Part 2- 20: The Real Work Begins
------------------------------
July 11, 2006
Dan Wilson:
----------------------------
July 22, 2006
Brad Sparks:
----------------------------
July 23, 2006
Dan Wilson:
----------------------------
July 24, 2006
Dan Wilson:
----------------------------
July 25, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
Dan Wilson:
----------------------------
July 26, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
Fran Ridge:
------------------------------
July 27, 2006
Dan Wilson:
Jean Waskiewicz:
Jean Waskiewicz:
------------------------------
July 28, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
------------------------------
July 29, 2006
Brad Sparks:
-------------------------------
Aug. 10, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
------------------------------
2007
Aug. 21, 2007
Robert Swiatek:
------------------------------
Sept. 6, 2007
Dan Wilson:
-------------------------------
Sept. 14, 2007
Fran Ridge;
This summation and preliminary analysis deals with what our team found during the re-investigation of the Mantell Incident that I began on March 8th of 2006 as a result of Channel 14 (Evansville, Indiana) Drew Speier's request to do a story I originally objected to, which aired on May 23rd, 2006. This summation will try to expound on this without re-hashing my seven reasons for thinking there was more to the case than the current wisdom suggested. In other words, prior to this re-investigation I was willing to accept the conclusion of my colleagues, that Mantell had died in an accident chasing a balloon of some type.
When the re-investigation began on March 8th, the first thing we did was to re-examine the old Mantell case file. There were three documents in that file that we had not paid too much attention to. One that mentioned a "Plan 62" which had no real significance to us at that time. Another, a hard-to-read inverted image in black with white letters at the bottom that read, "Oxygen system was not serviced. System was in working order." Yet another document that said Mantell's body was removed before the Air Force accident team got there.
PLAN 62
Somewhere in an old email from Dan Wilson is a report he filed on Plan 62. The report was not tied to any particular sighting, so the file got sidestepped and was lost. But Wendy Connors document # 6 had mentioned "Plan 62". Three months into our re-investigation Plan 62 became the topic of discussion in the Mantell case. Brad Sparks had a pretty good idea of what he thought it was, and later found more details. In the fall of 2008 Dan Wilson was able to get an official document from the Air Force Historical Studies Office.
My research into Mantell led me to examine Captain Ed Ruppelt's unedited manuscript for his book, "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects". It mentioned the Plan, but not by number. This then, was an important early discovery. Ruppelt's slip-up in his manuscript had mentioned that "The people on Project SIGN worked fast on the Mantell Incident, [in fact they heard about it through Flight Service while it was all in progress.]..." Our investigation was to show that Air Force personnel mentioned hearing about sightings that infamous day at the other bases as the event was actually unfolding.
Here is what Brad Sparks added in June: "The Air Defense Command (ADC) used the Plan 62 intercom system, through the Air Transport Command's Flight Service Centers, and the air traffic controllers of the Airways and Air Communications Service (AACS) in those centers and outlying bases, to coordinate the use of air traffic control towers and radars to track the UFO. This was because at that time the ADC had only two operating radars in the nation, both too far away, across the continent on the West Coast (at Half Moon Bay, Calif., and Arlington, Wash.)."
Ruppelt had said in his published book (page 33) that "rumor had it that the tower had carried on a running conversation with the pilots and that there was more information than was so far known." Ruppelt stated the rumors were not true. The evidence proves him wrong or a liar. We now know that a lot of people heard Mantell and his men. Project SIGN was even in on it, live!!!!
OXYGEN
Our report on file on the Mantell Incident file by the end of 2005 had documents that strongly suggested that something strange had been going on in the region, and one of those documents was USAF-SIGN1-310. A better version of this document was uncovered by Dan Wilson on June 1st of 2006, but we actually had it in December of 2005. The bottom of document USAF-SIGN-310 clearly reads, "Oxygen system was not serviced. System was in working order." Regarding Mantell having oxygen, my take was that the system, like an automobile with a gas tank, carburetor and fuel pump, was in working condition, except it had not been fueled or topped off with oxygen. Brad believes Mantell not only had to have had oxygen, but has found supporting evidence in the Accident Report that we obtained and transcribed for our use and supplied to him.
BODY REMOVED
USAF-SIGN1-372 documents that State Police officer Joe Walker arrived at the crash scene and stated that the pilot's body had already been removed. We later learned that the ambulance crew had done this and it was reported in a newspaper. The source was the Franklin (Kentucky) Newspaper of January 8, 1948. "Mrs. Joe Phillips said she called the telephone operator and asked for an ambulance and for help to be sent to the crash site." And the very next line read: "The body of the deceased pilot has been removed from the scene by ambulance men and were transported to the Booker Funeral Home, waiting for the family's instructions, which was to be informed of the tragedy by the authorities at Fort Knox."
NOT A BALLOON
Later on in the same document mentioned above, it states that a Dr. Seyfert from Vanderbuilt University had spotted an object SSE of Nashville, Tennessee. This turned out to be the infamous Skyhook that the Air Force tried to blame for the object that fooled everybody and subsequently lured Mantell to his death.
So, on March 8, 2006, the re-investigation began. My first interview was on May 23rd, with Drew Speier on Channel 14 on the Mantell Incident.
On May 27, 2006 we found another version of USAF-SIGN1-372. It was NARA-PBB2-854 and it mentioned again the famous Skyhook SSE of Nashville.
Who in the Air Force investigated the Mantell incident? Early on in our re-investigation it was clear that the Air Force took the case seriously. And by 1952 it had still shaken the Air Force up. Michael D. Swords wrote: "The core personnel for the project were probably the most talented group to work on UFOs until the Air Force ended its investigation in 1969. Aiding chief officer, Capt. Robert R Sneider, were two outstanding aeronautical engineers, Alfred Loedding and Alfred B. Deyarmond. Completing the group was nuclear and missile expert Lawrence Truettner. The quality of these people indicates the seriousness (and the comparative difference in later years) with which the Air Force considered the flying disk problem."
On May 28, 2006, Dan Wilson found document MAXW-PBB3-714, that mentions Alfred Loedding from Project SIGN. Wilson: "The cover-up of the Mantell case begins with the timely discovery of a document (MAXW-PBB3-714) signed by base commanding officer, Colonel Guy F. Hix. In the document below it clearly states that the civilian investigator (Alfred Loedding) from Wright Field, arrived at Godman Field on January 9, 1948 and made a thorough investigation. After obtaining statements and full information on the matter, he (Loedding) issued instructions that no report on the subject would be made until further instructions were given."
We also discovered on MAXWELL-PBB3-713 that two other aircraft had taken off from Standiford Field and might have been directed to go after the object. But nothing else was found to verify this.
By May 29 Brad Sparks was checking on balloon launches and found impossibilities and extreme coincidences all over the place. The big skyhook balloon could not have been launched from Camp Ripley. More lies and evidence of a cover-up.
By May 31, Rod Dyke advised that the Archives for UFO Research (AUFOR) had a copy of the Official Accident Report (Inquiry # 10-480107-1) It was essential that we order the FULL official accident report, and this was done immediately. Up until then we had pages from it, but not the entire document. It was supposed to be 450 pages; then was supposed to be 250 pages, and when we finally got it, it was 127 pages. What happened to the other pages, and what's on those missing documents? We don't know.
By June 3 we had the great maps from Mary Castner & Joel Carpenter.
On June 3, Dan Wilson found docs that showed that even nine months AFTER the Mantell incident, it was listed as unexplained. Pages from a restricted Routing and Record Sheet document, signed by A. B. Deyarmond, Asst. Deputy for Technical Analysis, AMC, part of which is presented here from frame 28:
On June 5. Dan found the interview of Pickering by Bill Jones. One report of a UFO that "dipped down touching a grass strip that was a cleared extension of the runway."
Brad checked Pickering's 1948 account that we posted which specifically places the object maneuvering over Commercial Point 3-5 miles to the WSW of Lockbourne and disappearing into the high overcast at 120 degrees (ESE) at the end of 20 minutes of maneuvers which had included a landing or near-landing. "This makes a circling of the base consistent with appearing on both sides of Lockbourne, east and west. Can't make it out to be in one direction only so as to make it Venus -- which was not in the ESE at 120 degs azimuth. Thanks for locating the BB Archive doc refs as it led me to the unsanitized name of the Lockbourne amateur astronomer Control Tower operator I previously discussed who turns out to be Frank M. Eisele. This is now bringing to memory that maybe McDonald investigated this case and maybe interviewed Eisele and others (it's a vague memory, not sure)." Albert Pickering's testimony nailed down the object's position relative to Mantell. It was no longer guesswork.
Kevin Randle stated that Mantell's death was a tragic accident complicated by his violations of AF regulations. But Mantell was asked to investigate this object and in the military if you are asked, that's the same as an order. This strongly implies he had oxygen because he knew the limitations of flying above 14,000'.
By June 9, Brad made it clear, Mantell could not have seen any kind of balloon 160 miles away. On the tenth he mentioned that he didn't know if the sighting was of an IFO or a UFO, but if it was a Skyhook or a UFO, it wasn't very well documented either way. By now even Tom DeMary is convinced, by new calculations, that Godman Tower couldn't have seen a balloon at 160 miles. Nor could the object, described by state police as 250-300 feet wide moving a pretty good clip.
On June 13 Jean received the Accident Report. Jean was able to reproduce the entire report in four pdf files so that Brad and others could do their own analyses. On the same day Brad pointed out that USAF-SIGN7-26 clearly states that Deyarmond was convinced the UFO was not Venus. This was the first time such an anti-IFO statement had ever been made by the Air Force, and at a time when they were scrambling to explain a case that had badly shaken them.
On July 26 (Airedale) my second interview with Drew Speier on Channel 14 took place. Our findings to-date were discussed.
FINDINGS
The picture presented of Mantell chasing a Skyhook balloon to his death with the region filled with IFO reports is false. There were UFO reports in the region. The story of how Mantell said some things but nobody was sure exactly what, is a lie. Everybody heard what went on through Plan 62, even Project SIGN people heard it. Mantell didn't just go above 14,000' and violate regulations. He was under orders and he knew what he was doing. If he had oxygen problems that resulted in anoxia and passing out, it was due to a problem, not him going hell-bent-for-leather after a pinpoint of light in the afternoon sky. And he reported more than that. The biggest balloon available that day was too far away to be a factor. The case was covered up and declared as unsolved, and was still unsolved and shook up the Air Force five years later.
During the next few months we went over the data we had compiled, including the accident report records. Although our team had made many important new discoveries, the importance of the Mantell case came into sharp focus with Brad Sparks analytical skills on the Accident Report. After several delays due to other pressing matters Sparks wrote the first draft of his analysis. Our report presented here includes our preliminary analyses and Brad's findings. Others wanting to provide their own separate analyses are welcome to do so and their reports will be made part of the case record as provided.
Francis Ridge
Investigator & Researcher
NICAP Site Coordinator & Archivist
Much work in the area of
transcriptions (which were presented as text when the documents
actually were discovered and posted in this report), data-processing
and preliminary analyses
begins. Of particular importance is the transcription of the
full accident report by Jean Waskiewicz.
July 1, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
-------------------------------
July 3, 2006
Fran Ridge:
-------------------------------
July 5, 2006
Brad Sparks:
Fran Ridge:
----------------------------------
July 6, 2006
Brad Sparks:
Fran Ridge:
Brad Sparks:
Brad Sparks:
Fran Ridge:
Jean Waskiewicz:
July 7, 2006
Brad:
Jean Waskiewicz:
Dan Wilson:
July 1, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
Accident Report Documents
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_accrep_excerpts.htm
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_accrep_excerpts.htm
-------------------------------
July 3, 2006
Fran Ridge:
Brad, Didn't Clements claim
Mantell
violated protocol by not switching to "B" channel when gave him hand
signals? And what channel did the pilots use when they were in flight
from Georgia?
http://www.nicap.org/bb/MAXW-PBB3-754.jpg
says B channel was out, A was weak. I thought the accident report showed a maint doc saying B was out BEFORE the ferry mission. Not sure they fixed it. And what channel did he talk to the Godman Tower on?
http://www.nicap.org/bb/MAXW-PBB3-754.jpg
says B channel was out, A was weak. I thought the accident report showed a maint doc saying B was out BEFORE the ferry mission. Not sure they fixed it. And what channel did he talk to the Godman Tower on?
-------------------------------
July 5, 2006
Brad Sparks:
I can't really find anything I
need
when I need it, hence nothing is getting done. Can someone
reorganize the Mantell Directory so that there is a simple list of Witness
Statements with BB Archive links
to the Statements, with only
Witness last names, NOTHING ELSE
(no long-winded doc titles which
are irrelevant), except maybe
ranks, something like this (BUT
COMPLETE): (samples given)
Fran Ridge:
We're working on that, too, the
statements by each. But the rest will stay up because it shows who
found what documents and when.
----------------------------------
July 6, 2006
Brad Sparks:
I got the full PDF
from
Jean so that's fine. It's the rest that is so scattered I can't
spend time right now to finish my report on Mantell.
Fran Ridge:
Here's where we are
on the
acc rep transcripts
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_accrep_excerpts.htm
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_accrep_excerpts.htm
Brad Sparks:
This is extremely helpful except
for two
things: 1. I was never told about this transcription until just
now. 2. These are PDF's instead of text so they are not
searchable on the Web and when I laboriously copy the text into a Word
doc I lose all the spacings between paragraphs so the text looks
cramped and difficult to read. Can Jean or you provide a Word doc with
this text with all the spacings? Is it possible to get a list of all BB
docs with Godman Tower conversations with Mantell and crew and then
Word document transcripts of those reports? These are like
Blackwell's report and include Godman Commander Col. Hix, Lt Orner, Lt
Col Wood, and others. Also there is a document that compares
Tower / P-51 flight conversations.
Jean Waskiewicz:
Brad, I have
just
started doing some transcriptions in the last couple of days. I have
attached the Word versions of those already finished and I will continue
to send the Word versions to you as I finish
them.
I am in the process of going through
PBB3-657-799.
(Frames 657-666 already posted in Part 2-2 - Fran Ridge) which I have downloaded and looking for more documents that relate to each personality involved in this incident. I will start looking for the specific documents you need. If there are any others you need transcribed, just give me the page/link and I will get it done for you.
(Frames 657-666 already posted in Part 2-2 - Fran Ridge) which I have downloaded and looking for more documents that relate to each personality involved in this incident. I will start looking for the specific documents you need. If there are any others you need transcribed, just give me the page/link and I will get it done for you.
