shown on the
inclosed overlay. He stated that the paths shown are not exact due to the
fact that he was concentrating on the object and not his position, although
he occasionally looked at the airfield to get reference points,

The object stayed telow the TBM during most of the time it was in
Bight. When the aircraft was somewhere near position 4, the object appeared
to start a rapid clink, accelerating to an estimated 600 knots, and when it
was at an angle of about 10° above the pilot's horizontal line of vision, it
disappeared, When the object disappeared, the TEM was near position #5. ‘The
object did not diminish in apparent size except possibly near the end of the
chase, it just disappeared, ‘The pilot was very positive in his statement
that when he was north of Mitchel AFB he could see the object. The course on
which the object disappesred was established by lining up the eircraft with
the apparent path of object and reading the conpass.

The object appeared to be core-sheped, or similar to the vertical cross-
section of a parachute canopy, ‘ne top was light colored, "like nylon’, and
the under-:urface wes dark, It had a length to depth ratio of about 1:3,

OWNGRADED AT 3 YSAR INTERVALS;
sO ECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS.

YUGHASSIBIED

i¢eaef

UNCLASSIFIED

While the object was in level flic'.t it anneared to oscillate with a slow J
( period,

The total tine elapsed was estinated to be about two and one falf
minutes,

II, STATUS OF InvescIaaTION

A field trip wus :1ade to Mitchel AFB to reinterrofate the ils: and
other personnel having snowlezge of facts pertaining to the sighti- ° The
cilot's description of the incident was the sane as was stated in Lis orisinal

report. His aijez details have been incorporated into Section I of this
Ap endix,

At 0950 <S?i on 21 January 1952, the weather section of Michcl AFB
launched a Rawinsomie tallocn from the vosition shown on tie overlies, Thiuic
balloons are about six feet in itenuster at tine of Jawich seni ax! on ag-
cending. The exsansion up to 6,000 ft. can be neplecied, however, a5 it is
omall, The balloons are a Licht eray color and have white strea.s x7 taleun
powder which is used in pac’.inz the balloons, «he bailoon carricc a tin-foil
reader 18 inch square reflector six inches below the balloon, ‘he rath of
the balloon is show on the inclosed overlay.

These balloons ere tracxed by radar, It was honed that the refar scera-
tors might have recallsi seeing an aircraft return cirelinc their talloon
return. They stated, however, that due to the heavy air traffic i- the

area, it was not uncorzwn to rick up aircraft returns and they dic not pay
any attention to then.

The tower operators on 2uty at the time of the sighting were interrs-
gated, They had not seen the TBH or tne balloon, The tower log siswed that
the first contact with the TBM wes at 0955 EST eat which tine pilot rerorted
sichting an object east of the field, At 1008 the pilot again calisd the
towor to describe the incident in detail. ‘the nilot's descrintion was a
condensed version of that given in Pert I of this Appendix e::cept t= stat<d

2

that the object "“apseared to be a parachute canopy with a dar. colored object

wunderneath', The 0955 contact wis made soon after the object was sichtel,
establishing the tine.

IIlI, DISCUSSION OF INCIuLNT

An eccurate tine of the initial sighting is needed to establish the
position of the balloon at this tine. It is Bebop ‘that the tower clock
is more accurate than tne clock in the TBri, thus the time of the i-itial

sighting was probavly closer to 0954 allowin; for tine to contact tie tower
than the 0950 which was estimate:i by the pilot.

At 0954 the balloon would have been at about 4,000 ft. an! in the
position marked 4,000 ft. on the overlay, The pilot stated that tie object
e@ppeared low, at an ancle of 45° fron vertical, an? anreared to ecvrer the

\ED. “>
co. saqHOWNGRADED AT 8 YHAR INVERVARANCLASSO-
BE EO OO OCLASSIFICD ATER 1s Deane ONG

DOD Dik 5200.10

eds tat cal nh ale

D> OS Sas ee

fame angle of vision as a house. This would make the slant range to the

( ground 8,500 ft, It can be shown that an object thought to be 30 ft. in

: dianeter (assuming an average home is 30 ft. long) at 8,500 ft. range
could also have been a six ft. dianeter balloon only 1,700 ft. from the obser-
ver or at about 4,&00 ft, altitude. Allowing for errors in estimation of the
engle, this coincides very closely to the altitude of the balloon at 0954. The

position of the talloon in respect to the ground vas approxim.tely off the end
of Runway #30,

