ACUFO:

In 1943 I was an Instrument Flying Instructor assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group of the Air Transport Command and based at Long Beach, California. My daily routine consisted of flying four, one hour instructional periods in the morning with a different student for each hour. On one flight while proceeding on the southwest leg of the Long Beach radio range at 5000 feet altitude at the normal cruising airspeed of a BT-13A type trainer, my student and I witnessed an object at this point which to this date defies logical explanation.

This object appeared from the northeast on a level flight path and turned while decelerating from a great speed to fly parallel to us for approximately 30 seconds before it disappeared from view at a slight climbing attitude (5 degrees) bearing to the right across out ship's nose and at speed which I can now estimate to be between 2000 to 5000 miles per hour.

So many years have since passed that it is difficult to reconstruct the appearance of the object but a few prominent facts are still clear and vivid in my mind. They are:

1. This incident occurred above a fog overcast with clear and unlimited sky condition above.
2. The object was an International Orange in color, had an elliptical or rounded forward structure, was proportioned in a manner as a conventional aircraft's fuselage.
3. The rear of the object either had no significance or I am unable to remember its profile.
4. No propellers or jet orifice were visible; nor was any flame, smoke or vapor trailed.
5. It decelerated in an unstable manner. (IE) Wobbling outward from its banked attitude while turning and dipping longitudinally up to ten degrees from its flight path.
6. It flew exactly abeam at our altitude and while in this position exhibited no other motion than the identical forward speed of our ship.
7. Its departure from the area also appeared unstable at the start of its acceleration. It seemed to lurch forward with the rearward portion wobbling until its direction was established.
8. From its position abeam to ten degrees to the right of our nose and five degrees high until out of sight took approximately one and one half second.

A series of unusual events contributed to the fact that this object made no striking impression on my student and me. There had been a rumor at this time that Lockheed Aircraft Company were building a jet aircraft and we thought we had witnessed the flight of it. I learned much later that the first flight of the Lockheed P-80 did not take place until over a year from this period of time.

Furthermore, I had a camera in the aircraft at this time and although it was hanging on the 'oil dilution' control knob and ready to use, I did not use it for fear of photographing a highly secret aircraft.

I can (remember) telling the student through the intercom: “Come out from under the hood. Lockheed's jet is flying formation with us.”

The student pushed back the hood and both of us witnessed the object flying alongside and its flight out of sight. Then the student went back under the hood and the episode was ended. In retrospect, I believe the fact that neither of us at that time attached anything unusual about it must imply that it resembled something which would have encompassed known aerodynamic outlines. Until I first witnessed an early flight of the P-80, I was under this impression. Immediately upon seeing the relative slowness of the P-80 and its easily identifiable outlines, I realized we had witnessed some inexplicable object...”

In 1943 I was an Instrument Flying Instructor assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group of the Air Transport Command and based at Long Beach, California. My daily routine consisted of flying four, one hour instructional periods in the morning with a different student for each hour. On one flight while proceeding on the southwest leg of the Long Beach radio range at 5000 feet altitude at the normal cruising airspeed of a BT-13A type trainer, my student and I witnessed an object at this point which to this date defies logical explanation.

This object appeared from the northeast on a level flight path and turned while decelerating from a great speed to fly parallel to us for approximately 30 seconds before it disappeared from view at a slight climbing attitude (5 degrees) bearing to the right across out ship's nose and at speed which I can now estimate to be between 2000 to 5000 miles per hour.

So many years have since passed that it is difficult to reconstruct the appearance of the object but a few prominent facts are still clear and vivid in my mind. They are:

1. This incident occurred above a fog overcast with clear and unlimited sky condition above.
2. The object was an International Orange in color, had an elliptical or rounded forward structure, was proportioned in a manner as a conventional aircraft's fuselage.
3. The rear of the object either had no significance or I am unable to remember its profile.
4. No propellers or jet orifice were visible; nor was any flame, smoke or vapor trailed.
5. It decelerated in an unstable manner. (IE) Wobbling outward from its banked attitude while turning and dipping longitudinally up to ten degrees from its flight path.
6. It flew exactly abeam at our altitude and while in this position exhibited no other motion than the identical forward speed of our ship.
7. Its departure from the area also appeared unstable at the start of its acceleration. It seemed to lurch forward with the rearward portion wobbling until its direction was established.
8. From its position abeam to ten degrees to the right of our nose and five degrees high until out of sight took approximately one and one half second.