Brad Sparks:
Fran, Previously you
said
there
is no rush. As you know I'm under the gun on a major project this
week. http://www.nicap.org/mantell/mantell_sparks_july6.htm
Fran Ridge:
There isn't. Take
your
time. Drew can wait on phase three and I'll just give him our status.
This is for US, not for THEM.
Jean Waskiewicz:
Brad and Fran, I have created a
complete cross-reference of the 127 pages in the Accident Report.
This shows which pages are in the package more than once; includes a
description of what is on each page and if the page has a signature on
it. I hope this helps in our efforts. I have cross-referenced a number
of the pages to the Maxwell Roll 3 entries. I will go back and try to
find
the pages I did not do yet to see if they have a pages in the BB rolls.
---------------------------------July 7, 2006
Brad:
Thanks Jean. Great work! So
it
looks like there is no witness statement from Hammond, very suspicious.
Does this look like all of the Mantell files in the BB Archive or do
you know of others you have to get to? I think there is a whole
file on Mantell in the Other/SIGN microfilm rolls. Also there seems to
be Mantell material mixed in with Lockbourne (and maybe Clinton Co.
AFB) cases.
Jean Waskiewicz:
That is my next step in this
process. I
have started going through the rolls available online to find other
documents relating to this case. I will finish the Maxwell roll and
then I will go to the Sign roll 1 which I had already had a cursory
look at last week. I will examine the pages already on the Mantell dir
page and include those in the index as appropriate. I know there are
more and I will move on as I finish each roll. As I go through this
process, I will be creating an index like the one I just sent. I did
not come across any new pages with conversations between Godman and the
pilots when I finished the index, but I will keep this in mind as I go
forward. I understand that the Mantell dir page is getting difficult to
follow as it gets larger. Do you think we need some type of index or
maybe some type of TOC that would make it easier to just find what a
person is interested in rather than just looking at all of the entries
as they are on the page currently?
Brad Sparks:
What would help most is to
reduce the
doc titles to a couple words each and organize them by category.
(Examples sent to Jean)
Dan Wilson:
Statement of Lt. Paul I. Orner.
Following is an account of the sighting of unknown objects from the
Control Tower on January 7, 1948 at Godman Field.
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs21.htm
USAF-SIGN1-379-380 (See Part 2-6)
Dan Wilson:http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs21.htm
USAF-SIGN1-379-380 (See Part 2-6)
Statement by Captain Cary Carter,
USAF,
on duty at Godman Field on January 7, 1948, as an Operation Officer
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs20.htm
USAF-SIGN1-378
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs20.htm
USAF-SIGN1-378
------------------------------
July 10, 2006
Dan Wilson:
Dan Wilson:
July 10, 2006
Dan Wilson:
"There are no further theodolite
readings available at this base. Briefs of daily weather requested as
follows": Signed John W. Mitchell, Colonel, USAF
Commanding.
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs23.htm
MAXW-PBB3-700 from MAXW-PBB3-700-702
Commanding.
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs23.htm
MAXW-PBB3-700 from MAXW-PBB3-700-702
Dan Wilson:
Transcript of Long Distance
Telephone
Conversation, 13 January 1948, 0920, Mr. Loedding, Air Intelligence,
Wright Field Called, Col. R. O. Davis Jr., Commanding Officer
332 Fighter Wing, LAAB
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs22.htm
MAXW-PBB3-696
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs22.htm
MAXW-PBB3-696
TRANSCRIPT OF LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
13
January 1948
0920
Mr. Loedding, Kembrook 7111 –
21204, Air Intelligence, Wright
Field, Dayton, Ohio
Called
Col. N. O. Davis, Jr.,
Commanding Officer, 332d Fighter Wing,
LAAB, Cols 17, 0.
Subject: Request
for
Information re: objects in the sky
Mr. L.:
Colonel Davis, this is Mr. Loedding,
Air Intelligence, Wright Field. I understand that a conversation
took place January 7, Wednesday, between Godman Field, Kentucky and your base
at Lockbourne regarding an unidentified object.
Col. D.:
If I did I am not aware of it Mr.
Loedding. I read about it in the Air Force Times yesterday. A statement
about Col. Hicks saying something looked like a flying saucer. That is
all I
know about
it.
Mr L.:
Capt. Dusler said there was a call
from Lockbourne Air Base and they were assisting in this thing.
Col. D.:
I personally know nothing of that
Mr. Loedding.
Mr. L.:
I wonder if you could make an
investigation - and think if somebody in the tower did see it, maybe
you could call me back and I could come there and talk to somebody.
Like to interrogate
them.
Col. D.:
Whether anybody on this station saw
a foreign object in the air -
Mr. L.:
and whether they discussed it with
anyone – particularly Godman Field. If you call me and I will
drive over and talk to them.
Col. D.:
Shall I call you in case I don’t
find anybody?
Mr. L.:
It would be a good idea to tell me
what you find out. My number is 21Z04, Kembrook 7111, Wright Field.
Col. D.:
I will be glad to do that Mr.
Loedding.
Mr. L.:
I will appreciate it, colonel. What
is your extension?
Col. D.:
Fr. 7-5711 Extension 201.
Mr. L.:
Thank you very much, sir.
Dan Wilson:
Fran Ridge: Shows as of Oct 1948
they
were still trying to find out what Mantell was chasing. We have better
docs KO-ing Venus (Deyarmond) so this is just ftr.
MAXW-PBB3-697-698
------------------------------
July 11, 2006
Dan Wilson:
Request for complete theodolite
readings and resume of qualifications of individual who made the
readings. Request for further briefs on daily weather at Godman from 1
January to 15 January 1948
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs25.htm
MAXW-PBB3-699
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs25.htm
MAXW-PBB3-699
----------------------------
July 22, 2006
Brad Sparks:
Popular Science, May 1948, "Are
Secret
Balloons the Flying Saucers?"
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_sparks_PopScience.htm
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_sparks_PopScience.htm
----------------------------
July 23, 2006
Dan Wilson:
"Pilots Chase Disc", Ky. State
Highway
Patrol Officer Sgt. John T. Worful / 1948 (See text in Part 2-14)
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107press1.htm
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107press1.htm
----------------------------
July 24, 2006
Dan Wilson:
Statement by Colonel Guy F. Hix,
USAF,
Commanding, Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky. 9 January 1948. At
approximately 1300 hours a call came to this Headquarters from State
Police, reporting a flying object near Elizabethtown, south of Godman
Field.
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs33.htm
USAF-SIGN1-381 (Text in Part 2-3)
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs33.htm
USAF-SIGN1-381 (Text in Part 2-3)
----------------------------
July 25, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
As I was working on Blackwell's
statement, I came across this that you should check for more mention of
Police and Very large object
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs31.htm
USAF-SIGN1-280 (See text in Part 2-3)
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs31.htm
USAF-SIGN1-280 (See text in Part 2-3)
Dan Wilson:
Report of an observation of an
Unidentified Object in the skies above Godman Field on Jan 8, hundreds
of feet in diameter, and which could not have been the Skyhook now
placed by researchers at 150 miles away over Nashville, again confirms
what state police and other callers also reported. The following report
is dated 9 January 1948.- E. GARRISON WOOD
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs30.htm
USAF-SIGN1-376 (See text in Part 2-3)
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell480107docs30.htm
USAF-SIGN1-376 (See text in Part 2-3)
----------------------------
July 26, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
This is one of the many articles
I
transcribed. This one also states that only one flier had oxygen.
http://www.nicap.org/images/1948_1_9_CourierJournal._2.jpg
http://www.nicap.org/images/1948_1_9_CourierJournal._2.jpg
Fran Ridge:
Mantell
update filmed June 28 aired
this date.
July 27, 2006
Dan Wilson:
This is weird. I was just
thinking about a program I saw once (I think it was a Sightings
Program) where some investigators went to the crash scene and they
found higher than normal radiation readings there. This was years after
the crash. Fran wrote: The AF NEVER went to the Mantell family. They
found out from the neighbors! That is suspicious in itself. Are they
hiding
something?
Jean Waskiewicz:
Dan, I used to tape the
Sightings show in the 1990s when it first aired and I just happened to
have both episodes they did on Mantell. The VHS tapes are very old now
but I was able to extract the episode and burn them to CD. The sound
quality is very bad but if you use earphones to listen you can hear
what is being said. I can mail you a copy of them if you want. I cant
upload them to the website because they are too large. This is how
we know that the AF never spoke to the Mantell family. It is on these
recordings. If you don't have speakers for your PC yet you can plug
earphones into it and listen that way. There should be a headphone jack
on the actual box somewhere.
Jean Waskiewicz:
I have used the sign team list
of
people and a couple of others I've added to enlist their aid in finding
information regarding possible radar detection in the Mantell
incident. The document Brad has cited was of interest to me earlier but
I didn't quite make the connection. I think we might all have missed
the potential here. Brad has some suggestions on how we might go into
this. We're open. The page we started is, at this time, unlisted and
confidential, and a first draft.
------------------------------
July 28, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
I came across this as I was
looking
for more articles at the Newspaper Archive site and just thought it was
interesting and also curious as to why this would come out when it
did. I have attached the article. It is from the Lima, Ohio News from
Aug 21, 1952.
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/mantell_ins1952.htm
July 29, 2006
Brad Sparks:
Mighty interesting! Someone
got
a copy of the Mantell Accident Report released in some form in Aug
1952. I don't think anyone in UFOlogy knew about it. How
did you find it? There are some confusions
in it but overall most of it looks like straight out of the witness
statements (except the stringing together of one long quote from
Mantell, etc.).
-------------------------------
Aug. 10, 2006
Jean Waskiewicz:
The Mantell Incident - Events on
7 Jan
1948 - Official Statements by Incident Number
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/Mantell_Incident_Statements.htm
http://www.nicap.org/docs/mantell/Mantell_Incident_Statements.htm
------------------------------
2007
Aug. 21, 2007
Robert Swiatek:
Not another controversy??
I'll
give you a call tonight or
tomorrow to discuss this. The report at issue is yours since
you are the prime writer and force behind it (on behalf of the Fund, I
asked you if it were something you could do, as you recall).
You're right: if others contribute, yes, they should be given due
credit, but principal authorship resides in yourself. Obviously,
others can
write their own reports over their own names if they so choose and
market them accordingly.
------------------------------
Sept. 6, 2007
Dan Wilson:
Further request status of
investigation
promised by A. C. Loedding, Technical Assistant, Technical Intelligence
Division by Captain James Duesler.
http://www.nicap.org/mantell/mantell_wilson_loedding.htm
NARA-PBB2-870
http://www.nicap.org/mantell/mantell_wilson_loedding.htm
NARA-PBB2-870
-------------------------------
Sept. 14, 2007
Fran Ridge;
The real work now begins. Going
over everything we have collected all
these months and getting some people within the A-Team, and some
independent analysts on the outside, to give us their opinions and
analyses. Part Three will provide those reports. Part 3-1 will be
a summation of what we found and our conclusions based on those
findings. Persons submitting their analyses in a timely manner
will be provided space in the report which will be printed by the Fund
for UFO Research. Later analysts can submit their papers separately,
however the online version of this report scheduled for released one
year after the FUFOR publication will have all the current submittals
available.
Francis Ridge
NICAP A-Team Director
Francis Ridge
NICAP A-Team Director
This summation and preliminary analysis deals with what our team found during the re-investigation of the Mantell Incident that I began on March 8th of 2006 as a result of Channel 14 (Evansville, Indiana) Drew Speier's request to do a story I originally objected to, which aired on May 23rd, 2006. This summation will try to expound on this without re-hashing my seven reasons for thinking there was more to the case than the current wisdom suggested. In other words, prior to this re-investigation I was willing to accept the conclusion of my colleagues, that Mantell had died in an accident chasing a balloon of some type.
When the re-investigation began on March 8th, the first thing we did was to re-examine the old Mantell case file. There were three documents in that file that we had not paid too much attention to. One that mentioned a "Plan 62" which had no real significance to us at that time. Another, a hard-to-read inverted image in black with white letters at the bottom that read, "Oxygen system was not serviced. System was in working order." Yet another document that said Mantell's body was removed before the Air Force accident team got there.
PLAN 62
Somewhere in an old email from Dan Wilson is a report he filed on Plan 62. The report was not tied to any particular sighting, so the file got sidestepped and was lost. But Wendy Connors document # 6 had mentioned "Plan 62". Three months into our re-investigation Plan 62 became the topic of discussion in the Mantell case. Brad Sparks had a pretty good idea of what he thought it was, and later found more details. In the fall of 2008 Dan Wilson was able to get an official document from the Air Force Historical Studies Office.
My research into Mantell led me to examine Captain Ed Ruppelt's unedited manuscript for his book, "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects". It mentioned the Plan, but not by number. This then, was an important early discovery. Ruppelt's slip-up in his manuscript had mentioned that "The people on Project SIGN worked fast on the Mantell Incident, [in fact they heard about it through Flight Service while it was all in progress.]..." Our investigation was to show that Air Force personnel mentioned hearing about sightings that infamous day at the other bases as the event was actually unfolding.
Here is what Brad Sparks added in June: "The Air Defense Command (ADC) used the Plan 62 intercom system, through the Air Transport Command's Flight Service Centers, and the air traffic controllers of the Airways and Air Communications Service (AACS) in those centers and outlying bases, to coordinate the use of air traffic control towers and radars to track the UFO. This was because at that time the ADC had only two operating radars in the nation, both too far away, across the continent on the West Coast (at Half Moon Bay, Calif., and Arlington, Wash.)."
Ruppelt had said in his published book (page 33) that "rumor had it that the tower had carried on a running conversation with the pilots and that there was more information than was so far known." Ruppelt stated the rumors were not true. The evidence proves him wrong or a liar. We now know that a lot of people heard Mantell and his men. Project SIGN was even in on it, live!!!!
OXYGEN
Our report on file on the Mantell Incident file by the end of 2005 had documents that strongly suggested that something strange had been going on in the region, and one of those documents was USAF-SIGN1-310. A better version of this document was uncovered by Dan Wilson on June 1st of 2006, but we actually had it in December of 2005. The bottom of document USAF-SIGN-310 clearly reads, "Oxygen system was not serviced. System was in working order." Regarding Mantell having oxygen, my take was that the system, like an automobile with a gas tank, carburetor and fuel pump, was in working condition, except it had not been fueled or topped off with oxygen. Brad believes Mantell not only had to have had oxygen, but has found supporting evidence in the Accident Report that we obtained and transcribed for our use and supplied to him.