The pilot steted that the object appeared to te on a heading of 225°,
the reciprocal of the heading of the TBM, and the speed of the object wra
about 200 knots. The balloon would appear to be traveling on a reciprocel
heading and appear to be traveling at a higher rate of speed than the TBM
4f tho pilot had assumed the balloon to be a large object close to the ground,

In exarining the turn as sketched by the pilot (see overlay), it is
believed that the radius of turn is too preat, He stated that the air speed
was kept at 160 knots and he estinated he pulled two to three G's, this would
give a radius of turn of about 1,500 ft. instead of the nearly 6,000 ft. radius
shown on the overlay, It will also be noted that in positions 0, 1, 2, and 3
on the overlay, the bearing of the object 1s relatively constant, bein; of
ebout 10 o'clock from the aircraft heading, A balloon seen from en aircraft

a 260° left turn around the balloon would heve ea constant bearing at
9 o'clock, however, errors in the sketch of the ground tracks could account
for this discrepancy.

After the position of the aircraft given as point 3 on the overlay, it
is more difficult to show that the object could have been the balloon, If
point 4 (of aircraft) is shifted to near point 1 (aircraft) it is possible
that the pilot started another 360° turn esround the balloon (sce overlay)..

Two major ciscrepancies in the theory that the object was a balloon are
that the pilot wes very sure that at one tine during the attempt to intercept
the balloon he was north or northwest of the airfield and could still see the
object. In addition, shortly tefore the object disappeared, the line of
sight of the object began to swing toward the nose of the aircraft. If this
were true and the object was a balloon, the pilot should have been able to
come close enough to the object to identify it as a balloon,

It should be noted that the pilot admits that the sketch could te in
exror, During the reinterrogation, it was brought out by the Operation's
Officer at Mitchel AFB, who conducted the original interrogation, that the
first sketch the pilot drew wus about half the size (i.e. ail radii one half)
of the final sketch which has been copied in the inclosed overlay. This is
further brought ou~ by the calculations for the radius of turn, The pilot was
positive thet the airspeed was always 160 knots end that he was pulling about
tuo to three G's. As stated before, this would give a racius of turn of about
1,500 ft, instead of the 6,000 ft. as shown on the overlay. A 6,000 ft. radius
turn is not considered likely during any interception tactics in an aircraft as
plow as a TOM, Uhenging the radius of the 360° turn to 1,500 ft. would "shrink"

7” the complete sketch to one-fourth the original size (see overlay).
PUWNGRADEN AT S YEAR INTERVALS; Sennen &
DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 yEARS,  -ONCLASSHAED. 752-5836

| POD DIR 6200.10

ee wi

( )
UNCLASSIFIED.

( The tine to turn, with a 1,500 ft, radius, is 35 seconds, A:cuurs the
turn vas not a perfect circle but more of an ellipse, the time world increase
to vossibly 46 socon!s, “his is also a discrepancy si:c t.e pilot judjred
the clans:i time to be two and one half minutes, This is not 4 serious |is-
erepanc;, however, as it is mown that stiort intervals are difficult to
judge ani the pilot did not actually tine his nancuvers,

The description of the object could very well be that of a bali>on,
Observations have shown that a balloon adoe2rs to be more oval or do :e-
shaped than spherical and due to shadows, the botton appears darter ‘han
the top. Tho talcum powder used in paci:ing the ballcon could easily give
the apnearance of sepnents such as the panels in ap rachute, The sscil-
lations of the object described by tne pilot are very similar in perio’ to
those of a balloon, “he nilot stated that he did not observe anything sus-
pended from the object such as the radar reflector hanling beneath the balloon,
however, the tower overator was sure that the pilot had nentione! the fact that
there was soncthing darx beneath the object when he called the tower to des-
eribe the object he had seen,

A T-1l1 was the only aircr:ft in the area near the time of the si;-hting.-
The noasibility of the pilot's first seeing the balloon then the T-11 were
checked but the T-11 wis on an entirely different heading than tnt of the
object, and was out of the immediate area,

I¥V. CONCLUSIONS

From the data obteined on this sighting, it cannot »e definitely <-on-
cluded that the object sighted by the TBM pilot was the Ravinsonde balloor
released by the Mitchel AFB Weather Station. However, ensugh of the data on
the revorted object does correlate with that of the balioon to indicate that
there is a possibility that the object observed was a balloon, There «sere no
other reports of persons observing any unusual objects and since the object
appeared to be 20 ft. to 30 ft. in diameter ani very unusual in appearance
at only 700 ft. to 300 ft. altitude over a thicxly populated area, it would
seem very lixely that it would have been seen and reporte2 ». s meo1e on the
ground,

DOWNGRADED AT 3 Year tome

DOD Dik fava ie YEARS. UNCLASSIFIED.