A series of unusual events contributed to the fact that this object made no striking impression on my student and me. There had been a rumor at this time that Lockheed Aircraft Company were building a jet aircraft and we thought we had witnessed the flight of it. I learned much later that the first flight of the Lockheed P-80 did not take place until over a year from this period of time.

Furthermore, I had a camera in the aircraft at this time and although it was hanging on the 'oil dilution' control knob and ready to use, I did not use it for fear of photographing a highly secret aircraft.

I can (remember) telling the student through the intercom: “Come out from under the hood. Lockheed's jet is flying formation with us.”

The student pushed back the hood and both of us witnessed the object flying alongside and its flight out of sight. Then the student went back under the hood and the episode was ended. In retrospect, I believe the fact that neither of us at that time attached anything unusual about it must imply that it resembled something which would have encompassed known aerodynamic outlines. Until I first witnessed an early flight of the P-80, I was under this impression. Immediately upon seeing the relative slowness of the P-80 and its easily identifiable outlines, I realized we had witnessed some inexplicable object...”

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER ... 1943

UFO - The time for the telling has come

By GERRY A. CASEY

Gerry Casey is a respected aviation writer and former CAA/F AA inspector. During the war he was an Army instructor, at which time this incident took place. He writes: “The sorry state of mankind vs. his environment and his apparent headlong flight into self-destruction finally caused me to bare my UFO soul.

”The enclosed account is exactly as it happened. Times, places, dates and people are an accurate depiction.

The event occurred at 9:50am on April 5, 1943.

The entire thing began and ended in less than a minute and a few seconds. Writing of it has consumed a few days. The impression left is indelible, but it has taken another 46 years to make it public...

A few days before the experience I'd been chatting with some of my brethren at our Long Beach, CA, Air Corps Ferry Command base. Some had heard a rumor that Lockheed was designing an experimental pursuit plane that would astonish all because it was without a propeller. All of us agreed that the rumor was no more or less stupid than what we normally heard. There was a war going on, so what else was new?

At the time I was a primary instructor. My students at the moment were a man with great aptitude who later became a prominent CAA manager; a student so poor he literally flopped around the sky; our base ferrying-order chief Larry Schwartzell, and two others who would require second attempts before they would earn their Army Air Corps instrument tickets One, Rex Mays, who'd won the Indianapolis race twice, seemed to have no imagination when it came to interpreting flight instruments.

One of my first students that day faced a blind takeoff on primary instruments. He was unconcerned that the actual weather was 200 feet with an eighth of a mile visibility. This weather was considered normal for Long Beach when the marine layer burgeoned.

After a nice takeoff and climb through the cloud deck. We spent about 40 minutes at 5,000 feet cruising back and forth on the southeast - northwest legs of the Long Beach low frequency radio range.

Above the clouds the visibility was unlimited. I could see cumulus forming behind the Sierra Madres.

After grading the student's path along the range legs and over the “cone of silence,” I looked up and east toward distant Santiago Mountain. I'd thought I had seen a flash of light. Peering intently, I saw an aircraft in a moderate dive aimed at our BT-13 with a perfect interception angle.

Not wanting to disturb the student, I prepared to take evasive action if needed. The craft coming at us appeared to be painted an international orange and was now about to pass on our left side.

Unable to determine the craft's make or model, I knew it was unlike any airplane I'd ever seen. As I studied it, I was shocked to see it make a decidedly wobbly tum that quickly aligned it off our left wing in instant and perfect formation.

“Come out from under the hood,” I ordered my student “I think Lockheed's new airplane is flying formation with us!”

He immediately flipped the cloth hood back and both of us stared hypnotically at the strange “airplane” holding a precise formation with our Vultee trainer.

Instinctively I reached for my ever-present camera hanging on the oil-dilution control. But realizing I could get in trouble photographing a secret test plane, I replaced it.

The thing flying alongside us defied rationale. I'd noticed that its turn appeared totally independent of air-reaction but that when it was off our wing, the adjustment to our altitude and course was perfect and instantaneous. Its position with us was held as if an iron bar had been welded between the two.

No question, its color was a radiant orange, which appeared to shimmer in the bright sunlight As we watched, its aft end made a slight adjustment and it shot away from our position, disappearing in a climbing turn toward the ocean. Later, both of us agreed that it was gone from sight in two seconds.

