The Mantell UFO Incident

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Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

The Mantel UFO incident is one such story.

While many will write this mystery off as having been solved, I myself cannot come to that conclusion.

I therefore will leave it to you, the listener, to decide for yourself what to believe after hearing the individual eyewitness accounts, those of various military personnel, regarding the strange, unidentified flying objects they saw on January 7th, 1948, from no less than three military bases in Kentucky and Ohio.

The UFO incident in early 1948 was highly publicized at the time, appearing in various newspapers and magazines in the weeks following, primarily due to the incident resulting in the death of an experienced and decorated World War II pilot, Captain Thomas F.

Mantel, when he attempted to chase an unknown object into high altitudes, and because his plane was not equipped for high-altitude flights, he likely succumbed to oxygen deprivation during his ascent, fell unconscious, and then crashed.

The question of why an experienced pilot would risk his life to perform such a reckless maneuver, a pilot who knew full well that a flight over 15,000 feet without oxygen equipment was dangerous under any circumstances, never seems to have been answered.

One of his close friends is quoted as saying that he could only assume Mantel was attempting to identify something, an attempt that he believed to be more important than his life or his family.

Because of his death, the first object, or possibly a combination of multiple objects, that were spotted over Kentucky before Mantel's crash were thoroughly investigated by the military after the fact.

Ultimately, in searching for practical answers, these objects were presumed by Air Force investigators to be a combination of the planet Venus shining brightly on the horizon during the afternoon daylight, as well as either one or more top-secret weather balloons or other aircraft flying at high altitudes.

The combined effect of the planet Venus and these various aircraft and balloons coincidentally being in the same vicinity of each other were said to have confused Captain Mantel.

if not the many other eyewitnesses on the ground, with the final object Mantel was chasing being said to be a weather balloon flying overhead at more than 60,000 feet.

However, while those answers seem reasonable, even accepting the possibility of multiple weather balloons and other aircraft being in the same vicinity of each other and creating the confusion, only hours after his plane crashed and with the object he was chasing having disappeared, Another bright object was spotted near a separate military base, this one being 200 miles further northeast in Ohio.

During this secondary event, this object performed a series of strange and very fast vertical and horizontal movements before disappearing, which observers would remark made it nothing like a balloon, a planet, or any known aircraft.

It was then spotted a second time from a third military base in Ohio, where it again conducted a series of strange aerial movements before disappearing.

However, despite these secondary events taking place in the same day as Mantel's death, the Air Force Force report does not seem to consider that this very strange object might have been involved in his death.

And it's worth mentioning that despite being seen over 200 miles away, about four hours after Mantel's plane crashed, this secondary object was seen by multiple experienced Army and Air Force personnel at two separate bases in Ohio, and they estimated its fast aerial movements to exceed speeds of over 500 miles per hour.

So saying, that information along with the other information detailed in the Strange Lights Over Kentucky episode, and by that I mean the details surrounding the Air Force's conclusion about what Mantel was chasing,

it certainly makes you wonder if it really was a weather balloon, as the Air Force said.

I'm Luke Lamana

and this is Wartime Stories.

For your interest, the following accounts are some of the various eyewitness statements given by military personnel from these three events, beginning chronologically with those from the early afternoon, those of the Godman Field personnel stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Statement of Tech Sergeant Quentin A.

Blackwell

I, Tech Sergeant Quinton A.

Blackwell, was on duty as a chief operator in the control tower at Godman Field, Kentucky on the afternoon of 7 January 1948.

Up until 1315 or 1320, matters were routine.

At approximately that time, I received a telephone call from Sergeant Cook, Colonel Hicks' office, stating that according to Fort Knox Military Police and Elizabethtown State Police, there was a large circular object from 250 to 300 feet in diameter over Mansville, Kentucky.

and requested I check with Army Flight Service to see if any unusual type aircraft was in the vicinity.

Flight Service advised negative on the aircraft and took the other info, requesting our CO verify the story.

Shortly afterward, Flight Service gave Gobman Tower positions on the object over Irvington, Kentucky, and then Owensboro, Kentucky, of about the same size and description.

About 1345 or 1350, I sighted an object in the sky to the south of Godman Field.

As I wanted verification, I called my detachment commander, 1st Lieutenant Orner, to the tower.

After he had sighted the object, he called for the operations officer, Captain Carter, over the teletalk box from the traffic desk.

He came upstairs immediately and looked at the object through the field glasses in the tower.

He then called for the CO, Colonel Hicks.

He came to the tower about 1420 and sighted the object immediately.

About 1430 to 1440, a flight of four P-51s approached Godman Field from the south, en route from Marietta, Georgia, to Standerford Field, Kentucky.

As they passed over the tower, I called them on B-Channel, VHF, and asked flight leader if he had enough gas, and if so, would he mind trying to identify an object in the sky to the south of Godman Field?

He replied in the affirmative and made a right turn around with two planes and proceeded south from Godman Field.

The fourth plane proceeded on to Stantaford Field alone.

The three-ship formation proceeded south on a heading of 210 degrees, climbing steadily.

About 1445, the flight leader reported seeing the object ahead and above, I'm still climbing.

to which a wingman retorted, what the hell are we looking for?

The leader reported at 15,000 feet that, the object is directly ahead of and above me now, moving about half my speed.

When asked for a description, he replied, it appears to be a metallic object of tremendous size.

The flight leader then reported, I'm still climbing, the object is above and ahead of me, moving at about my speed or faster.