752-5836 12

UNCLASSIFIED
APPENDIX II

Mitchell Air Force Base = 22 January 1952

I. DISCUSSION OF INCIDENT

At approximately 0950 EST on 22 January 1952, a U. S. Navy pilot flying
a TBM type aircraft sigh-ed a disc-shaped object near Mitchell Air Force Base,
New York. The object appeared to be light, "like a nylon parachute canopy",
with a dark under surface, It was estimated to be 20 feet to 30 feet in
dianeter with a 3:1 diameter to thickness ratio.

The object appcared to be circling Mitchell Air Force Base and the
observer was able to get near the object b, cutting inside on turns,

II. STATUS OF THE INVESTIGATION

Additional information has been requested from Mitchell Air Force Base.
No conclusions can be made on data contained in preliminary wire message,

on |

» "

7 -4,te* De f... a «
DEC ASSIFIED APT? |
DOD DIR 6200 «

© cL ASSIFIED

*

" > ne SH
fi + SS
7 bd * <

THIF B30 PURT

ds Ge ep yt:

we
—— «=
.

The first contact at Mitchel ANB wes with Lt Col Claors, Director of
Intelligence for ConAS and his assistant, Pajor Wulff, Yuey reviewed vhat
they knev nbout the sirhting, givine no new into, aud called injor Lubisher,
Onerations Officer from hitenel Avis who had written uo the initial Form 112,

iajor wubisher then reviewed the incident. Lveryone at both Condy ic and Mitchel

were extremely cooperative,

II, Mitenel eather Station

These neople could give no further info other than the winds aloft in more
detail, The balloon had been traced by reder, Lt was hoped that the radar
crew had picxed un the ‘IBM circling the-balloon but they said it wes conmon
place to pick un a/e along with the balloon and wouldn't have remembered the
specific incident, It will be noted that they meent that they oicked un a/c
at the sane azimuth, not necessarily near the balloon, Also they ere so intent
on the balloon return that they propably wouldn't have noticed en a/e return
if it hag anpeared close.

A balloon, like the one released on 21 January 195. at 9055 LL, was
insoected, It is about six ft. in dianeter on the frouad ana incresses in
size as it ascends, They try to adjust the hydrogen to get = rise of XOn
(cS4 2%.) ver minute, The oelioon carrie! an alwainun foil recar reflector,

15 in, on a siae, susoended 6 in, below the balloon, The color of the balloon
was a greyish, the color of natural rupper, with talew: power sorin:led on

| it, this talews power wekes streaxs in the balloon, due to the way it is

packed, the strerks being similar to panels in a paracimte canovy,

EQOV _— oe

Balloons ere launched from 40° 43! uN, 73° 35 1/2) \. Two balloon
Leunchings were observed ont it ves noted thet the unlloons coul be seen
until the slant ranze was about &,000 Tt., at which tine they vere lost fron
sicht,

Ift, Tower Pergonnel

—

The personnel who were in the tover at the tine of the sighting wore
interrogated, wtheir only contact with the vilot is given in the Form ll: and
it took place after the incident. “hey also advised the vilot that a balloon
hai been launched in the area during the tine of the sighting,

The tover did not notice the Thi: or the balloon as they were watehing
field traffic at the tine,

The T#11 mentioned in the Form 112 took off I. made a left hance turn,

tem

then left on IT course, takin: hin out of the area

IV. dInterroretion of the Observer

—2e + ese

ee ET ape. sroved to be one of the best sources we heave

encountered, He realized that there was a belloon in the sren an the baljoon
could do “added thincs. He has tried to determine how a balloon could do
what the objcet anpeared to do,

2ecounting his exwerience = he was flying on a heading of about 459° true

when he sighted this object below at spout 10:20-o'clock, te oinovinted

himself as being off runway 30, 4 runway lenrths out, snd the objcct wes about half
between him and the end of the mmway. At first he toourht it was 4 parachute,
Re thought, and he wasn't sure, that he could see a ‘panel effect

in the top, (iote:s The talcun vowler rurts on the beLloon covld couse thi

effect), The obdjcet subtended an enrle the same us a house (% Ft, - 40 f Ge)

on the ground, lic first decided thet it wasn't a chute when he reelizges tha’