BODY REMOVED
USAF-SIGN1-372 documents that State Police officer Joe Walker arrived at the crash scene and stated that the pilot's body had already been removed. We later learned that the ambulance crew had done this and it was reported in a newspaper. The source was the Franklin (Kentucky) Newspaper of January 8, 1948. "Mrs. Joe Phillips said she called the telephone operator and asked for an ambulance and for help to be sent to the crash site." And the very next line read: "The body of the deceased pilot has been removed from the scene by ambulance men and were transported to the Booker Funeral Home, waiting for the family's instructions, which was to be informed of the tragedy by the authorities at Fort Knox."
NOT A BALLOON
Later on in the same document mentioned above, it states that a Dr. Seyfert from Vanderbuilt University had spotted an object SSE of Nashville, Tennessee. This turned out to be the infamous Skyhook that the Air Force tried to blame for the object that fooled everybody and subsequently lured Mantell to his death.
So, on March 8, 2006, the re-investigation began. My first interview was on May 23rd, with Drew Speier on Channel 14 on the Mantell Incident.
On May 27, 2006 we found another version of USAF-SIGN1-372. It was NARA-PBB2-854 and it mentioned again the famous Skyhook SSE of Nashville.
Who in the Air Force investigated the Mantell incident? Early on in our re-investigation it was clear that the Air Force took the case seriously. And by 1952 it had still shaken the Air Force up. Michael D. Swords wrote: "The core personnel for the project were probably the most talented group to work on UFOs until the Air Force ended its investigation in 1969. Aiding chief officer, Capt. Robert R Sneider, were two outstanding aeronautical engineers, Alfred Loedding and Alfred B. Deyarmond. Completing the group was nuclear and missile expert Lawrence Truettner. The quality of these people indicates the seriousness (and the comparative difference in later years) with which the Air Force considered the flying disk problem."
On May 28, 2006, Dan Wilson found document MAXW-PBB3-714, that mentions Alfred Loedding from Project SIGN. Wilson: "The cover-up of the Mantell case begins with the timely discovery of a document (MAXW-PBB3-714) signed by base commanding officer, Colonel Guy F. Hix. In the document below it clearly states that the civilian investigator (Alfred Loedding) from Wright Field, arrived at Godman Field on January 9, 1948 and made a thorough investigation. After obtaining statements and full information on the matter, he (Loedding) issued instructions that no report on the subject would be made until further instructions were given."
We also discovered on MAXWELL-PBB3-713 that two other aircraft had taken off from Standiford Field and might have been directed to go after the object. But nothing else was found to verify this.
By May 29 Brad Sparks was checking on balloon launches and found impossibilities and extreme coincidences all over the place. The big skyhook balloon could not have been launched from Camp Ripley. More lies and evidence of a cover-up.
By May 31, Rod Dyke advised that the Archives for UFO Research (AUFOR) had a copy of the Official Accident Report (Inquiry # 10-480107-1) It was essential that we order the FULL official accident report, and this was done immediately. Up until then we had pages from it, but not the entire document. It was supposed to be 450 pages; then was supposed to be 250 pages, and when we finally got it, it was 127 pages. What happened to the other pages, and what's on those missing documents? We don't know.
By June 3 we had the great maps from Mary Castner & Joel Carpenter.
On June 3, Dan Wilson found docs that showed that even nine months AFTER the Mantell incident, it was listed as unexplained. Pages from a restricted Routing and Record Sheet document, signed by A. B. Deyarmond, Asst. Deputy for Technical Analysis, AMC, part of which is presented here from frame 28:
"1. Re
Sighting of
7 Jan 1948 : Reference is
made to your
conversation with Capt. Sneider on 19 October 1948 concerning your
desire for a check on the position and visibility of Venus on 7 Jan
1948 between the hours 1330 and 1350 as compared to the position
of an unidentified aerial object. "4. The
evidence
obtained from MCREXE44
conclusively proves that
this object was not the planet Venus."
On June 5. Dan found the interview of Pickering by Bill Jones. One report of a UFO that "dipped down touching a grass strip that was a cleared extension of the runway."
Brad checked Pickering's 1948 account that we posted which specifically places the object maneuvering over Commercial Point 3-5 miles to the WSW of Lockbourne and disappearing into the high overcast at 120 degrees (ESE) at the end of 20 minutes of maneuvers which had included a landing or near-landing. "This makes a circling of the base consistent with appearing on both sides of Lockbourne, east and west. Can't make it out to be in one direction only so as to make it Venus -- which was not in the ESE at 120 degs azimuth. Thanks for locating the BB Archive doc refs as it led me to the unsanitized name of the Lockbourne amateur astronomer Control Tower operator I previously discussed who turns out to be Frank M. Eisele. This is now bringing to memory that maybe McDonald investigated this case and maybe interviewed Eisele and others (it's a vague memory, not sure)." Albert Pickering's testimony nailed down the object's position relative to Mantell. It was no longer guesswork.
Kevin Randle stated that Mantell's death was a tragic accident complicated by his violations of AF regulations. But Mantell was asked to investigate this object and in the military if you are asked, that's the same as an order. This strongly implies he had oxygen because he knew the limitations of flying above 14,000'.
By June 9, Brad made it clear, Mantell could not have seen any kind of balloon 160 miles away. On the tenth he mentioned that he didn't know if the sighting was of an IFO or a UFO, but if it was a Skyhook or a UFO, it wasn't very well documented either way. By now even Tom DeMary is convinced, by new calculations, that Godman Tower couldn't have seen a balloon at 160 miles. Nor could the object, described by state police as 250-300 feet wide moving a pretty good clip.
On June 13 Jean received the Accident Report. Jean was able to reproduce the entire report in four pdf files so that Brad and others could do their own analyses. On the same day Brad pointed out that USAF-SIGN7-26 clearly states that Deyarmond was convinced the UFO was not Venus. This was the first time such an anti-IFO statement had ever been made by the Air Force, and at a time when they were scrambling to explain a case that had badly shaken them.
On July 26 (Airedale) my second interview with Drew Speier on Channel 14 took place. Our findings to-date were discussed.
FINDINGS
The picture presented of Mantell chasing a Skyhook balloon to his death with the region filled with IFO reports is false. There were UFO reports in the region. The story of how Mantell said some things but nobody was sure exactly what, is a lie. Everybody heard what went on through Plan 62, even Project SIGN people heard it. Mantell didn't just go above 14,000' and violate regulations. He was under orders and he knew what he was doing. If he had oxygen problems that resulted in anoxia and passing out, it was due to a problem, not him going hell-bent-for-leather after a pinpoint of light in the afternoon sky. And he reported more than that. The biggest balloon available that day was too far away to be a factor. The case was covered up and declared as unsolved, and was still unsolved and shook up the Air Force five years later.
During the next few months we went over the data we had compiled, including the accident report records. Although our team had made many important new discoveries, the importance of the Mantell case came into sharp focus with Brad Sparks analytical skills on the Accident Report. After several delays due to other pressing matters Sparks wrote the first draft of his analysis. Our report presented here includes our preliminary analyses and Brad's findings. Others wanting to provide their own separate analyses are welcome to do so and their reports will be made part of the case record as provided.
Francis Ridge
Investigator & Researcher
NICAP Site Coordinator & Archivist
DRAFT FOR REVIEW -- a revised draft will be circulated more
widely in a few days
THE MANTELL CASE REINVESTIGATED
Part 1: The Official Account of the Crash is Overturned
This year is the 60th anniversary of the tragic death of the
young fighter pilot, Capt. Thomas Mantell. Mantell crashed in his
F-51D Mustang prop fighter plane while pursuing an unidentified object
almost a hundred miles across the state of Kentucky, on the afternoon
of January 7, 1948. He became known as the first fatality in a
UFO encounter. He reported over the radio that he saw an object
"metallic and tremendous in size," a famous phrase that has become
legendary in UFO history. He was just 25 and left behind a wife
and two little children. The case has spawned 60 years of
confusion, mystery, sensation, speculation, controversy and finally
disdain.
At the time, the US Air Force and Mantell's Kentucky Air
National Guard (ANG) unit put the "blame" (actual word used) on Mantell
for his crash because he pursued the UFO at too high an altitude
without oxygen supply. They explained the sighting as merely the
planet Venus then later changed the official explanation to a large
Skyhook balloon, once it was admitted that Venus was difficult to see
in daytime and very unlikely to trigger spontaneous sightings by large
numbers of people in widely separated areas.
All this has turned out to be false, the no-oxygen claim as
well as the official IFO explanations, as we will see below and in Part
2. The Mantell quote, "metallic and tremendous in size," though
sometimes doubted is in fact essentially correct, but his report was a
bit more detailed than this. And, for whatever it is worth, the
chief investigator of the Mantell accident speculated in the classified
Accident Report on the possibility of an "outside force" causing
Mantell's crash.
Capt. Richard L. Tyler, operations officer at Mantell's home
base at Standiford Field, Louisville, Kentucky, privately told the
accident board in his report in a rather equivocal statement that "If
some outside force did not cause his death, I think he passed out too
quickly" (Accid. Rpt., p. 10). Thus the mystery endures.
But the coverup is coming to an end.
Contrary to the AF's public position, the official accident
report states that:
Mantell's "Oxygen system ... was in working order."
(Kentucky ANG-USAF Mantell Accident Report, AAF Form 14
"Report of Major Accident," Jan. 22, 1948, p. 2, section "I"; see full
quote below).
As noted in the full quote of the accident report, Mantell's
oxygen was not serviced pre-flight for his original low-altitude
mission (flying at 5,000 feet) according to the post-accident
maintenance report - which, by the way, did *not* say Mantell was
*missing* or lacking any oxygen gear (Major Bernard M. Durey statement,
Accid. Rpt., p. 41). Hence this information about the good
"working" condition of Mantell's oxygen system must have come from an
accident investigator's personal on-site inspection of the oxygen
equipment in Mantell's wrecked plane soon after the crash.
Also unknown or concealed from the public for decades, the
AF had internally declared the case "unidentified" in Secret classified
documents after considerable investigation (Albert Deyarmond, Nov. 10,
1948, AMC Tech. Intell. Div., Asst. Deputy for Tech. Analysis; C.
A. Griffith, Chief of Ops Section, memo to Deyarmond, Nov. 8,
1948). This conclusion leaked out only twice and was essentially
forgotten each time, evidently because the AF refused to make
"unidentified" its *consistent* official position in the Mantell UFO
case.
And despite that frank admission among themselves about the
UFO, in still other classified internal reports on the accident, which
were not so candid or forthright, the AF and Mantell's ANG unit
privately tried to pin *all* the "blame" for the crash on Capt. Mantell
rather than on his crew and rather than on fair distribution of the
responsibility. They accused a dead Mantell who could not answer
back and who could not be court-martialed like his wingmen could have
been. They painted the picture of Mantell, a decorated pilot and
war hero, as recklessly endangering his crew with an obsessed pursuit
of the UFO.
An official AF statement in 1952 said "it is probable that
the excitement caused by the object [UFO] was responsible for this
experienced pilot [Mantell] conducting a high altitude flight without
the necessary oxygen equipment."
One section of the Accident Report, "Statement of Rebuttal,"
poignantly states "Inasmuch as the pilot was killed in the accident, it
was impossible to obtain a statement of rebuttal regarding pilot
error." (Accid. Rpt., p. 38.) Mantell was charged with violating
AAF Regulation 60-16, paragraph 43 (Accid. Rpt., p. 3, sect. L4), for
flying higher than 14,000 ft without oxygen, a falsehood contradicted
by the accident report's own statement, previously quoted, that
Mantell's "Oxygen system ... was in working order." None of
Mantell's crew were charged with anything, even though Lt. Hammond
admittedly flew above 14,000 ft without supplemental oxygen.
But it was Mantell's subordinates, the men in his flight,
who disobeyed his orders and went AWOL by abandoning Mantell. If
as his wingman Lt. Clements claimed, it was "known" by all that Mantell
did not have oxygen then they endangered Mantell's life by not calling
his attention to that fact (if it was a fact, but it evidently was
not). If Mantell was suffering from hypoxia (low oxygen) and its
resulting mental confusion, then his wingmen needed to step in and
intervene to save his life, as Mantell was unable to do so (if this
story was true).
The wingmen also should have reported Mantell's alleged
hypoxia danger to Godman Tower control, not only for flight safety
reasons but also because Mantell's (alleged) disability directly
affected the authorized intercept mission Godman had requested.
Godman's request was tantamount to direct military orders of superior
ranking officers, relayed from Godman's commanding officer, Col. Hix,
even though couched as a "request" as is customary. If the
mission needed to be redirected, or called off and a new set of
interceptors dispatched, then Godman obviously needed to know
that. Mantell's wingmen thus violated the military orders of Col.
Hix and the other Godman Field officers, as well as disobeyed Mantell's
command decisions.
But instead the wingmen told Godman tower that they were
abandoning the chase because they were low on fuel and oxygen, with one
lacking oxygen gear and the other having it but needing to get "more
oxygen" (Major Matthews Wright Field Flight Service report, Accid.
Rpt., p. 31; Major Matthews, Capt. Carter, Lt. Orner statements
to Project Sign). The wingmen made *no mention* to Godman
controllers that it was "known" that Mantell (supposedly) also had no
oxygen - a crucially important omission that indicates that in fact
they knew Mantell *did* have oxygen. They did bring up their
oxygen situation, so the subject was not taboo or of no importance, yet
no mention was made of Mantell purportedly lacking supplemental oxygen
and nothing about him flying too high without oxygen.
And the wingmen should have led an immediate search and
rescue mission when they admittedly lost contact with Mantell, instead
of delaying for over an hour by flying all the way back to home base
first (only Lt. Clements returned to the air). They could have
landed immediately at the local airport at Bowling Green they had just
flown by and had just discussed on the radio right before abandoning
Mantell (in fact the Bowling Green Airport was used just three hours
later by the accident investigation team which landed there then drove
to the Mantell crash site; see Accid. Rpt., p. 7).
Mantell's crewmen could have been charged with these
derelictions of duty and their future careers wrecked. Lt. (later
Major) Albert W. Clements, Jr., quickly advanced to the position of
commanding the KANG's 165th Fighter Squadron from 1949 to 1950.
Lt. (later Lt. Col.) Robert K. Hendricks commanded the redesignated
165th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron from 1958 to 1963.
Hendricks was Mantell's designated wingman who left even
before the UFO pursuit began and continued on to home base, on the
flimsy excuse that it was simply "time for him to land," as Godman
controllers heard over the radio (Capt. Duesler statement to Project
Sign). Since Hendricks was flying an identical airplane with an
identical fuel load along an identical route at the exact same time as
Mantell and the others he could not have been low on fuel.