After the flight and awaiting my next student, we chatted idly about the exotic craft. We agreed on several aspects: it was orange in color but changed to white when it accelerated. We hadn't seen any openings or glass indicating a cockpit. It definitely did not have a propeller or any other type of propulsion that we could determine. And when we discussed its probable size, my student pointed out that never having seen its likes before and that it was round, its size was difficult to guess. If it were ten feet in diameter, it would have been 35 to 50 feet off our wingtip. But if it were 50 to 75 feet in diameter, it would be a hundred or more feet away.

He was certain it was circular. I felt it learned [leaned] more toward the elliptical. We agreed that it had a rounded hump amidships topside and a smaller duplicate on its underside.

When I used my pocket computer and attempted to determine its speed I came up with a reading of 7,200 mph. My student agreed to the computation and remarked that the war would be over as soon as Lockheed got the craft into production.

We then went on with our lives as if nothing unusual had happened. Trying to recapture the details of an event that had consumed less than 90 seconds kept my thoughts occupied. I drew a pencil sketch of the craft's profile to confirm my opinion that it had been designed and built of parabolic curves rather than compass-drawn arcs. I could not reconcile its wobbling flight nor its sudden and unbelievable acceleration.

As time passed, the mystery deepened because Lockheed produced only the P-38 pursuit. (The P-80 jet first flew on Jan. 8, 1944.)

After WW2 ended, all of us busied ourselves with restructuring our lives. Then, in the newspapers and on radio, burst a story about a Washington State pilot named Kenneth Arnold who witnessed a flight of saucers near Mt. Rainier as he flew toward the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains (June 24, 1947). It was only then that I realized what my student and I had seen.

After Arnold's report, “Flying Saucer” madness swept the world. For anyone then to admit witnessing such a machine was to court ridicule. As I went to work for the CAA at Seattle's Boeing Field GADO about this time, I decided it would be folly to relate my experience. But in my thoughts, a clear statement evolved: I'd seen a flying machine that was light years in advance of anything on earth. I'm not easily fooled by flying machines and their IDs. I knew I'd witnessed an intelligently flown and deliberately aimed machine. It was not a cloud, an ionized chunk of gas, a planet shining on high, or a figment of imagination - mine or my student's. Therefore, I was forced to accept that what we'd seen was real.

As years passed, my primary emotion regarding the incident was that I wished it had not occurred. But when reports of UFOs from other pilots, scientists, writers and people whose credibility could not be questioned were recorded, my concern about the invalid reports deepened. On one side were all sorts of writers, opportunists and publicity seekers claiming the wildest of experiences. On the other were the sincere, thoughtful professionals who found surprising points of agreement in what they'd seen. All of us agreed we had seen an expression of intelligence eons ahead of our own.

None of us came up with a reason “why.”

In 1948 a memo came through the CAA system concerning the US Air Force's “Operation Bluebook” and urging any CAA personnel who had a UFO experience to report it. They added that the person and data would be investigated. I did as suggested but never received any acknowledgement or contact. A secret curiosity caused me to decide to do my own investigating.

Since that early time in UFO history, sightings throughout the world have been reported by too many credible witnesses to ignore. Names of prominent people who had seen such craft appeared before the public. It would be difficult to term the following anything but sane, impressive witnesses:

• Sen. Barry Goldwater
• Ex-President Jimmie Carter
• Astronauts Gordon Cooper, McDivitt and Borman
• Airline pilots, crews and passengers; AAL Capt Raymond Ryan, TWA Capt. Richard Addickes, EAL Capt Jerry Noyes, and another EAL crew who witnessed Noyes' experience but refused to discuss it publicly.

Airline and military pilots the world over have had similar brief encounters with exotic machines such as seen by my student and me in 1943.

In August, 1952, Washington National Airport's TRACON personnel peered into their scopes and watched as numerous UFOs flitted over the nation's capital. Their superiors promptly issued a statement that all the professional controllers were seeing “reflections due to temperature inversions.” A much higher authority dispatched jet fighters to shoot down the “inversions!”

My experience has forced me to spend much time reading and researching all the scientific possibilities that might explain the UFO phenomena. Its spectacular flight forces one to demand logical answers.

