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May 20, 1961: Tyndall AFB, Florida
NICAP lists the case as follows in the chronology:
May 20, 1961--Tyndall AFB, Florida. Air Police observed unidentified light diving and climbing. [III]1
Section III has it listed in their table as air police reporting this case and that radar may have been involved.
Radar-visual report, UFO maneuvered over base, dove and climbed. Reported by NICAP in sum- mer 1961.Later analysis by Adviser Webb determined radar reports did not coincide with visual. Reports still unexplained. [Confidential report to NICAP Certified by NICAP Director, Ass’t Director, and Adviser Walter N. Webb].2
The UFO investigator of July-August 1961 provided more information about their source. It came from an AF report about the sightings. Not surprisingly, NICAP left out some details and amplified others they thought made the report appear exotic in nature.
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Blue Book case 7413
Blue Book reports that the observers had seen the UFO for about an hour and a half starting at 0250 local time (0850Z). The sum- mary states the UFO was about the size of a softball, it moved downward and then upward. It also moved from NE to SE.
The file is composed of the various reports and details but the document cited by NICAP gives a good summary of what was seen. The four witnesses were three airmen and a staff Sergeant, who were part of base security. Their description of what they saw is slightly different:
a. Airman Henson - On the morning of May 20, 1961 at approximately 0250 I saw this orange like light that came out of the woods. It first went up and then it backed down to tree top level and then went back up and stayed up at the same position for approximately ten minutes. Then it started moving toward me and then it would move back to the same position. It did this twice and then disappeared at 0430.
b. (ed: This is probably Airman Elmore but no name was given) At approximately 0300 hours, 20 May 1961 I heard Airman Henson call in to Tyndall via radio from Post #13 that there was a flying object around his post. Upon arrival, I noticed an unidentified object floating around in the air, moving back and forth, sideways up and down. When I left the scene at approximately 0330 hours, the object was still floating in the air. When I returned at 0500 hours, the object was no longer in sight.
c. Sgt. Mallet’s report - I received a radio call from A/3C Henson, the guard at Post #13, Drone Launch site, located approximately 3 miles from Gate #2, Tyndall AFB. Airman Henson stated he could see an unusual light from his post. Airman Henson stated it was unusual to him because the light had moved several times. He further stated the light did not move in the normal course of an aircraft. I then proceeded to a boundary of the base at the east range and parked my AP vehicle to observe the light. I remained at that area until 0500 hours, 20 May 1961.
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d. Airman Kelly’s report - Intercepted a call from Post #13 about a floating object. Car #3 said he would check. At about 0400 hours I noticed a bright shining object about 30 degrees from horizontal and it did not appear to be moving. On closer observation I noticed that it was moving west slowly. I went to the Drone Launch site to exchange vehicles and continued to see it.3
Post #13 appears to have been at the “Drone Launch site”, which still exists today. This is about two miles beyond the end of the main airstrip on the south side of the road US-98. If one examines the sketch, the witness appears to have been looking at a direction of about 50-70 degrees, which is more ENE than NE.4 Because the airstrip runs from NW to SE, there may have been confusion about where precise north was located. It is also important to note that this sketch apparently was drawn on August 15th, which brings up some concern about how good these statements are.
The main report was filed on May 23rd but there seemed to be a follow-up investigation in August, where the witnesses filled out statements regarding what they saw. What apparently occurred was Master Sergeant Lacour had interviewed the witnesses that morning and evening and had written this report based on his notes from these interviews. On August 14th, Lacour had a phone conversation with Dr. Hynek and Blue Book, which prompted the acquisition of written statements by the witnesses.5
This table of the initial report can assist in evaluating the sighting.6
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The azimuth and elevation reports are very difficult to determine since MSgt Lacour did not specify which was which. Mallet’s observations indicated he was describing azimuth since elevation can only be as high as 90 degrees so the values given appear to have been azimuth.
No reports were made by the local or state police. There was also no reports from Fannin field, which was the local airport for Pana- ma City. This indicates the event must have been either localized so only these individuals could see it or the object was something that others recognized to be mundane.
Radar contact
There was a mention of radar contact being detected. A jet fighter was scrambled and they had an intermittent radar contact. However, the pilot saw nothing visually. Because the radar contact was slowly moving, a helicopter was sent up but they also saw nothing.7
There seemed to be no reason to suspect that the radar contact was the same object as reported by the witnesses and may have been just a case of anomalous propagation conditions or some sort of false return. To NICAP’s credit, they dismissed this part of the event.
Blue Book’s solution
Blue Book decided what the observers saw was the planet Venus. This explanation has merit when examining the observations by the airmen. Venus rose at azimuth just north of east at 0245 CST on May 20th. This was only five minutes before the witnesses reported the object being visible in between the trees. It was just south of east at the time of sun rise (446CST), which is about the same time the witnesses stated the UFO disappeared. Venus, at magnitude -4.2 would have remained visible in the dawn sky until the sun rose. At that point, Venus would have been lost in the glare of strong twilight/daylight. This table provides azimuth and elevation for Venus on the 20th of May, 1961 from Tyndall AFB:
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The trees/woods in Florida that line these roads are tall thin pine trees. One can see between the individual trees as long as they are not packed close together. The more distant treeline is only a few degrees above the horizon and are probably what Airman Henson was referring to when he described the object being at tree top level when it first became visible.
The big question is, why didn’t the observers know this was the planet Venus and why didn’t they see Venus before or after? There could be several reasons. The first could be this was the first time the airmen had the early morning shift in several weeks. It was not unheard of to have the security guard teams rotate shifts. Additionally, the weather may have been poor on those days they did stand the morning shift, which would have prevented them from seeing Venus. Another factor to consider is these security guards were airmen, which are the lowest grade and youngest members of the military. The initial observer was Airman third class Henson, who was an E-2 and probably had been in the USAF for about 6 months to a year. He simply saw this unusual light and reported it. After it got onto the radio net, other airmen noticed the light as well. It is up to the senior members of the security team to evaluate what they report. In this case, it was Sergeant Mallet. He chose to go to the east range and observe the object. He noted nothing un- usual in his report other than it would move side to side and up and down. He also noted that it slowly gained altitude and moved from NE to SE during a two hour time period.
Solved?
While we can never positively identify such UFO cases, this one has a good chance of being the planet Venus. There are several factors that indicate the object was probably Venus:
1. The observers never reported seeing the object and Venus.
2. The object faded as the sun rose
3. The Azimuths reported are in the general direction of Venus.
Many of the effects described by the witnesses are often seen in witness reports of astronomical objects. Autokinetic and atmo- spheric effects seem to have played a role in their observations. There is no good reason to dismiss Venus as the cause for these reports and, it appears, that Blue Book got this one right.
Quelle: SUNlite 4/2014
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