But they dodged the instant end to their careers by making
Mantell the scapegoat. Mantell's men insinuated that they were
without fault, that they tried to warn Mantell he was flying too high,
"into the sun," like the ancient Icarus myth, but that he ignored
them. However, Godman's controllers and the base's top officers
present in the control tower *heard no such radio warnings* to Mantell.
Years later, Lt. Col. Hendricks wrote an especially
self-serving account of what he called this "interesting" story,
"unique as it was odd," comments that seem to be rather callous and to
belittle the tragedy. He even pinned the blame on Mantell for the
whole UFO sighting, as well as the deadly chase. Not even the
most extreme debunker has ever suggested anything as absurd as Mantell
inventing the UFO and initiating the UFO chase. In Hendricks'
account there is no mention that Mantell had been directed to
investigate the UFO by Godman Field whose commanding officer and top
officers were all watching the UFO, after numerous people had reported
seeing the UFO in western Kentucky.
Though acknowledging it was "probably" a Skyhook balloon and
thus a real object, Hendricks planted doubt in the reader's mind
suggesting that the UFO may have been all in Mantell's head, because he
chased "whatever he *thought* he saw" to his death.
Interestingly, Hendricks coyly avoids saying that Mantell had no oxygen
equipment, only that he "lost consciousness for lack of oxygen," which
of course would occur if Mantell did have oxygen but it ran out or the
mask failed:
HENDRICKS: "Mantell ... had been on a routine training
mission when he reported seeing an unidentified flying object
(UFO). Despite efforts by his wingman to call him back, he chased
whatever he *thought* he saw farther and farther up. It is
assumed that he lost consciousness for lack of oxygen, because he did
not attempt to use his parachute prior to impact."
(Kinnaird, Hendricks, Cooper, "The Mustang Years 1947-56,"
pp. 46b-47a, in KyANG 1947-77 history, "Mustangs to Phantoms.")
There are many unexpected surprises and unprecedented
bombshells in this case (see list below). Among other things,
they puncture the image of the Mantell case as that of bumbling
hillbillies isolated from the rest of the world and limited by
primitive, seat-of-the-pants techniques and resources.
After all, the military units at Godman Field, which was
located at Fort Knox, were responsible for protecting the famous U.S.
gold treasury, and with the units at Standiford Field, Louisville, they
were also indirectly guarding the vital high-tech Oak Ridge nuclear
labs one hundred miles away, both very important defense
assignments. Mantell's Kentucky ANG unit at Standiford had
quickly established a national reputation for achievement and soon won
the prestigious annual Spaatz Trophy, on Aug. 14, 1950, for outstanding
air guard readiness and flight safety (!), the first of three Spaatz
awards in its long history.
Many people helped in various ways in this research project
over the last two years, my apologies if I missed anyone (listed here
alphabetically): Ole Jonny Braenne, Joel Carpenter, Mary Castner,
Rod Dyke, Barry Greenwood, Jim Klotz, Don Ledger, Kevin Randle, Francis
Ridge, Barry Spink, Jean Waskiewicz, Dan Wilson.
(A) Mantell Case Surprises
(1) Mantell had oxygen, but it may have run out or the
mask failed, a common occurrence even today in aviation (a survey of
1990-2001 hypoxia incidents in Australian military aircraft found 63%
due to oxygen mask failures). Accident investigators may have
missed a slow leak in Mantell's oxygen mask, in saying the equipment
was in "working order," or it may have been working fine but the oxygen
simply ran out and Mantell had miscalculated how much he had left.
(2) Contrary to the accident report, Mantell must have
regained consciousness and tried to regain control by throttling back
from maximum power settings after his plane dived back to lower
altitudes where there was more oxygen for him to breathe. The
wrecked plane was found with throttle set at only 1/ 4 power, mixture
control in "Idle-Cut-Off" (Accid. Rpt., p. 4, section M) not at maximum
power. Mantell had gone to maximum power only at the very end of
the UFO pursuit, and not during the whole pursuit, which would have
been impossible (see discussion below).
(3) The location of the 70-foot Skyhook balloon,
Flight B launched by General Mills in Minnesota at 8 a.m. on Jan. 6,
1948, is rather precisely known. The Skyhook was not even within
the State of Kentucky but was in Tennessee near Nashville at the time
of the UFO sightings the next day (Jan. 7), and it was physically
impossible to see it with the unaided eye from Godman Field in
Kentucky, or by Mantell and crew, from about 140 miles away.
(4) Godman Tower tracked a second UFO by theodolite (a
precision angle measurement telescope) *during* Mantell's pursuit, as
well as after his crash, and then theodolite-tracked the same or
another UFO three hours after the crash. The second UFO was
apparently 30 or more degrees away in compass direction from the UFO
that Godman Tower sent Mantell to investigate, thus not the same object.(5) Air Defense Command "plotted," possibly by radar,
one of these UFO's (or another UFO) after Mantell's crash, heading
west-southwest from Ohio over several states traveling about 250 mph,
and was observed by Scott AFB Tower and St. Louis Tower passing
directly overhead.
(6) Many other AF bases listened in on the Godman
Tower radio conversations with Mantell and afterward, through a special
AF interphone system between military airfields called "Plan 62," thus
multiplying the number of witnesses to the dramatic events.
(7) The Air Defense Command (ADC) used the Plan 62
intercom system, through the Air Transport Command's Flight Service
Centers, and the air traffic controllers of the Airways and Air
Communications Service (AACS) in those centers and outlying bases, to
coordinate the use of air traffic control towers and radars to track
the UFO. This was because at that time the ADC had only two
operating radars in the nation, both too far away, across the continent
on the West Coast (at Half Moon Bay, Calif., and Arlington, Wash.).
(8) Godman Tower controllers (as well as personnel at
other bases connected by intercom) overheard air-to-air radio
conversations among Mantell and his men which Mantell's wingmen at
least did not think could be overheard, and which proved them to be
false in their later statements about Mantell's crash.
(B) UFO's Location During Mantell's Pursuit
Although it would be premature to delve into the UFO
sighting details which will be covered thoroughly in Part 2 of this
report, a very simple model of UFO behavior and location can be
presented which will show that a sensible sequence of events emerges,
unlike with the IFO explanations which cannot fit the facts and the
laws of physics. This will forestall needless argument over
balloon vs. UFO scenarios.
The basic timeline is: Mantell radioed his position
report at 2:50 PM, was then asked by Godman Tower to intercept the UFO,
but first flew directly over Godman Tower at 2:52 (so that controllers
could see and double-check exactly what heading Mantell took flying
away from the tower towards the UFO). Mantell then spiral climbed
to 14,000 ft directly over Godman until 2:55 when Mantell took off
southward on the heading given by Godman (initially 210 degrees true
then adjusted to 205). Mantell crashed at 3:18 some 92 miles
south of Godman Tower (more precisely, at 202 degrees true azimuth from
the Tower), near the Tennessee state line.
Godman Field commanding officer Col. Guy Hix stressed
repeatedly in his statements to investigators and the press that the
UFO never seemed to move in position during the hour and a half he saw
it, and his officers said the same, no apparent movement in
position. He is shown in one press photo explaining how he
sighted along a bracket in the control tower in order to be sure of the
object's position and lack of movement, and this angular reference
method is mentioned in Project Sign's interview reports of Col.
Hix.* To Hix "movement" meant up or down, left or right, which
sighting along a bracket would show, but not motion farther or closer.
(*Technically, Project Sign did not become activated until
Jan. 26, 1948, but the directive establishing it was dated Dec. 30,
1947, so the various interviews and files collected on the Mantell case
by AF Air Materiel Command personnel in early January 1948 who became
part of Sign will be designated "Project Sign" for simplicity of
reference.)
Col. Hix expected that if it was a celestial body as he
first thought, it would move, but it did not. A celestial body
should have moved about 20 degrees in an hour and a half; also the
Skyhook balloon would have moved about 15 degrees in that same time but
in the opposite direction. The flight path of Mantell's F-51
fighters** provides an independent check confirming the directional
position of the UFO they pursued in the south-southwest, but this
detailed discussion will have to be left for Part 2.
(**The AF changed all of its P- for "pursuit" fighter
designations to F- for "fighter" on June 11, 1948, so the P-51 became
the F-51, but for simplicity we will backreference "F-51" here in the
events and reports of Jan. 1948, in the data on the P-51/F-51, etc.)
Hix and his deputy, the base's air inspector, Lt. Col. E.
Garrison Wood, estimated the UFO's angular size at 1 / 2, 1 / 4 and
1/10 of Full Moon, apparently reflecting a gradual increase in
distance, receding away from observers without noticeably moving up or
down or right or left. (Hix, Wood statements to Project Sign; Hix
interview in Louisville Courier-Journal, Jan. 8, 1948).
If the UFO was about 300 feet in size, as the initial
witnesses reported to state police, and was initially about 1 / 2 Full
Moon in angular size as seen from Godman Tower, then it would have been
about 12 miles away. If it receded to the point where it was
about 1/10 Full Moon, or five times smaller in apparent size, then its
distance would have increased by that same factor of five, to about 60
miles from Godman (to the south-southwest), or very near Bowling Green,
Kentucky, near where Mantell and his wingmen would soon part
company. That represents a modest speed of only about 240 mph
when fitted with the incident timeline, less than Mantell's 300 mph,
yet the UFO would stay ahead because it began with an initial 12-mile
head start. This fits Mantell's report that the object at first
was traveling slower than he was, yet he could not catch up with it.
If the UFO was very roughly 10 degrees above the horizon (as
data indicate***) and if it maintained that elevation throughout the
Mantell chase so that it did not appear to have moved to Col. Hix, then
when it was 12 miles away it would have been at an altitude of roughly
10,000 feet, when it might well have seemed to Mantell that it was
reachable. When the UFO was at 60 miles distance, it would have
been at about 50,000 feet altitude (the altitude increasing by a factor
of five just like the distance, proportionately). This is simple
geometry to maintain the appearance of no movement of position as seen
from Godman. Do the math.
(***Mantell's wingman saw the object "slightly lower" than
the sun which was at about 14 degrees elevation. See Accid. Rpt.,
pp. 14, 44.)
This would also represent a UFO climb rate of about 3,300
feet per minute if the receding motion occurred during the first twelve
minutes of Mantell's chase until they reached the vicinity of Bowling
Green. This was beyond Mantell's F-51D maximum climb rate at the
higher altitudes (about 3,000 ft/min dropping to 2,000 ft/min and less
as he went higher). Mantell would find himself unable to reach
the UFO even as his *horizontal* distance closed, because he would soon
see it was climbing faster *vertically* than he was climbing or was
capable of climbing. This matches what Mantell reported, as we
will see next.
By time Mantell got to Bowling Green, the UFO would have
been almost directly overhead above Mantell, at 50,000 ft and still
climbing, far above the F-51D's ceiling of about 42,000 ft, and thus
unreachable (Mantell was still at only about 20,000 ft). This
fits Mantell's radio report that the UFO was far above him and also had
increased speed, so that he could not catch up to it. At this
point, as Mantell closed in, the UFO must have increased speed to about
300 mph to match Mantell's 300 mph velocity, and only at this point
Mantell went to maximum climb because of the UFO's great height (and
the max climb would have then dropped Mantell's speed to about 200
mph). No extraordinary speeds or maneuvers are required, though
they were still beyond the capabilities of the F-51D interceptors and
of an unpowered Skyhook balloon.
MANTELL CASE BOMBSHELL -- PART 1(C-D)
(C) Mantell's Reckless "Maximum Climb" - A
Physical Impossibility
Mantell's wingmen, the ANG accident investigating board and
the AF's special two-man investigation team, all put forward the claim
that Mantell flew at "maximum power" at "maximum climb" rate, "climbing
at full force" or "climbing at full power," during the entire UFO
chase, thus making it difficult for his wingmen even to keep up with
him (yet they did, which belies the claim). (See Accid. Rpt., pp.
4, 14, 33, 35, 44; Capt. Tyler in Louisville Courier Journal,
Jan. 9, 1948.)
This claim was central to the accident board's depiction of
Mantell as an obsessed madman recklessly pursuing his goal regardless
of the consequences. The principal accident investigator, Capt.
Richard Tyler, who was the operations officer at Mantell's squadron,
stated: "I firmy [firmly] believe that if he thought he had any
chance of catching this object he would have pursued it knowingly to
his death" (Accid. Rpt., p. 10). This makes Mantell out to be a
fanatic with a death wish.
But the max climb allegation is also factually false and a
physical impossibility, a violation of the laws of physics. The
board and the wingmen evidently did not work out their scenario very
carefully and probably assumed that no one would ever see a problem
since the report would be locked away in classified archives. The
secret was successfully buried for 60 years.
It is a simple fact that rising at the F-51D's maximum climb
rate Mantell's plane would have reached the blackout altitude of 25,000
feet in *4 minutes* after starting on the intercept vector at 14,000
ft, not the 20+ minutes required by the impossible official
scenario. He would not even have gotten out of the vicinity of
Godman Field before blacking out and crashing, but would have barely
gotten 12 miles away at the maximum speed possible in a maximum
climb. The maximum speed at max climb is necessarily reduced to
about 200 mph from the approximate 440 mph maximum speed in level
flight, at that altitude range.* Do the math.
(*See North American Aviation P-51D [F-51D] Performance
Charts and Tables, 1944, 1946, for approx. 9,000 lb gross weight
corresponding to Mantell's 1/3 depletion of 209-gallon aircraft fuel
load after the 1hr13min flight from Marietta, Georgia. Even the
Accident Report, pp. 13, 43, mentions this approximate max climb speed
of about 180 mph, in passing remarks by wingman Clements.)
If Mantell and his men had started blacking out within
several minutes, they would still have been within plain view of Godman
Tower controllers and ranking officers who would have seen the planes
obviously in trouble or flying out of control. But Godman saw
nothing wrong with Mantell's flight. The F-51's could be seen up
to about 24 miles with the naked eye (see below) and much farther with
binoculars.
In fact, at full power climb, called "war emergency power"
(or "combat power"), the F-51 engine would have burned out soon after 5
minutes (see NAA F-51D Performance Charts and Tables, 1944,
1946). It is likely that this is what happened at the very end of
Mantell's chase and resulted in the plane seeming to explode in
mid-air, after about 7 minutes of dangerous "war emergency power"
settings. The plane would not have survived the 20-25 minutes of
"war emergency power" demanded by the official scenario.If Mantell blacked out near Godman Field, as he would have
had to under the official story, then how did Mantell manage to crash
92 miles away, clear across the State of Kentucky near the Tennessee
border at 3:18 p.m.? The 3:18 time of impact was officially
determined by the coroner from the time on Mantell's watch that stopped
on impact, and from eyewitnesses to the crash who reported the time as
3:15-3:20, which precisely brackets the 3:18 time. (Accid. Rpt.,
pp. 1, 5, 7, 15, 17, 46, 48, 49.) Efforts to force the crash time
later, merely make the timeline discrepancies worse, as we will see
below, as it buys too much time.