Mixed with my curiosity has been a reticence to discuss the subject with all but kindred aviation types who've had a similar experience. It appeared to me that all reported sightings could be logically categorized. I decided five such categories would lend credence to the logical approach:

1. Delusional experience by incompetents.
2. Outright hoax committed for personal reasons.
3. Invalid due to mistaken identification.
4. Valid experience but requiring verification.
5. Valid and attested-to by credible witnesses.

Numbers 1 and 2 need no explanation. No. 3 may easily be recognized, particularly when accompanied by photos. Most such sightings are standing wave cap clouds that assume the classic lenticular form. At altitudes of more than 50,000 feet and with winds that top 80 kts, these can form and dissipate with astonishing speed. But they do not move laterally.

Planets viewed from a moving platform can appear to make abrupt movements. Usually it is the head motion of the viewer that creates the illusion.

No.4 is a category requiring further scientific investigation by professionals.

For anyone to dismiss all sightings by professional airmen, scientists, and radar and air traffic personnel the world over only displays the critic's closed mind.

Many of our world's fantastic events, which we now easily accept, were formerly termed “impossible” when first confronted. Had we been told during WW2 that Neil Armstrong would land on the moon on July 20, 1969, we'd have sent the talespinner to a mental institution.

The trap one discovers in urging a scientific approach is that to explore any unknown. we first must free our minds of preconceptions. Most scientists are acutely aware that limited beliefs net limited results. The greatest discoveries have been born of the wildest imaginations.

For any airman who has had a similar experience to mine, the conscious event cannot be erased. Nor can it be rationalized through comparisons to any known thing on earth.

To bring rationale into the subject, the credible viewer of a UFO must accept the reality that the thing exists, it has not come from earth and that its intention is to maintain some type of surveillance. Only with that conclusion can imagination coupled with logic produce understandable possibilities.

First, the flying object, its design and its unbelievable maneuvering, tell us that the inventors are likely to be tens of thousands of years ahead of us in scientific know-how.

Briefly, let's consider some possibilities.

Most aviation-oriented personnel have agreed on several points; the craft's color, shape and size and flight characteristics. Credible scientists have noted that many sightings have occurred in the vicinity of our atomic plants or military installations. Other viewings have indicated that close approaches were made in isolated areas.

What are the scientific possibilities of UFO operation?

Research into plasma indicates it is a blue-white color. So is the UFO when at speed.

Various exotic materials have been discovered to have properties of super-conductivity. Some are metal, others a variety of composites.

Can the UFO be a ceramic? Gravity, the most common force in the universe, is not really understood. It appears the UFO uses and controls the force of gravity in lieu of rocket propulsion. (Has any of our scientists ever weighed a high-output generator as it was turned to various compass headings? Does the weight vary? That could be a start.)

How could the UFO avoid being hit by debris when zipping through space? Easy if they are able to control gravity. They could send out a magnetic sweep ahead of its path. Smaller objects would be swept aside and larger objects, in turn, would sweep the UFO out of harm's way.

How could anyone make a journey that involved light years of distance? I don't know, but some of our scientists have theorized that the universe may use the speed of light, squared.

What has our government done to study this phenomena? Unfortunately, nothing but stonewall as data continues to build - as far as we know.

Most important, why are we apparently being so carefully monitored by UFOs?

I believe every event, human or otherwise, has a definable cause that runs to an effect. The act of creation and extinction seems to prove this. At times it appears that both ends of the creative scale are obscure. Until solid, understandable data clears up a mystery, some events defy explanation. But though we humans cannot detect a hidden cause does not mean there isn't one.

(continued on page 4)

(continued from page 3 - WESTERN FLYER, Tacoma, WA - July 7, 1989)

In our fragile world, we are noting that more and more of the thoughtful, the scientific and the concerned are issuing somber warnings about the lightning-like destruction of our planet's environment. Some have warned that humans may already have painted themselves into a corner from which escape is no longer possible.

Is the universe inter-related and interdependent?

If it is true that we creatures are moving headlong into a self-destructive mode, possibly the failure of our planet could upset the balance of others in our, or a nearby, planetary system. If this is true, then any other superior race of creatures would be seriously concerned.

Perhaps it is later than we think.

I urge others who have yet to reveal a UFO experience and who are qualified, to share their stories.

I have.

Your turn.

