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Maybe on Northwestern Oklahoma, USA, on July 6, 1947:

Case number:

ACUFO-1947-07-06-NORTHWESTERNOKLAHOMA-1

Summary:

The newspaper The Daily Enterprise, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA, for July 7, 1947, said that John Phillips, Jr., of Phillips Petroleum's aviation department, and Henry Barbarick, pilot for that company, were flying at 10,000 to 12,000 feet (the date is not specified).

John Phillips was piloting the plane and saw a first "flying saucer"; he yelled to Henry Barbarick who was reading maps, but Barbarick said the "saucer" went by so fast that he was unable to see it.

A few minutes later, Phillips saw another strange flying object; which he said looked "like a large 'hangar door' on the horizon", but again Barbarick was unable to catch sight of it.

A moment later, another one appeared in front of the plane and then shot up and over the plane, and this time Barbarick caught sight of the object.

Phillips said that at least nine of the "saucers" appeared in a space of 15 minutes. Both men said the discs were flying at such a tremendous rate of speed that they were unable to get a good look at them. They tried unsuccessfully to clock them once when one flashed by. Phillips turned the plane to get a better look at it, but it had disappeared by the time the plane came around.

Phillips said the discs varied in size of a small plane up to a large transport. He said they looked saucer-shaped with the front tilted up. He said they were definitely made of metal, since they glistened like silver in the sun, and he said they appeared to be spinning.

Barbarick said that "it gave you a feeling like someone was shooting flak at you."

In the 2000's, US ufologist David Rudiak found the case in two other newspapers, the Lawton Daily World and the Tulsa Daily World, both for July 8, 1947, and said that the sighting occurred on Sunday, July 6, 1947, in the afternoon, possibly over Northwestern Oklahoma, near the Colorado / Kansas state line.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. dee1:] NEWSPAPER "DAILY ENTERPPRISE":

[Ref. mhc1:] MICHAEL D. HALL AND WENDY CONNORS:

The source "66" is noted as: "Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Daily Enterprise, 1 [sic, 7] July 1947, p. 1."

[Ref. drk1:] DAVID RUDIAK:

This US ufologist says that in Northwestern Oklahoma maybe, near the Colorado / Kansas state line, in the afternoon, two Bartlesville OK men, John Phillips Jr., of Phillips petroleum aviation department, and Henry Barbarick, reported sighting discs while flying at 10,000 to 12,000 feet. Phillips said he saw about nine discs and that they appeared to be metallic saucers flying with the front edges tilted.

David Rudiak indicates that the sources are the Lawton Daily World, for July 8, 1947, and the Tulsa Daily World, for July 8, 1947, and that the sighting is on Sunday, July 6, 1947.

[Ref. jah1:] JAN ALDRICH - PROJECT 1947:

Aircraft information:

Nothing is said about the aircraft; but it may have been a Lockheed Orion L-9, as the company used them. It was a single-engine passenger transport aircraft built in 1931 for commercial airlines, the first airliner to feature retractable landing gear. It was faster than any military aircraft of its time, with a maximum speed of 354 km/h.

There was an Orion 9F-1, NC14246, built for Phillips Petroleum Company with a 650 hp Wright R-1820-F2 engine; but I was unable to determine whether it was operating in 1947.

Discussion:

Below: Ad in American Aviation magazine of June 1953 indicating that Philips Petroleum sold aircraft fuel and was based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

John G. Phillips Jr. (photo below) was born in 1925, he was the son of Frank "Uncle Frank" aka "The Baron of Bartlesville" and Mildred Phillips. His father was the co-founder of the Philips Petroleum Co. John G. Philips had established himself in Bartlesville's high society, being in the oil-rich family. He served on the Frank Phillips Foundation board of trustees for more than 30 years. He died in 1951.

An article of the The Bartlesville Record newspaper for February 18, 1951, indicates Henry "Doc" F. Barbarick, 33, of Nowata road in Bartlesville, died in the crash of the light plane piloted for a coyote hunt by L. E. McDonald near Bartlesville on February 17, 1951. The newspaper published this photo of the wreck:

So, the two men in the sighting report were not newspaper inventions.

Of course this does not mean that the report itself was not made up. If it was not, what is reported has no obvious ordinary explanation in my opinion. For example, the note that the front of the flying objects was titled means that they were no ordinary planes, otherwise, more obvious features such as wings and tails would have been noticed.

Evaluation:

Possible extraterrestrial craft.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

• [dee1] * Article in the newspaper The Daily Enterprise, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA, July 7, 1947.
• [ldw1] ? Article in the newspaper The Lawton Daily World, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA, July 8, 1947.
• [tdw1] ? Article in the newspaper The Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, July 8, 1947.
• [mhc1] * "Alfred Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947", book by Michael D. Hall and Wendy Connors, Rose Press publishers, USA, pp 70-71, 1998.
• [drk1] * "Texas Area UFO Reports, June/July 1947 - (Includes Oklahoma and Arkansas)", web page by David Rudiak, USA, 2003 - 2024, at http://www.roswellproof.com/texas_ufo_reports.html
• [jah1] * "Project 1947 - UFO Reports - 1947", Web page on the Project 1947 ufology Website by Jan Aldrich, not dated, as of 2026, at https://www.project1947.com/fig/1947e.htm

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This page was last updated on June 1, 2026.