An accurate timeline can be constructed from this 3:18 crash
impact time and from Mantell's radio position report at 2:50 p.m.
(Accid. Rpt., pp. 27, 30), plus the additional position data from
flying over Godman Tower and passing by Bowling Green airport (Accid.
Rpt., pp. 13, 43, etc.), all of which serve to correct the various
errors and
imprecisions in other reporting in the Mantell case.
Indeed, the correct Mantell pursuit climb rate, a gradual 600 ft/min
(not the war emergency maximum of up to 3,000 ft/min), allows us to
assign accurate times to the timeline using just the reported altitudes
since Mantell started the 600 ft/min climb at 14,000 ft at 2:55 p.m.
directly over Godman Tower (see summary Table, below, and
minute-by-minute reconstruction in Part 2).
The math is easy. Resolving a few understandable
confusions in reported altitudes coming from three different aircraft
in Mantell's pursuit mission is a bit more involved (and will be
explained in Part 2, with some hints below) but they do not affect the
main conclusions arrived at here in Part 1.
But if Mantell had really pushed a continuous maximum climb
to chase the UFO, without oxygen, until blacking out and crashing near
the Tennessee state line, then he would have had to cover that 92 miles
in the 4 minutes it would take to reach blackout height, or at about
1,500 mph (well over Mach 2). Do the math. If one tries to
argue that Mantell could have remained conscious for up to about 2-1/2
minutes at 25,000 ft (ignoring the fact he would already have been
oxygen-deprived for minutes before even reaching 25,000 ft if he truly
carried no oxygen) it would extend the time for covering 92 miles of
distance before blacking out. But it still requires impossible
supersonic speed (850 mph) for his subsonic fighter. Do the math.
Mantell's subsonic WWII fighter would have had to break the
sound barrier for 4 to 7 minutes non-stop, which was an absolute
physical impossibility. No F-51 ever flew at Mach 2.
Period. We know it was a physical impossibility as proven by the
fact that when Mantell actually did approach the sound barrier in the
fatal crash dive for just seconds at the tragic end the aircraft broke
up in midair from the Mach compression forces (Accid. Rpt., pp. 4, 9,
38).
And if the F-51 maintained a "full power" climb for the
entire UFO chase as the accident board claimed, it would have been
limited to the actual max climb speed of about 200 mph for the
F-51D. Mantell's plane could not possibly have covered the 92
miles to the crash site in only the 23 minutes of the chase (broadly
including the crash dive too in the 23 minutes), as determined by the
corrected timeline. Mantell would only have covered 77 miles in
23 minutes at 200 mph, some 15 miles short of the exactly known crash
site coordinates (at 36-40-16 N, 86-35-12 W), some 92 miles from the
start of the pursuit at Godman Tower. Do the math.
Mantell's plane would have needed approximately 28 minutes
to travel that 92-mile distance at its 200 mph max climb speed, but the
timeline allows no more than 23 minutes (from 2:55 to 3:18 p.m.) and
certainly much less, only about 19 minutes, if we discount the fatal
dive as not advancing the horizontal distance much if at all. Do
the math.
Possibly the accident board was dimly aware of a serious
"getting there from here" problem and tried to "fuzz up" the timeline
and stretch it out to 25-35 minutes by using the most carelessly
reported or inaccurate times instead of the most accurate data (and
ignoring Mantell's 2:50 p.m. radio position report among other crucial
data points). And again, as mentioned above, the engine would
have burned out after about 5 minutes, so it was physically impossible
to have sustained a max power climb for 28 or 35 minutes.
Moreover, to take so long as 35 minutes to cover 92 miles would require
the F-51 to fly at the very slow sub-cruising speed of only 158 mph,
which no one reported and which makes no sense for a fighter
interceptor chase, plus it flatly contradicts Mantell's radio reporting
of his speed as 300+ mph during the pursuit.
There is still another reason why it was physically
impossible for Mantell to have max climbed for 25 to 35 minutes:
He would have reached the F-51D's maximum altitude of about 42,000 ft
in about 18 minutes (NAA F-51D Performance Chart, 1944, time to climb
data). He could not possibly have climbed higher than his
fighter's highest possible altitude and climbed higher still for
another 7 to 17 minutes! The official scenario is nonsense.
All of these dogmatic assertions of the official Accident
Report require violations of the laws of physics. An accurate
flight scenario must incorporate all factors of speed, altitude, climb
rate, distance covered, landmarks, time marks, headings, etc., and
cannot pick and choose some of them in order to force-fit it to a
preconceived theory. A valid flight scenario cannot just pick
speed and altitude (as the accident board seems to have done) but
ignore distance, time, etc., and the requirements of basic physics and
math. It does not work. An accurate timeline also requires
use of the most accurate data for each factor (most accurate times,
locations, headings, altitudes, etc.), not the least accurate, and not
the inconsistent or contradictory data. A first-order
reconstruction that incorporates all factors and the best data is
presented in summary form in the summary Table at the end of Part 1 and
is documented in detail, minute by minute, in Part 2.
In actuality, Mantell covered the 92 miles in about 19
minutes, or at about the same 300 mph cruising speed stated in his
official flight plan (Accid. Rpt., pp. 20, 27-28, 40). It is
virtually the same speed as actually flown on the first leg of his
ferrying mission from Georgia (ground speed about 280 mph, possibly
reduced from a 300 mph airspeed by a small headwind). This is the
maximum cruise speed, not maximum full power speed of about 440 mph,
nor is it the ordinary cruise speed of about 250 mph (please note exact
figures vary slightly depending on altitude and fuel load).
Hence there was no reckless "head long dash" pursuit - as
accident investigator Capt. Richard Tyler spun it to the press - that
made it difficult for Mantell's wingmen even to keep up with him.
An F-51 cannot climb at maximum rate at the same time it is traveling
at maximum horizontal speed - it simply cannot do both at the same
time. The F-51 cannot max climb even at its top cruising speed,
as that is still too fast to be physically possible. At max climb
rate the max speed is only about 200 mph, depending on the
altitude. In fact, simple math shows that Mantell's plane was in
a gradual climb of about 600 feet per minute during the entire
straight-line pursuit of the UFO, not in a maximum climb of up to about
3,000 feet per minute. (NAA F-51D Performance Charts and Tables,
1944, 1946.) But this will be covered in detail in Part 2, in a
minute-by-minute reconstruction of events and flight path (see summary
Table below).
If Mantell never forced his flight into a reckless "maximum
climb" at "full power" in a 20-35-minute long UFO pursuit, and could
not possibly have done so without violating the laws of physics, then
the entire official scenario collapses. The bold statements of
his main wingman, Lt. Clements, accusing Mantell of forcing him to keep
up with him at full-power maximum climb for 20+ minutes are
conclusively proven to be willful falsehoods, not mistakes of minor
details - a pilot would know whether he was straining the engine at
full power for 20 minutes or not. The AF-ANG accident board's
confident embrace of this false scenario in order to condemn Mantell
implicates the board in an official whitewash and coverup to rescue the
careers of Mantell's men whose actions were arguably criminal.
The facts are as inescapable as the law of gravity.
(D) The Official Story and Its Many Contradictions
The official story was put forward publicly by the principal
accident investigator, Capt. Richard Tyler, Operations Officer at the
Kentucky ANG unit, the 165th Fighter Squadron of the 133rd Fighter
Group, within two days of the accident and well before the classified
accident report two weeks later:
"Capt. R. L. Tyler, Louisville operations officer for the
Air Guard at Standiford Field, said investigation convinced him Mantell
had 'blacked out' from lack of oxygen at 30,000 feet....
"Tyler *blamed* Mantell's *head-long dash* after the
'saucer' on the fact that Mantell's World War II experience largely was
limited to low-altitude flying. From the stories of Hammond and
Clements, Tyler surmised Mantell was '*climbing at full force* at
23,000 feet.' Mantell probably lost consciousness seconds later,
Tyler said."
(Louisville Courier Journal, Jan. 9, 1948, asterisk emphasis
* * is added here and in other quotes below.)
The following is quoted from one of several incident
narratives in the formal Accident Report, not all of which are
completely consistent with each other, but are quoted here in pertinent
parts to lay out the basic official case against Mantell (Accid. Rpt.,
p. 33, emphasis added):
"A flight of four P-51's departed a southern base on a ferry
mission to their home base. The four planes were flying in
formation and the flight was proceeding normally. As the flight
neared a field [Godman], the leader [Mantell] called in a position
report [to home base, Standiford]. The [Godman] tower operator
[overheard Mantell's radio report and] asked the nature of the flight
and asked if they had the time and fuel to chase an object he had been
observing in the sky. The leader acknowledged and was given a
heading to fly. He immediately went into a steep climb with two
of the other pilots in the flight following. The fourth pilot
broke formation and proceeded to the destination.
"The leader *continued* to climb at *high power settings*
and when 22,500 ft. was reached, the other two pilots broke off and
went to the destination. When the leader was last seen, it
appeared that he had the plane under control and was *still
climbing*. A short time later the plane was observed in a
spiraling dive to the ground. Between 10,000 and 20,000 ft., the
left wing came off. The plane crashed to the ground. *Only
one pilot* in the flight (the element leader [Clements]) *had an oxygen
mask* and was using oxygen when higher altitudes were reached.
The flight leader had stated that they would climb to 25,000 ft. and
stay there for ten minutes in an attempt to overtake the object.
The element leader broke off when his wingman indicated that he was
having trouble due to lack of oxygen.
"The board was of the opinion that the leader was overcome
by anoxia at about 25,000 ft. As his plane was trimmed for
maximum climb, it was believed that it continued to 30,000 before
leveling off and starting its descent. Since the plane went so
high, apparently the pilot was dead when it started down. The
canopy lock was still in place in the wreckage indicating that he made
no attempt to abandon the plane."
The investigating board's Accident Report (pp. 35-36), in
incorporating the AF special report, further asserts that its
"investigation disclosed" that:
"e. Captain Mantell *did not advise* the other aircraft in
his flight of his intention [to investigate the object as
requested]. (Exhibits 4 and 5)
"h. At 14,000 feet, Captain Mantell broke off the spiral and
started a straight climb on a heading of approximately 220° [sic;
actually 210°] at the *maximum rate of climb*. (Exhibits 4
and 5)"
"Captain Mantell led the flight in that direction [given for
the intercept] and started *climbing at full power*. At this time
the one wingman, Lt. Hammond [sic; actually Hendricks], broke
formation and proceeded to Standiford and landed."
"t. From 18,000 feet on, the point at which the high blower
engaged, Lt. Clements *had to use full power to maintain his position*
in the formation. (Exhibit 4)"
"At approximately 22,500 feet, the other aircraft turned
back due to lack of oxygen. A short while later an observer on
the ground noticed an aircraft circling at a high altitude then come
diving down, slowly spiraling and evidently under full power. At
approximately half way from the originally observed altitude and the
ground, the plane was seen to disintegrate and subsequently crash on a
farm near Franklin, Kentucky. This aircraft was identified as the
one piloted by Captain Mantell who was found in the wreckage."
As we have already seen, the accident report's assertion
that Mantell pursued the UFO all the while "climbing at full power" and
that his wingman "had to use full power" just to keep up with Mantell,
is completely false, a physical impossibility.
The accident report findings refer to Exhibits 4 and 5 for
key points, and these are affidavits of two of Mantell's three wingmen,
Lt. Albert W. Clements and Lt. Robert K. Hendricks, respectively.
Hendricks declined the UFO pursuit mission and broke off from the
flight to continue on to home base without participating in the UFO
pursuit. But Exhibit 5 by Hendricks does not even support the
findings it was cited for by the accident board, as we will see below.
The prime example of the accident board citing these two
exhibits, when those exhibits actually contradict the board's
assertion, is when the accident report quoted above claims that
"Captain Mantell did not advise the other aircraft in his flight of his
intention" to investigate the UFO. The report alleges that this
supposed fact is reported in Exhibits 4 and 5, the affidavits of
wingmen Clements and Hendricks. A narrative elsewhere in the
report also claims "No conversation between Captain Mantell and any
member of his flight revealed a clue as to his intentions."
(Accid. Rpt., p. 4)
But this is false. Clements admitted in his affidavit
that he *did* have considerable radio conversations with Mantell about
what they were chasing and Clements said he saw the bright object
himself. Clements swore under oath that when he asked Mantell
"what we were looking for" that Mantell replied over the radio, "Look,
there it is out there at 1200 o'clock," and Clements said "I was able
to discern a bright appearing object." Clements then recounts his
discussion with Mantell of tactics to try to reach the UFO.
According to Clements, Mantell stated his "intentions" of pursuing the
UFO for 10 minutes at a certain altitude (more on this later).
Even though he did not participate in the UFO chase but went
straight home, wingman Hendricks also heard enough to know from Mantell
what was going on. Hendricks swore in his affidavit, accident
report Exhibit 5, that he too heard Mantell discuss with Godman Tower
the UFO intercept mission. Hendricks stated that he heard Godman
Tower say, "we would like for you to take a look at it, come over the
field on a heading of 330° and we will try to guide you."
Then he heard Mantell answer, "Roger, I'll give you a call when I
identify it." Hendricks states that "Upon hearing this I
requested permission to leave the flight to return to Standiford Field,
the request was granted by Captain Mantell." So, therefore,
Mantell and Hendricks did have a conversation about mission intentions.
Thus, accident report's Exhibits 4 and 5 refute the report's
claim that Mantell had "no conversation" with "any member of his
flight" about what they were doing, that they were intercepting a UFO
at the request of Godman Field.
Furthermore, if there were any alleged difficulties with
Mantell communicating over the radio it may well have been due to
problems with his SCR-522 radio. That WWII model radio was
troublesome and difficult to maintain. Even though Mantell's F-51
was a virtually brand new fighter, the maintenance record prior to his
fatal flight shows the radio suffered several problems requiring a day
of repair work from Dec. 18 to 19, 1947. Channel B did not work
at all until it was repaired and this was the main channel designated
on the flight plan, the one used for all of the UFO-chase
communications.
From the post-accident flight maintenance report on
Mantell's plane:
"12-18-47 'A' channel very weak. No 'B'
channel. Radio VHF retuned, checked OK. [signed] Marks.
12-19-47" (Accid. Rpt., p. 19.)
Some of the main conclusions of the Accident Report (pp.