1943 Aircraft/UFO Encounter
(Tacoma. WA Western Flyer, July 7, 1989)

Army flight instructor Gerry Casey described a close encounter with a UFO over California on April 5, 1943, at 9:50 a.m. which he and his student pilot believed to be a secret Lockheed aircraft. Later they found out it was not a secret U.S. aircraft. He described the encounter as follows:

“After a nice takeoff and climb through the cloud deck, we spent 40 minutes at 5,000 feet cruising back and forth on the southeast-northwest legs of the Long Beach low frequency radio range. I looked up and east toward distant Santiago Mountain. I'd thought I had seen a flash of light. Peering intently, I saw an aircraft in a moderate dive aimed at our BT-13 aircraft with a perfect interception angle. Unable to determine the craft's make or model, I knew it was unlike any airplane I'd ever seen. I was shocked to see it make a decidedly wobbly turn that quickly aligned it off our left wing in instant and perfect formation. The thing flying alongside us defied rationale. I'd noticed that its turn appeared totally independent of air-reaction. No question, its color was a radiant orange, which appeared to shimmer in the bright sunlight. As we watched, its aft end made a slight adjustment and it shot away from our position, disappearing in a climbing turn toward the ocean. Its color changed to white as it accelerated. It was gone from sight in 2 seconds. We hadn't seen any openings or glass indicating a cockpit. It definitely did not have a propeller or any other type of propulsion that we could determine. It was circular or elliptical and it had a rounded hump amidships topside and a smaller duplicate on its underside. 'When I used my pocket computer and attempted to determine its speed I came up with a reading of 7,200 mph.'

A rarity, a dated report, was filed by reknown aviation writer, Gerry Casey. On April 5, 1943 at 9:50AM, Casey was a primary instrument flight instructor supervising a student in a BT-13A trainer. Cruising near Long Beach, California with the student flying, Casey had glanced eastward and had noticed a peculiar flash in the sky. As he looked more carefully, he saw an aircraft in a moderate dive toward the trainer. Preparation for evasive action was made ready in case it was needed as the craft continued to approach, and then pass on the trainer's left side.

This "plane" was quite odd. It was radiant orange in color, with no openings or glass visible. There was no propeller or propulsion of any kind visible. It was elliptical, with a rounded hump on top and a smaller hump underneath. Size was difficult to determine without knowing the distance. It was unlike anything ever seen before.

The object maintained a precise formation with the trainer, showing something of a wobble or oscillation while in place. Casey thought of photographing it with a camera available in the plane but, thinking that the object was a secret aircraft from Lockheed (about which he had heard rumors), he decided against it, fearing wartime penalties for photographing secret test aircraft.

Suddenly, with the rear portion of the object moving slightly, it shot away, disappearing in a climbing turn toward the ocean in two seconds. It turned from orange to white as it accelerated. Total duration of the sighting was 90 seconds.

By today's standards of UFO research, this report would probably draw a deep yawn from the majority of those following this topic. The pilot and student weren't abducted and dissected. Their memories weren't tampered with. They wer e n't visited by "men in black." And they never toured talk shows or ended up in tabloids. The instructor was simply recalling a detailed odd event of the distant past that was not resplendent with Hollywood-style glitter or a scripted story line. It is merely

one of those strange kinds of little puzzles that constituted the 5% or so of what the Air Force could not identify -- the technically detailed report with credible witnesses that present an interpretive challenge to intelligent people. Unfortunately this has become archaeic in today's showbiz world, belonging only in an archaeic publication like this!

1943, April 5

USA, Long Beach (California)

The pilot of a BT 13A training plane saw at 9:50 a.m. flying alongside the plane a round and orange object which then went off with a gunshot. (Aircraft Ufo Encounters, Feb. 1999, Dominique Weinstein)

475: 1943/04/03 09:50 1 118:11:00 W 33:47:00 N 3333 NAM USA CLF 6:8
LONG BEACH,CA:2 OBS:CLASSIC DOMED SCR DIVES at AAF BT13A TRAINER:>>S:/r150
Ref# 65 HALL,Richard: Frm AIRSHIPS to ARNOLD Page No. 21: IN-FLIGHT

03 Project 1947 Reports, newsclippings and documents (cases from Jan Aldrich and Barry Greenwood)

Case 12

April 5, 1943 Air Corps Ferrying Command Base, Long Beach California, USA

At 0950, Gerry A. Casey instrument flight instructor and four students flying a BT-13A training plane observed an orange round-shaped or more elliptical (more than 10 ft in diameter) object flying alongside in formation with his aircraft. The object appeared to shimmer in bright sunlight. Then it shot away from the aircraft position disappearing in a climbing turn toward the ocean at about 7,200 mph. When the object accelerated away from the plane it changed color from orange to white. No opening cockpit or openings, no propeller or any type of propulsion were observed. Total duration: 1 mn

Sources: Pilot's report / Project 1947 Jan Aldrich.

