The Official Guide to UFOs-pages

Page 157 of 161

Page 157 of 161
The Official Guide to UFOs-pages

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TIME/PLACE OF SIGHTING: November 29, 1960 at 6:38 P.M. local area time/south of Kyushu Island, Japan; sighting was made at an altitude of 21,000 feet from a T-33 Lockheed jet trainer. Major. TACTICS: Flight path of the UFO began due east at 90° and followed a straight course northward from east; it did not maneuver but appeared to slow down and match the speed of. the observers' airplane, flying parallel course with them as it reached 30° (about north northeast); after 10 minutes it disappeared instantaneously. however, that the UFO was in an orbital trajectory-although they had never previously seen an artificial satellite. There were no known aircraft in that area of the sky at that time. One possibility suggested by the Air Force investigator was that the UFO might have been a balloon launched from Communist territory: the only Free World balloon in that part of the world was launched after the sighting occurred. Actually, the movement of this UFO against a star background would be unusual for the average balloon. The AF investigator stated: "Conclusions by the reporting officer would be in the realm of speculation and therefore no factual opinion can be offered at this time." Note: This sighting is generally similar to the UFO observed by two other Air Force observers flying over the Pacific Ocean on an Air Defense mission, April 24, 1961— about five months later. DURATION: 10 minutes. NUMBER OF OBSERVERS: Two. TYPE OF OBSERVER: Jet-qualified pilots of the U. S. Air Force, one a Lt. Colonel, the other a NUMBER OF OBJECTS: One. OBSERVER RELIABILITY: Excellent. SHAPE: Generally shapeless, but resembled a star of about second magnitude. DIMENSIONS: Equivalent to the North Star as viewed from 21,000 feet. COLOR: White, similar to a star. SOUND: None. ALTITUDE: About 45° above the horizon, halfway to the zenith, at 2 o'clock. SPEED: Not estimated. COMMENT: Could not have been a satellite, since a check with Space Track at the North American Air Defense Command disclosed that no satellites were in that area at the time. The observers felt,