37-38) are as follows, and note that the no-oxygen-equipment claim
directly contradicts the statement at the beginning of the same report
(p. 2), quoted above, which said Mantell's "oxygen system ... was in
working order":
"14. CONTRIBUTING CAUSE FACTORS:
"a. The *poor judgment* displayed by Captain Mantell in that
he elected to climb to altitude *without oxygen equipment*.
"COMMENTS
"b. ... It is believed that Captain Mantell was rendered
unconscious from anoxia [sic] and the uncontrolled aircraft started a
slow spiral culminating into a dive which was precipitated by the high
power settings and torque. Consequently, the aircraft with its
*engine producing full power* rapidly *exceeded its design limitation*
as was evidenced from the photos, disposition of the wreckage, and
later supplemented by civilians statements to the effect that the
aircraft disintegrated approximately half way from its initial point of
dive to the ground." (Accid. Rpt., pp. 37-38)
Strangely, there was never any affidavit presented from the
fourth wingman, who *did stay* with Mantell and Clements, namely Lt.
Buford A. Hammond. One would think with all the public
controversy and pressure to find an answer to the mystery of the
incident, that every scrap of first-hand witness testimony would be
secured. But all we have from key witness Hammond is a few brief
remarks to the press, no statement to the accident board, no affidavit,
and no interview by Project Sign investigators.
MANTELL CASE BOMBSHELL -- PART 1(E-F)
(E) Dissecting Wingman Clements' Version of the
Official Story
Mantell wingman Lt. Albert Clements' affidavit (Accid. Rpt.,
pp. 13-14, 43-44, emphasis added) will be quoted below in sections and
rebutted factually in "FACTS" sections after each quote:
CLEMENTS: "At this point 1455 Lt. Hendricks, #2 man,
broke away from the formation and headed towards Standiford
Field. Capt. Mantell immediately after this began a rather sharp
spiraling climb to the right at rather *high power settings*,
necessitating a power setting of 47" MP [inches manifold pressure] and
2700 RPM to *maintain position in the formation* with him. He
continued spiraling at about 14000' where he broke off the spiral and
headed on a south-westerly heading of approximately 220° [sic;
actually 210°], still *climbing at the maximum rate* of 180 IAS
[Indicated Air Speed mph].
"At about 16000' I put on my oxygen mask and began taking
oxygen because it became apparent that Capt. Mantell was heading for
much higher altitudes even though it was *known* before hand that he
did *not have oxygen equipment* and neither did the element wingman Lt.
Hammond. The flight continued on this south-westerly course and
at about 18000' I attempted to pull up fairly close to the flight
leader and try to signal him with hand motions and try to contact him
on B Baker channel asking where the flight was headed. Capt.
Mantell had at no time signaled for a change over to B Baker channel
which is always customary from the flight leader, either [by] visual
signal or on the radio."
FACTS: Here Clements insinuates that Mantell never
communicated with his wingmen on Channel B during the entire UFO chase
and that he had to "try" to hand signal and radio Mantell over Channel
B after they reached 18,000 feet, but failed (part of the effort to
depict Mantell as obsessed and unresponsive to reason). But in
the very next sentences (below), Clements states that he *did* in fact
converse with Mantell over the radio. Even before the UFO chase
began, when everyone was still at 5,000 feet, wingman Hendricks figured
out Mantell was using Channel B and switched to it and listened in on
Mantell's communications with Godman Tower and then asked Mantell's
permission over Channel B to continue to home base rather than join the
pursuit mission (Hendricks affidavit, Accid. Rpt., p. 42).
Hendricks heard Mantell on Channel B giving the 2:50 p.m.
radio position report when Godman broke in to request diversion to
track the UFO. They were on a course of about 345 degrees to
Standiford and were directed to turn to heading 330 degs to come over
Godman Tower (Hendricks affidavit, Accid. Rpt., p. 42; note that the
"45" degree heading must be a typo for "345" which was their course to
home base). This involved a 15-degree left turn. Why didn't
Clements immediately ask Mantell what they were doing turning away from
home base?
Why did Clements wait about 12 minutes, until after they had
completely reversed course and were heading south and had climbed to
18,000 ft before trying to "signal" Mantell as to what they were
doing?? In fact, Godman Tower heard a wingman, evidently
Clements, at the very start of the UFO chase, radio "What the hell are
we after?" (or "Where in the hell are we going?"). This was when
they were between 14,000 and 15,000 ft at the start of the chase, at
least 5 minutes before reaching 18,000 ft in the reconstructed
timeline. According to Godman controllers, Mantell answered right
away and said he did not see the object yet, but he soon spotted the
UFO directly ahead of him at "12 o'clock high" position, as he reported
over the radio. (Duesler, Orner, Oliver, Blackwell statements to
Project Sign.) In fact, this was Clements' original story to the
press within two days of the crash, contradicting his later testimony
by sworn affidavit to the accident board.
Clements told the Louisville Courier-Journal that his and
Mantell's observation of the bright object at "12 o'clock" radio report
was "soon" after the very beginning of the chase and that that was when
they "started after" the UFO:
"Clements said Mantell informed him they were to look for
something 'but didn't seem to know exactly what it was.' *Soon*,
Clements related, Mantell shouted through the loud speaker, "Look,
there it is at 12 o'clock." Clements said this meant it was "right over
our nose."
Clements gazed straight ahead and saw a "bright shining
object that looked like a star." He and Mantell *started* after
it. (Louisville Courier-Journal, Jan. 9, 1948, p. 1.)
Clements changed his original story to shift this "12
o'clock high" radio report by Mantell to near the *end* of the chase,
at 20,000 ft, or about 8 minutes later than Godman actually heard it,
when they were still at 15,000 ft, shortly after starting the UFO
intercept at 14,000 ft. Clements clearly wanted to cover up the
fact that *he* had seen the UFO himself almost from the beginning,
along with Mantell. This was another effort to suggest that no
one could figure out what madman Mantell was taking them towards all
throughout the pursuit.
Notice that before Clements changed this portion of his
story, he seemed to admit that Mantell was himself initially unsure of
what it was they were being sent to identify, which would in effect
give Mantell some allowance for not being able to explain it to his
wingmen, an allowance that Clements later made sure to withdraw:
"Clements said Mantell informed him they were to look for something
'but didn't seem to know exactly what it was.' "
Since Channel B was listed on their flight plan, but not
Channel C, Clements should have known instantly that Mantell was using
Channel B and should not have had to have Mantell hand "signal"
him. Godman Tower had radioed Mantell over Channel B after
hearing him give his radio position report using that channel and then
got the idea to request Mantell's assistance in identifying the
UFO. How hard was it to switch from Channel C to B to check?
CLEMENTS: "In one of my transmissions I notified Capt.
Mantell that we were considerably over our ETA for Standiford Field and
suggested that he notify Godman Field to relay our position to Flight
Service to which he replied 'Roger'. However, I failed to hear Capt.
Mantell contact Godman Field on this."
FACTS: Again, Clements tries to portray Mantell as the
reckless fanatic who would not listen and would not respond to
reason. Problem is that Godman Tower *did* hear Mantell radio his
changed ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) for Standiford Field, changed
to accommodate Godman's request to divert course to intercept the UFO
(Lt. Col. Wood statement to Project Sign, Jan. 9, 1948). Thus
Godman Tower, in effect, makes Clements out to be a liar.
CLEMENTS: "In the next few minutes I heard Capt.
Mantell say "Look", there's a town down there with an airport beside
it", and from previous flying in this area I recognize it to be the
town of Bowling Green with it's [its] airport to the south east, and at
this point I noted that we were at 20000' and still climbing. I called
Capt. Mantell and notified that this was Bowling Green and again asked
him what we were looking for. He then replied "Look, there it is out
there at 1200 o'clock," and I was able to discern a bright appearing
object, very small, and so far away as to be unable to identify it as
to size, shape, color, but it was definitely something which could be
seen. It's [sic] position was slightly lower and to the left of
the sun. This was at approximately 1515 [sic]. I called
Capt. Mantell and told him I could see the object but suggested that
since we did not seem to be making a gain on the object, that it would
be better if we leveled off and tried to pick up some speed and
possibly get under the object. His transmissions were garbled but
he mentioned something about going to 25000' for about 10 minutes and
then if we were unable to make any further progress towards the object,
we could drop down."
FACTS: Here Clements insinuates that Mantell's radio
transmission was "garbled" due to effects of hypoxia, yet Clements
heard every single (alleged) detail of what Mantell said: (a)
Going to 25,000 ft (b) for about 10 minutes (c) if unable by then to
make progress (d) then they could drop back down to lower
altitude. More importantly, Godman Tower personnel also heard
this transmission, but no one heard any "garbling" in Mantell's voice
or had any trouble understanding Mantell's transmissions.
Furthermore, Godman heard Mantell say they would go to 20,000 ft (a
much safer altitude for oxygen problems), *not* to 25,000 ft.
Godman heard this over the radio near the *beginning* of the UFO chase
(at 15,000 ft) not near the end at 20,000 to 22,000 ft, thus once again
in effect making Clements out to be a liar. (Capt. Carter
statement to Project Sign.)
CLEMENTS: "From the time that the high blower kicked
in at about 18000' Capt. Mantell did not seem to decrease the throttle
heading to correspond with this and began pulling away from us at
18000' on up even though I was using these *maximum power
settings*. At about 22500', realizing that it was too high to
maintain without oxygen, I broke off the flight out of formation and
Capt. Mantell disappeared, still climbing almost directly *into the
sun*. I called him and informed him that we were breaking off the
flight and returning to Standiford Field, but he did not acknowledge."
FACTS: Clements insinuates that Mantell had been
"climbing almost directly into the sun" for quite some time before
finally disappearing, and then Clements reversed course to head to home
base. But their adjusted course was towards 205 degrees, not
towards the sun at 227 degrees. Mantell could not possibly have
headed towards the sun at 227 degs for very long since he ended up
crashing several minutes later at an impact site 202 degs from Godman,
very close to their 205 degs intercept heading.
If Mantell had briefly turned right and into the sun by
about 20 degrees, to avoid our crash-site location problem, then we run
into the problem that Clements immediately made a 180-degree
turn. How could Mantell still be "into the sun" when Clements
looped away by miles on the 180-turn? In a standard fast 1-minute
turn at 300 mph, within 15 seconds or less Clements would have put
Mantell towards the west (about 70 degrees from the sun) or towards the
east (about 110 degs from the sun), depending on whether Clements
turned left or right, respectively. Thus it is preposterous that
Mantell could have remained in the sun so long that he
"disappeared." There is more to the unraveling of this false and
ridiculous story.
Even if hypothetically Mantell had somehow managed to "pull
away" by say 10 miles by the time of disappearance, Clements' 180-turn
would have shifted Mantell's position in the sky by about 10 degrees
away from the sun within 30 seconds, and about 15 degrees from the sun
by the end of the turn. And that assumes a 10-mile separation
which we will see below was factually false and a physical and logical
impossibility.
Clements alleges that Mantell pulled away from him from
18,000 ft "on up," because of his extreme power settings, the actions
of a maniac he implies. But earlier in his affidavit (see above)
Clements was easily able to keep up with Mantell and actually pulled up
"fairly close" to him at this *same 18,000 ft altitude*, in order to
hand-signal him. And Clements was still with Mantell at 20,000 ft
by his own statement here above (at the Bowling Green airport vicinity)
and to 22,500 ft when he says he broke away from Mantell.
Clements cannot have it both ways.
There are so many reasons to question this part of Clements'
affidavit, as with so much of the rest of what he said, that it is left
in a shambles, a pastiche of some well-thought-out and some
poorly-thought-out falsehoods. The mythic image of Mantell
disappearing "into the sun" is not presented here by Clements for its
poetic value. It's an effort to solve the problem of how Mantell
could possibly have "disappeared" so quickly, an effort apparently
based on the poor logic that two inconsistent explanations can be just
as good as one good explanation, if they are both superficially
plausible-sounding.
If the sun explanation did not ultimately work, then
apparently Clements thought the "pulling away" scenario would take its
place, regardless of the mutual contradiction. In the "pulling
away" scenario, Mantell's flight at full power generated such a high
relative speed to Clements that Mantell's plane could disappear from
Clements' sight in just a few seconds. But the 37-foot wide
wingspan of the F-51 would have made it visible to the human eye up to
about 24 miles (for 20/20 vision 1 arcminute Minimum Angle of
Resolution).
If both Mantell and Clements were in a maximum climb how
could there be much of a difference in speed? Both were in
identical F-51D's with identical engines and identical fuel load and
weight, and should have had identical speeds. Suppose we assume
that somehow a very generous 60 mph (1 mile per minute) relative
velocity developed between Mantell and his wingman Clements at this
point at about 3:09 p.m. in the reconstructed timeline (this assumes
Mantell at 360 mph and Clements at 300 mph, instead of both at 300
mph). It would have taken about 24 minutes for Mantell's plane to
disappear (which would be at 3:33)! Mantell already crashed long
before that time (at 3:18)! So the "pulling away" cannot explain
how Mantell's fighter supposedly disappeared so fast.
Imagine another possibility, that Clements' turn in the
opposite direction put his flight speed opposite to that of Mantell's
speed, resulting in possibly up to 600-700 mph in relative velocity
between the two fighters. The accident report claims that
Mantell's plane disappeared from sight to Clements at about 23,000 ft
(Accid. Rpt., p. 8). Based on the reconstructed correct climb
rate of only 600 ft/min, this would be just under 1 minute after
Clements began to turn around and head for home base at 22,500
ft. This assumes that both Mantell and Clements were flying
together at about the same altitude and that the 500 ft increase
represents about 1 minute of climbing at the 600 ft/min rate.
(But if, as some reports suggest, there was a minor 500-foot
height difference with Clements' plane at 22,500 ft [Accid. Rpt., pp.
14, 44] when Mantell's plane was at 23,000 ft, then this does not
represent a 1 minute time interval at all, which would have allowed
some separation distance to develop between them. However we will
consider the 1-minute possibility for illustration of the insuperable
difficulties with Clements' nonsense story about Mantell's
disappearance.)
How far could Mantell possibly have gotten from Clements in
1 minute when Mantell was climbing at the maximum possible climb rate
and Clements had turned around to reverse course? In max climb,
speed in the F-51D is limited to only about 200 mph (NAA F-51D
Performance Tables and Charts, 1944, 1946). But Clements was no
longer climbing, so he could fly faster, let's say it was the F-51D's
max speed of about 440 mph in level flight. If the 1 minute
estimate is assumed, then Clements would have put only about 6 miles
between himself and Mantell on their now opposite headings. But
this is not enough to make Mantell disappear. It is not even
close to the 24-mile maximum visual range for seeing an F-51. But
it *might* be understandable if one could only look *backwards* briefly
to try to spot Mantell's now rapidly receding F-51.