A related incident halfway around the world lends a measure of credibility that something out of the ordinary was going on over war-torn Europe.

It happened in 1943, though the exact date is unknown. A military training plane stationed at Long Beach, California, took off and climbed to 5,000 feet. Suddenly an unidentified aerial object appeared off in the distance. It was bright orange and was shaped like the fuselage of a typical aircraft, but without wings or propellers.

The object approached the training plane at high speed, made a radical turn and was very quickly flying in formation with it. The object stayed on this parallel course for about a half minute, astonishing the pilot and his student, before accelerating up to 5,000 miles per hour and disappearing.

Whether the Allied air commands in Europe had been made aware of this sighting is also unknown - but one thing is clear: The object seen that day off Long Beach was extremely similar in description to the “rockets” being reported over Europe.

Which presents a baffling question: If the aerial phenomena being seen by Allied airmen over Europe were being excused away as German “rockets,” then how could almost the exact same kind of unidentified aerial object be seen off the coast of California?

Date: 1943

Location: Long Beach, CA

Time:

Summary: Flight instructor and student pilot saw a glowing orange disc dive at their aircraft and hover alongside, then accelerate and climb away out of sight.

Source: Ref. 3; Witness report to Jan Aldrich, Project 1947.

April 5, 1943; Long Beach, CA

Flight instructor and student pilot saw a glowing orange disc dive at their aircraft and hover alongside, then accelerate and climb away out of sight. (Ref. 3; Witness report to Jan Aldrich, Project 1947.)

In May 1952 a Civil Aeronautics Administration Aviation Safety Agent from Seattle wrote to Project Blue Book about a sighting during World War II:

In 1943 I was an Instrument Flying Instructor assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group of the Air Transport Command and based at Long Beach, California. My daily routine consisted of flying four, one hour instructional periods in the morning with a different student for each hour. On one flight while proceeding on the southwest leg of the Long Beach radio range at 5000 feet altitude at the normal cruising airspeed of a BT-13A type trainer, my student and I witnessed an object at this point which to this date defies logical explanation.

This object appeared from the northeast on a level flight path and turned while decelerating from a great speed to fly parallel to us for approximately 30 seconds before it disappeared from view at a slight climbing attitude (5 degrees) bearing to the right across out ship's nose and at speed which I can now estimate to be between 2000 to 5000 miles per hour.

So many years have since passed that it is difficult to reconstruct the appearance of the object but a few prominent facts are still clear and vivid in my mind. They are:

1) This incident occurred above a fog overcast with clear and unlimited sky condition above.

2) The object was an International Orange in color, had an elliptical or rounded forward structure, was proportioned in a manner as a conventional aircraft's fuselage.

3) The rear of the object either had no significance or I am unable to remember its profile.

4) No propellers or jet orifice were visible; nor was any flame, smoke or vapor trailed.

5) It decelerated in an unstable manner. (IE) Wobbling outward from its banked attitude while turning and dipping longitudinally up to ten degrees from its flight path.

6) It flew exactly abeam at our altitude and while in this position exhibited no other motion than the identical forward speed of our ship.

7) Its departure from the area also appeared unstable at the start of its acceleration. It seemed to lurch forward with the rearward portion wobbling until its direction was established.

8) From its position abeam to ten degrees to the right of our nose and five degrees high until out of sight took approximately one and one half second.

A series of unusual events contributed to the fact that this object made no striking impression on my student and me. There had been a rumor at this time that Lockheed Aircraft Company were building a jet aircraft and we thought we had witnessed the flight of it. I learned much later that the first flight of the Lockheed P-80 did not take place until over a year from this period of time.

Furthermore, I had a camera in the aircraft at this time and although it was hanging on the 'oil dilution' control nob and ready to use, I did not use it for fear of photographing a highly secret aircraft.