The truth is evidently that Mantell's plane disappeared not
because of fading in the distance, not because of the sun's glare, but
because Clements had turned his plane around in the opposite direction
and left Mantell all alone, making it difficult to crane his head
backwards to look for Mantell. Clements could not easily look
back to watch Mantell while flying his own fighter. That is the
true cause of Mantell's "disappearance" from sight.
Rather than admit that his abandonment of Mantell is what
caused Mantell's disappearance from view, Clements apparently just made
up the mythical story of Mantell disappearing "into the sun."
CLEMENTS: "Through the later stages of this climb Lt.
Hammond was signaling that he was having trouble because of his lack of
oxygen and wished to go down to a lower altitude."
HAMMOND: In the only known statement of wingman Lt.
Buford A. Hammond, made to the press, he describes this purported hand
signaling that Clements cites:
"Mantell and Clements were linked by radio, but Hammond's
communications set was tuned to a different frequency....
" 'I felt a little shaky at 15,000 feet,' he [Hammond]
declared, 'because I realized we were supposed to take oxygen at 12,000
[sic; actually 14,000 ft].
" 'By the time I hit 22,000 I was seeing double. I
pulled alongside Clements and indicated with [hand] gestures that I
didn't have an oxygen mask. In fact I circled my finger around my
head to show him I was getting woozy. He understood the situation
and we turned back.' " (Louisville Courier-Journal, Jan. 9, 1948.)
FACTS: This dramatic story of Hammond and Clements
having to communicate by hand signals instead of by radio (because
their radios were "tuned to a different frequency") is very
colorful. It is also very false.
Hammond radioed and did not hand signal his oxygen
problems. Godman controllers *heard* Hammond reporting his oxygen
problems to Clements over the *radio*. In a report by Major DeArmand
Matthews, deputy commander of the Wright Field Flight Service
Center, which overheard the Mantell mission over the Plan 62 intercom
network between the AF bases in the region, we learn that the Service
Center shift supervisor Capt. Arthur Jehli heard the following radio
communications between Mantell's men. Major Matthews quotes from
Capt. Jehli's report:
"At 22,000 feet pilot Hammond, NG 737, advised Clements, NG
800, that he had no oxygen equipment. Both pilots then returned
to Standiford Field; pilot Mantell, NG 3869, continued climbing."
Hammond "advised" Clements by radio of his oxygen problems,
and it was heard over the intercom network from the air-to-ground radio
feed. The whole story by Hammond and Clements about "hand
signaling" was completely made up. It never happened.
It should have been obviously suspect just with the bizarre
notion that Hammond could not communicate by radio, as if their F-51
aircraft were equipped with incompatible radios. Or as if we are
supposed to believe Hammond could not make a simple switch from Channel
C to B on his radio when he heard nothing over Channel C, and when
their flight plan called for using Channel B anyway. It should
have raised questions about how Hammond could possibly have reached the
dangerous altitude of 22,500 ft without himself crashing, especially
when Hammond and Clements both admitted that Hammond had been having
trouble with oxygen for a long time before the supposed hand-signaling
incident (about 12 minutes from 15,000 ft when he "felt a little shaky"
to 22,000 or 22,500 ft).
Godman controller PFC Stanley Oliver heard *both* wingmen,
Clements and Hammond, trying to contact Mantell by *radio* at the very
end: "Other pilots in the formation tried to contact him but to
no avail," Oliver reported (Oliver statement to Project Sign).
This further refutes the claim that Hammond had the wrong channel and
had to communicate with Clements by "hand signals."
Someone should have questioned how a pilot experiencing
severe hypoxia effects - who was feeling so "woozy" he circled his
fingers to indicate dizziness - could carry out such an insanely
dangerous alleged maneuver of pulling up close to another aircraft, so
close that his hand gestures could be seen. If that had actually
happened, Hammond could very easily have collided with Clements,
endangering or forfeiting both their lives when all they had to do was
just talk by radio from a safe distance.
But as we have just seen, this hand gesture story is bogus,
there was no such life-threatening maneuver forced by Mantell's
supposedly reckless actions. It was clearly all fabricated to
make Mantell look bad, in the nature of a complaint by innuendo of the
type "See what he made us do??"
Godman controllers also heard Mantell's wingmen say over
their radios that one of them had leveled off at 15,000 ft while
Mantell and the other wingman climbed to 20,000 ft or more. The
wingman who stayed at 15,000 ft must have been Hammond who lacked
oxygen gear, and the one who stayed close to Mantell was evidently
Clements who had oxygen.
Godman's weather detachment commander, Lt. Paul Orner,
listened in on the air-ground conversations with Mantell and his
crew. Orner reported:
"From pilots reports in the formation NG869 [Mantell] was
high and ahead of *the* wing man [Hammond] ... when he
disappeared.... From messages transmitted by the formation it is
estimated the flight leader [Mantell] was at 18 to 20 thousand feet and
the wing man [Hammond] at approximately 15 thousand feet wide formation
when the flight leader NG869 [Mantell] disappeared." (Orner
statement to Project Sign.)
Notice once again that Hammond was in radio contact with
Godman Tower, as only he could have described how Mantell appeared
"high and ahead" of him, Hammond at 15,000 ft and Mantell at a visually
estimated 18,000 to 20,000 ft.
Because Godman did not yet have ground control approach
(GCA) radar (it was a few months away), their tower controllers had to
depend on pilots to report their altitudes over the radio. Some
controllers could recognize voices of the different pilots but others
could easily mistake one for the other. As Capt. Cary (not
"Gary") Carter stated, for him it was "impossible to identify which
plane was doing the talking" (Carter statement to Project Sign).
Others such as Lt. Orner were able to distinguish the radio reports of
Mantell, Clements, and Hammond.
So when a flight supervisor at another base listened in on
these conversations he might be still more likely to mistake one pilot
for the other, since he was not their ground controller and not
responsible for them. Thus when Capt. Jehli in Ohio heard that,
when *someone* reported being at 22,000 ft, and Hammond advised
Clements of not having oxygen, this did not necessarily mean *both*
pilots were at 22,000 ft. Apparently, Hammond at 15,000 ft, was
continuing to have hypoxia difficulties and it was Clements who was at
22,000 ft with oxygen, not Hammond who had no oxygen.
Jehli may not have heard or realized that twelve minutes
earlier Hammond had said he had leveled off at 15,000 ft so Jehli
assumed mistakenly that both Clements and Hammond were at 22,000 ft
along with Mantell. Hammond by any account started suffering from
hypoxia at 15,000 ft so it makes sense that he leveled off at that
altitude, stopped climbing any higher, and followed Mantell and
Clements from below them, Mantell and Clements being the only members
of the flight with oxygen. AF regulations in 1948 required that
all pilots flying at 14,000 ft or higher must use oxygen (AAF Reg.
60-16 para. 43).
By continuing to fly at 15,000 ft for 12 more minutes when
he was already feeling "shaky," Hammond was still taking a risk but not
as severe as if he had tried to climb to 22,500 ft where he could lose
consciousness at any moment or within seconds after 17 minutes of
flying with ever decreasing oxygen levels (counting from when they
started at 5,000 ft). Hammond may never have made it to 22,500 ft
had he tried, and might well have blacked out long before and crashed.
CLEMENTS: "From the time we broke off from the
formation, we began a rather sharp discent [sic] back on course to
Standiford Field, about 40°, and finally established contact with
Godman tower giving them a position report and our destination and
asking them if they would try to contact Capt. Mantell and inform him
that we were returning, in as much as he failed to acknowledge our
previous message.
"The last contact by radio which we had with Capt. Mantell
was when he said he could see the object at 1200 o'clock which was from
20000' and when last seen he seemed to have the airplane under perfect
control and still climbing towards the object."
FACTS: Clements is at pains (he will repeat himself
below) to insist that Mantell was not in any trouble from hypoxia or
anything else when he abandoned Mantell. If he had admitted that
Mantell's plane was wobbling or erratic then he would make his
dereliction of duty to come to Mantell's assistance all the more
egregious, and invited a court-martial all the more.
CLEMENTS: "I relayed my thoughts to Godman tower as to
what we had seen and proceeded with Lt. Hammond on my wing to
Standiford Field, landing without further incident at approximately
1540. As near as I can recall, the last time we saw Capt. Mantell
was approximately 1520 [sic]. At no time did I observe Capt.
Mantell to be in trouble and not until the later stages of the flight,
prior to our breaking off of formation, did I realize what the object
of this *high rate of climb* and unusual heading away from our ultimate
destination was. By the time that I switched to B Baker channel,
after we started climbing, we were apparently out of range of the
Godman tower. In conjunction with the last time when we left
Capt. Mantell I would judge our position to be about 40 [sic] miles
northwest of Bowling Green.
"/s/ Albert W. Clements"
FACTS: Again, Clements wants to mitigate his
dereliction of duty and violation of orders by insisting that Mantell
was okay when he left him. And again he falsely asserts that he
did not know what the purpose of their "unusual heading" and purported
"high rate of climb" was until the "later stages," and drags in the
phony excuse of Mantell somehow misleading them to stay on the wrong
radio channel. As we showed earlier, Clements knew all along they
were chasing an unidentified object and had spotted it himself almost
from the start of the UFO pursuit. They knew that Channel B was
their official radio channel as it was logged in their flight plan.
Clements' belief that they "were apparently out of range of
the Godman tower" at these "final stages" of the UFO chase was dead
wrong. But it was fortunate for us because Godman Tower
controllers listened in on Clements' radio chatter when Clements did
not think anyone could hear him. And Godman's controllers'
eavesdropping makes Clements out to be a liar, as we have seen, on such
matters as claiming Mantell never updated their ETA to reflect the
delay for the UFO pursuit, that Mantell's radio transmissions were
garbled as if due to hypoxia, that Hammond had to "hand signal" him,
and most significantly on who had oxygen supply problems - only Hammond
was reported, not Mantell.
(F) AF Was Suspicious of Accident Investigators from
Mantell's Home Base
Within a day of the crash, the AF was already a bit
suspicious of having Mantell's fellow Kentucky Air National Guard
officers or even AF officers at Standiford Field conducting the
accident investigation or of them being the only ones involved.
Unusual orders were issued stating that while "Standiford Field
National Guard Unit is handling investigation" the AF's Wright Field
Flight Service "suggested that an Air Force Officer aid in the
investigation and requested Godman Field to do so" rather than
Standiford's AF officers (Accid. Rpt., p. 30).
A special investigation team of two AF officers, Major
Robert J. D. Johnson and Capt. Robert R. Rankin, did prepare a special
report (see Accid. Rpt., pp. 34-50; not known if they were in fact from
Godman) but it was not an independent investigation, since they simply
rubber-stamped the ANG board's findings and conclusions, despite the
apparent unease of AF Wright Field Flight Service.
Mantell's crew and the Standiford accident board implied
that Mantell acted like some crazed madman who endangered his entire
flight team with life-threatening orders to fly too high too fast
without oxygen (no such orders were ever given) to try to reach a
dubious target, an object in the sky that his crew could not even see
(also not true). They painted the picture of Mantell as obsessed
with reaching the UFO, forcing them into following him on a dangerous
maximum climb at full power, and turning a callous and indifferent ear
to his fellow officers' legitimate complaints about what was happening
and the increasing lack of oxygen to breathe.
Mantell's flight said that one wingman was flying too high
with no oxygen and was feeling dizzy (Lt. Hammond), but that they could
not contact Mantell visually or by radio through the fault of Mantell
himself. All of these charges and innuendoes also turn out to be
falsehoods.
They claimed Mantell did not follow procedures in switching
radio channels so they could listen in, that he was using the wrong
channel instead of the correct VHF Channel B radio frequency (126.18
MHz), thus leaving them uninformed and in the dark on what was going
on. The Mantell crew complained that he did not explain what they
were doing, that they were pursuing a UFO, and that he did not explain
why they were so greatly departing from their flight plan.
In actual fact, Channel B was the official frequency listed
on their Flight Plan (Accid. Rpt., pp. 20, 40), so Mantell's wingmen
surely knew that and Mantell should not have had to inform his crew of
that fact. The one wingman, Lt. Hendricks, who decided to head
back to base early on, stated in his affidavit that he visually noticed
Mantell talking on his radio and simply switched his own radio to
Channel B and listened in on Godman Tower requesting Mantell to check
out the UFO.
Thus, the other wingmen, Lts. Clements and Hammond, would
have known to do the same thing, change to Channel B. And when
they saw Lt. Hendricks head off to home base they had to know something
was up and to change channels to find out. Their aircraft radios,
SCR-522, had only three channels (or at most four if specially
modified), Channels A, B, and C, anyway, so how difficult was it to
check all three in case of questions? The claims that Clements
and Hammond were kept in the dark by a reckless flight leader Mantell
just do not ring true.
MANTELL CASE BOMBSHELL -- PART 1(G-H-Table)
(G) Mantell Had Oxygen
Thorough reinvestigation of the Mantell case has revealed
that in actual fact Mantell *did* have oxygen equipment, contrary to 60
years of official assertions to the contrary.
The official accident report relates the classified findings
of the five-man Accident Investigating Board of Kentucky ANG officers,
and an attached classified Special Investigation of two AF officers, in
a formal Army Air Forces Form 14 called the "Report of Major Accident,"
of January 22, 1948 (note that the AAF had become the AF by this date
but they still used up the old AAF forms).
The Accident Report states on page 2 that Mantell's "oxygen
system" was "in working order," and simply had not been serviced with
oxygen pre-flight. This implies that the amount of oxygen still
in Mantell's tank must have been unknown to the ground crew, and thus
raises the possibility it was misestimated by Mantell. This
finding was indirectly supported by ground-air communications with
Godman Tower controllers directing Mantell's UFO intercept, who were
told that wingman Lt. Hammond was having trouble with a lack of oxygen
supplies but no mention was made of a "known" lack of oxygen supply by
Mantell.
Section "I" of the AAF Form 14, the Mantell Accident Report,
asks if there was any special equipment such as "oxygen equipment"
which "was a contributing cause factor in the accident for any reason
including failure, misuse, or by reason of *not being in the plane*"
and then the accident board filled in the following information:
"Oxygen system was not serviced. System was in working
order"
The official story of the Mantell tragedy comes unhinged
with this crushing disclosure. The Accident Report, with the
above statement about Mantell having an unserviced "oxygen system"
aboard his plane, has been openly available in the Project Blue Book
files since their public release in 1976. This early part of the
accident report Form 14 must have been filled out before the board
settled on the story that Mantell did not carry oxygen, which appears
later on the form, at page 4.
(The "Oxygen system ... in working order" page is available
on National Archives Blue Book microfilm released in 1976, on 16 mm
Roll 2, page 767, and on the unredacted Maxwell AFB AF record microfilm
released in 1998, Roll 3, page 748. For both see
http://www.bluebookarchive.com/ on the Web, along with still another copy in the
special Project Sign microfilm given to Herbert Strentz in 1968, Roll
1, page 310.)
The accident report form specifically asked what was a
"contributing cause factor" in the *crash*, the crash of Mantell's
plane, serial no. 44-63869, so it was not asking about the other planes
in Mantell's flight, which of course did not crash.
And the report form asked specifically if "oxygen equipment"
was a "contributing cause factor" by "reason of *not being in the
plane*." So if the crash had been caused by Mantell not having
oxygen equipment in his plane then this was the officially *required*
place in the formal accident report for documenting that alleged
fact. The fact that the accident report two pages later implies
that Mantell had no oxygen equipment and crashed because of that,
suggests that those preparing the report forgot about what was stated
in the early part of the report when they developed the official
storyline later on, during the two weeks they worked on the
report. The truth survived by escaping through cracks in the
coverup.
The issue of oxygen equipment and supplies has been the
primary focus of the attack by the AF in this case, but there are some
very troubling and obvious questions raised in reinvestigating the case
today. The accident board criticized "The poor judgment
displayed by Captain Mantell" who they claimed "Violated AAF Reg. 60-16
Par. 43" by going above the 14,000-foot altitude limit without the
oxygen required in those regulations (Accid. Rpt., pp. 3, 37).
But the only evidence the board cited was the single anecdotal
statement of wingman Lt. Albert Clements, who as it turns out had the
most to lose if he had been court-martialed.
Why rely on someone's word, someone who has a direct stake
in the answer, when you have objective, indisputable, physical evidence
that can be consulted?? Why was not the obvious step taken of
examining the wreckage of Mantell's aircraft to see if he had oxygen
equipment or not? Would that not have been the most definitive
and conclusive evidence? In law, when less satisfactory evidence
is presented instead of more satisfactory evidence the less
satisfactory evidence is viewed with suspicion.
But, apparently the wreckage *was* examined, as argued
earlier, and it resulted in what is now the bombshell revelation that
Mantell *did* have oxygen equipment and it was reportedly in "working
order" (Accid. Rpt., p. 2).
Godman Tower controllers learned from the radio reporting
and the interphone system between bases that Mantell's main wingman,
Lt. Clements, had returned to home base at Standiford Field to refuel
and to replenish his *oxygen* so he could go up to 33,000 feet to
search for the UFO again (Carter, Orner statements to Project
Sign). (Clements did not say he was searching for Mantell because
that would imply he knew Mantell was in trouble. Even though
Mantell had "disappeared," had been out of contact for over an hour,
and never showed up at any base, Clements was evidently determined to
mislead, to not to reveal any serious concern to ground controllers.)
Yet, Standiford Field claimed it had no oxygen supplies, but
had it on order (Accid. Rpt., p. 37, para. 13"ff"). How did
Clements replenish his oxygen supply at Standiford in order to go back
up to look for the UFO at higher altitudes, if Standiford did not have
any oxygen? Someone must have been lying. Since Godman
Tower heard the radio reports of Standiford having oxygen for resupply
at the time it happened, it must have been Standiford Field that was
lying in its later official reporting about not having had oxygen on
hand.
Imagine the enormity of such a fraudulent claim. A
military base falsified its records or reporting on its oxygen supplies
in connection with a fatal accident attributed to an oxygen supply
problem, to phrase it broadly. Evidently Standiford base
officials wanted to distance themselves as much as possible from any
responsibility for Mantell's accident, no matter how remote, by simply
lying and claiming it had no oxygen whatsoever, and this falsehood was
knowingly incorporated into the Accident Report (p. 37). Perhaps
the reasoning was a not too well thought out effort to reinforce the
Mantell-had-no-oxygen story. If Standiford had no oxygen supplies
available, the accident investigators may have reasoned, then it could
not have given any to Mantell, and so that would further bolster the
story that Mantell had no oxygen on board his aircraft at the time of
his crash.
The issue of oxygen supplies and equipment was one that
motivated outright false statements by AF and ANG officials, not just
on Mantell's oxygen, but also on Clements' oxygen and Standiford
Field's oxygen. Again this calls into question the entire
official case against Mantell. Clearly a very considerable
"oxygen coverup" was perpetrated by the ANG and the AF at Standiford
base in Louisville in January 1948 and, of course, forever after.
Almost every alleged fact about oxygen in relation to the Mantell crash
has been contradicted or falsified.
It was often and falsely claimed that, as the accident board
put it, "Mantell was not aware of the symptoms of anoxia in that his
high altitude flying experience was very limited" (Accid. Rpt., p.
38). The principal accident investigator, Capt. Richard Tyler,
was quoted in the media: "Tyler blamed Mantell's head-long dash
after the 'saucer' on the fact that Mantell's World War II experience
largely was limited to low-altitude flying." (Louisville
Courier-Journal, Jan. 9, 1948.)
But Capt. Tyler seemed to contradict himself in private, as
he admitted in his statement to the accident board that Mantell "did
respect the airplane and the dangers of anoxia" (Accid. Rpt., p.
10). How would Mantell know and "respect" the dangers of anoxia
(hypoxia) if he didn't have some kind of high flying experience that
was sufficient to make him knowledgeable? All this talk about
Mantell's high-altitude experience or lack of it is just double-talk
anyway, since Mantell did have oxygen.
Mantell's pilot experience is also sometimes disparaged,
with suggestions that he was not experienced as a "fighter pilot"
specifically or that he was unfamiliar with the F-51. Such
discussions usually omit mentioning that Mantell had been flying the
F-51D for over seven months, since the arrival of 25 F-51D's at
Standiford in late May 1947 (Accid. Rpt., p. 9; Kentucky ANG
histories). Mantell had about 3,000 flying hours total, of which
1,608 hours were pilot-flight time, and he had 67 hours in the
F-51D. Although the length of each flight in the F-51D is not
stated, Mantell's total hours in the F-51D at thirty and ninety days
and all total before the accident are given (Accid. Rpt., pp. 1, 34).
Based on those figures, it appears that as a rough estimate
from May to September 1947, Mantell flew the F-51D a couple hours about
*once a week*, then from October to December about *twice a
week*. Since the F-51 was capable of reaching a ceiling of about
42,000 feet which absolutely requires oxygen, on many if not most of
the F-51D flights Mantell surely must have tested out the F-51
Mustang's high-altitude capabilities and thus used oxygen, and thus
become familiar with oxygen, as the lead accident investigator implies
(Accid. Rpt., pp. 9-10).
(H) The Mantell Case Over the Years
The Mantell case has been the staple of UFO books and
articles for over half a century. Wild rumors have swirled around
the incident almost from the start, usually in a lurid attempt to
attribute the crash to hostile attack by the UFO or alien beings.
From the beginning, on the day after Mantell's crash, the
press relayed various suggested explanations that the mysterious object
might have been a special balloon or the planet Venus or even a
comet. There was considerable discussion of these possibilities
in the press with a number of officials and experts interviewed.
There were many observers of the Skyhook balloon though no one
specifically linked it to the then publicly known (not secret) Skyhook
project until later.
Over the years the AF's explanation has changed, and is now
blamed on a large Skyhook balloon, supposedly a 'secret" Navy project
(in fact it was not secret at all and not exclusive to the Navy).
The presence of Venus in the same area of the sky is thought to be a
coincidence since it was not bright enough to be visible or prominent
in the daytime sky. Occasionally it has slipped out that the
sighting was actually considered "unidentified" by the AF.
The Mantell incident appears in the TOP SECRET Air
Intelligence Study on Flying Discs, dated Dec. 10, 1948, and issued
April 28, 1949, which was discovered and released only in 1985 thanks
to the untiring efforts of the late Robert G. Todd. In the highly
classified study, the AF Directorate of Intelligence at the Pentagon
under Major General Charles Cabell treated the Mantell case as
unexplained:
"On 7 January 1948, a National Guard pilot was killed while
attempting to chase an unidentified object up to 30,000 feet.
While it is presumed that this pilot suffered anoxia, resulting in his
crash, his last message to the tower was, 'it appears to be metallic
object....of tremendous size....directly ahead and slightly above....I
am trying to close for a better look.' " (AID Study 203, p. 12,
para. k, ellipses in the original)
In early 1952, as a result of press inquiries by
LIFE
magazine, the head of the AF's Project Grudge (later renamed Blue
Book), then Lt. (later Capt.) Edward J. Ruppelt, was asked to look into
the Mantell case for the Pentagon. LIFE found out and soon
published the AF's surprising "unsolved" conclusion on the Mantell
incident (one of only two times this fact ever leaked out).
But Ruppelt the skeptic instead latched onto the idea the
UFO was a Skyhook balloon launched by the Navy from Clinton County Air
Field, Wilmington, Ohio, and claimed the winds were right to bring it
within view of military air traffic controllers at Godman Field, who
were at the center of the UFO incident. In an official AF
statement (see below) Ruppelt misleadingly implied there were records
of this purported Skyhook launch from the Clinton County base, but in
fact there were no records as he later admitted in his book and none
were found in his Blue Book files.
In the AF statement Ruppelt alleged that it was
"*determined* that on the date of the Godman sighting a balloon *was*
released by the Navy from Clinton County airport in Ohio" and that "The
*release time* of the balloon was related to the wind plot for 7
January 1948, and it revealed that the balloon would have been in the
area of Godman at the time of the sighting." No such "wind plots"
were found in Ruppelt's Blue Book files, let alone records of the date
and "release time" of any purported Skyhook launch from Clinton County,
this is apparently just sheer fabrication.
Meanwhile, evidently to be ready for the expected heavy
impact of the LIFE article, Ruppelt wrote an official summary (just
mentioned) of the Mantell case in early 1952 for internal AF inquiries
and for the press. The document reports the "ATIC opinion" as
"the Air Force conclusion" (Air Technical Intelligence Center was the
parent organization of Project Blue Book; ATIC has now evolved into
NASIC, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, still at
Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio).
This official AF conclusion in 1952 was that Mantell's
"excitement" over the UFO overrode his better judgment about his
oxygen, as we quoted earlier. This statement tries to have it
both ways on the IFO explanations, adopting both Venus *and* the
Skyhook, suggesting that the planet Venus "probably" caused the initial
UFO sightings, but the purportedly "classified ... 'need-to-know'"
Skyhook balloon "probably" caused the later Mantell sighting.
Skyhooks were not classified and were widely reported in the
New York Times in 1946 and 1947 and a detailed front-page story in
Popular Science magazine in May 1948. Even the classified uses of
the unclassified "Project Skyhook" balloons were referred to in the
Popular Science article (pp. 101b-102a) for carrying "devices about
which the government maintains secrecy." The magazine actually
printed photos of the launch of the Jan. 6, 1948, Skyhook balloon which
later drifted near Nashville around the time of Mantell's chase, though
this connection was not realized at the time. But the magazine
did suggest that Skyhook balloons were causing some of the UFO
sightings of the day.
Interestingly, Ruppelt/ATIC adopted the event scenario in
which Mantell's two wingmen in the UFO chase stayed at 15,000 ft and
did not remain with Mantell as he climbed to 22,000+ ft (in fact
Hammond stayed at 15,000 ft and Clements went up with Mantell further
on the gradual climb; more on this in Part 2). Ruppelt
maintained this flight scenario in his classic 1956 book, The Report on
Unidentified Flying Objects.
Later in 1952, while working with the former astronomical
consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Ruppelt and Hynek rejected Hynek's own
original findings in 1949 supporting the Venus theory. The two
now decided that Venus was not bright enough in the daytime.
Thus, the Skyhook balloon was left by default as the official AF
explanation for the Mantell case.
Decades later, balloon engineer Prof. Charles B. Moore
claimed that his records showed that no Skyhooks were ever launched
from Clinton County airfield until July 9, 1951 (Greenwood, Just Cause,
June [July] 1994, p. 9). Skyhooks were manufactured by General
Mills in Minnesota, and Moore worked on the Skyhooks for General Mills
at that time. It also stands to reason that since Clinton County
airfield was heavily involved in the evening UFO sightings right after
Mantell's crash, which were actually publicized by an official CAA
(Civil Aeronautics Administration now the FAA) press release, one would
think that the unusual aerial activity would have prompted the
uncovering of an unusual launch of a Skyhook that same day from the
same base if such a thing had occurred (as Barry Greenwood has pointed
out).
In 2002, veteran UFO investigator, author and former
military intelligence officer, Capt. (now Major) Kevin Randle, posted a
lengthy analysis of the Mantell case on UFO UpDates for comment.
Though still adhering to the traditional explanation of the case as a
combination of oxygen supply and Skyhook balloon, Randle seems to be
the first to suggest (p. 6) that Mantell's wingmen falsified
information about their flight altitudes to protect themselves, the
"survivors," from military discipline for violating regulations on
oxygen.
But Randle's study elicited little response. In part
this was due to the difficulties in obtaining legible copies of the
Mantell accident report and BB files on Mantell and disentangling them
into a sensible order. The AF files as released to the public are
a disorganized mess. Multiple copies, including typewritten
copies and poor photostats, of the same document or parts of a document
are repeated in many different places in the BB files in little or no
coherent fashion.
In March 2006, a local Evansville, Indiana, television
station WFIE interviewed NICAP website coordinator and long-time UFO
researcher Francis Ridge for an upcoming program on the Mantell
case. When the TV show was broadcast on May 23, 2006, it stirred
up renewed interest and debate among UFO researchers on several email
discussion lists, which led to the present reinvestigation.
Ridge's dedicated volunteers helped dig out the confusing AF and other
documents and even retype some so they are legible (special thanks to
Jean Waskiewicz).
CUFOS webmaster Mary Castner then researched the old NICAP
files at CUFOS headquarters and succeeded in getting Barry Greenwood's
news clipping and newsletter files on the Mantell case posted on the
Web. Castner uncovered some files of renowned UFO investigator
and atmospheric physicist, Dr. James McDonald, that included some
useful Minnesota-Iowa tracking data on the Skyhook balloon, reported by
Otto Winzen head of Winzen Research, in 1968.
Thanks to this tremendous effort of these persistent
researchers the case has been stunningly blown wide open after 60 years.
Reconstruction of Mantell Flight Profile -
Summary Table
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