I can (remember) telling the student through the intercom: “Come out from under the hood. Lockheed's jet is flying formation with us.”

The student pushed back the hood and both of us witnessed the object flying alongside and its flight out of sight. Then the student went back under the hood and the episode was ended. In retrospect, I believe the fact that neither of us at that time attached anything unusual about it must imply that it resembled something which would have encompassed known aerodynamic outlines. Until I first witnessed an early flight of the P-80, I was under this impression. Immediately upon seeing the relative slowness of the P-80 and its easily identifiable outlines, I realized we had witnessed some inexplicable object...”

[Project 1947 comments:]

This case is an example of what Dr. Hynek called “escalation of hypotheses” in extreme slow motion. It was only after the observer saw a jet aircraft that he realized that a conventional answer would not work for his observation.

The writer did not remember the name of the student, but he enclosed a drawing of the object and a list of students who could have been the other witness. The 1952 UFO flap was just starting, but hundreds of letter poured into Project Blue Book. They had no time to even acknowledge the letter let alone investigate what they considered an old case. So they simply filed the letter along with hundreds of others they received on many different subjects in a “catch all” file. They did not include this report as a case file nor did they count it in the Blue Book statistics. - J.L.A.

UPDATE:

Shortly after the above account appeared on the Project 1947 site, I was contacted by a friend of the letter writer, Gerry A Casey, who had not been identified as the author. He asked if I would like to talk to Mr. Casey who kindly agreed to a telephone interview. He also supplied items from his flight log book which established the date and time of the incident: about 9:50 a. m., on April 5.

Mr Casey's letter to ATIC did not result in any follow up investigation. (Understandable as it would have come into ATIC just at the beginning of the 1952 flap.)

Casey had thought his “UFO” was a technologically advanced experimental craft until after the war when he saw a P-80 jet and realized it had far lower performance than what he and the student pilot had witnessed. (Two other similar observations in which the witnesses thought they had misidentified common objects only to reconsider in view of what they had learned later come to mind: Winter 1944-45, Naval Air Technical Training Center, South Base, Oklahoma, the observer Mr. Vern Seifert thought he might have seen a radar target, but later understood his sighting of a “spinning, shimmering bright sphere” could not have been such a target. Approximately 26-31 January, 1945, between the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia in the Pacific, observer Mr. Louis Gracie thought he had seen a large sea turtle pass beneath his ship, but later learned that sea turtles could not grow to such a large size.)

After Mr. Casey sent his account to the Air Force he met the student pilot who was in the plane with him and who had also observed the object. When the subject was broached with him, he declined to talk about it and told Casey he never wanted to discuss it again.

Over the years Casey has told his story to other pilots. From over 90 percent he got about the same answer, “Change your brand of whiskey.” The others had seen something themselves which they could not explain and were less judgmental. He had one other UFO observation in 1954, when a multi-engine prototype bomber which later lead to the B-52 was flown by Boeing over the area. As he watched he noticed a spindle-shaped object behind the aircraft. He watched the object intersect one of the contrails and noted that the object appeared to “burn away” the area of the contrail it had passed through. (This is similar to other reports termed “cloud cutters” in which cloud, fog or vapor trails seem to be burned away near the object.)

He had written of his original sighting in a small west coast aviation publication some years earlier.

He did not report his observation at the time as he had been told he might encounter experimental craft during his flights. He thought that is what had happened, and there was no reason to report it or photograph it, even though he carried a camera on the flights.

Mr. Casey was still a pilot into the 1990s.

- Jan Aldrich

1943

April 5

9:50 a.m. Flight instructor Gerry A. Casey and a student pilot in a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 watch a radiant-orange, elliptical disc dive at their aircraft near Long Beach, California. There is no propellor and it has a rounded hump above and below. It hovers alongside with a slight wobble, then accelerates, turns from orange to white, and climbs out of sight in 2 seconds.

(Project 1947, “UFO Reports, 1943”; Gerry A. Casey, “UFO: The Time for the Telling Has Come,” Tacoma (Wash.) Western Flyer, July 7, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service 241 (August 1989), p. 3; Patrick Gross, “Observation at Long Beach, 1943

1943

May 1943 at 09:50 Near Long Beach, California, Gerry Casey and his student pilot observe an orange UFO.