I'm trying to close in for a better look.

This last contact was at about 1515.

About five minutes afterwards, the other two ships in the flight turned back.

As the returning planes passed over Godman, one of the pilots reported, it appears like the reflection of sunlight on an airplane canopy.

Shortly afterward, the same pilot and plane took off from Standerford and resumed the search.

He went to 33,000 feet, 100 miles south, and did not sight anything.

I left the control tower shortly afterward.

The foregoing statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

Quinton A.

Blackwell

Statement of Detachment 733 TAC-5 Commander Lieutenant Paul I.

Orner

Following is an account of the sighting of unknown objects from the control tower on 7 January 48 at Godman Field.

On the above date, at approximately 1400, a report came into the control tower through Master Sergeant Cook of a report of an unidentified object flying at terrific speed in the vicinity of Mansville.

This call was canceled minutes later by the military police at Fort Knox, who had instructions from the Kentucky State Police.

Very soon thereafter, several reports of the same nature came from flight service, saying this object was over Irvington and Owensboro, Kentucky.

At the same time, an object was reported by Tech Sergeant Blackwell, chief control tower on duty.

I was in the office of the commanding officer checking on the call from Fort Knox Military Police at this time.

When the call was canceled, I was returning to the control tower to see the object sighted by them.

I immediately went to the control tower and saw a small white object in the southwest sky.

This object appeared stationary.

I was unable to tell if it was an object radiating its own light or giving off reflected light.

Through binoculars, it partially appeared as a parachute does, with bright sun shining on the top of the silk, but there also seemed to be some red light around the lower of it.

The commanding officer, operations officer, S-II, and executive officer were called immediately.

Several minutes after the object was sighted, a flight of four P-51s came over the field from the south.

I instructed Tech Sergeant Blackwell to call the flight leader and ask if they had seen any evidence of this object.

The flight leader answered negative, and I suggested to the operations officer that we ask them if they had enough gas to go look for this object.

The tower operator was instructed to call the flight leader, and he answered yes to this question.

One P-51 had permission from the flight leader to break formation and continue to where he landed several minutes later on their original flight path.

The flight leader and two other planes flew a course of 210 degrees and in about five minutes sighted the object.

At first the flight leader reported it high and about one half his speed at a direction of 12 o'clock.

Shortly thereafter the flight leader reported it at about his speed and later said he was closing in to take a good look.

This was the last message from the flight leader.

His wingman shortly thereafter reported the flight leader had disappeared.

From pilots reports in the formation, the flight leader was high and ahead of the wingman at about 1515 to 1530 when he disappeared.

The wingman said he was breaking off with the other pilots to return to Standerford Field due to lack of gas.

This was about 1523 to 1530.

For messages transmitted by the formation, it is estimated that the flight leader was at 18 to 20,000 feet and the wingman at approximately 15,000 feet in a wide formation when the flight leader disappeared.

All the other wingmen returned to Standerford Field.

One wingman gassed up and got more oxygen and flew a second mission on the same heading of 210 degrees to a a position of about 100 miles south of Gobin Field to an altitude of 33,000 feet and did not sight the object.

At about 1645, when this pilot reported not seeing the object, I left the control tower.

At about 1735 Central Standard Time, I returned to the control tower and spotted a bright light, different than a star, at a position of about 240 degrees azimuth and 8 degrees elevation from the control tower.

This was a round object.

It seemed to have a dark spot in the center, and the object moved north and disappeared from the horizon at a point 250 degrees from the tower.

The unusual fact about this object was the fact that it remained visible and glowed through the haze near the Earth when no other stars were visible.

and did not disappear until it went below the level of the earth

in a manner similar to the sun or moon setting.

This object was viewed and tracked with the weather station Theodolite from the hangar roof.

Signed, Lieutenant Paul I.

Orner.

Statement of Captain James F.

Dusler, Jr.

At approximately 1420, 7 January 1948, I accompanied Lieutenant Colonel E.G.

Wood to the Gobman Field Control Tower to observe an object hanging high in the sky south of Gobman.

Shortly after reaching the tower, Colonel Guy F.

Hicks, the commanding officer, was summoned.

It was at that time I first sighted the bright, silver object.

Approximately five minutes after Colonel Hicks came into the tower, a flight of four P-51s flew over Godnon.

An officer in the tower requested that the tower operator call this flight and ask the flight leader to investigate this object if he had sufficient fuel.

The flight leader, Captain Thomas F.

Mantel, answered that he would and requested a bearing to this object.

At that time, one member of the flight informed the leader that it was time for him to land and broke off from the formation.

This aircraft commander was heard requesting landing instructions from his home field, Standiford, in Louisville.

In the meantime, the remaining three P-51s were climbing on course given to them by Gobin Tower towards this object that still appeared stationary.

The tower then advised the flight leader to correct his course five degrees to the left.

The flight leader acknowledged this correction and also reported his position at 7,500 feet and climbing.

Immediately following the flight leader's transmission, another member of the flight asked, Where in the hell are we going?

In a few minutes, the flight leader called at an object 12 o'clock high.

Asked to describe this object, he said that it was bright and that it was climbing away from him.

When asked about its speed, the flight leader stated it was going about half his speed, approximately 180 miles per hour.

Those of us in the tower lost sight of the flight, but could still see this object.

Shortly after the last transmission, the flight leader said he was at 15,000 feet and still climbing after it.

but that he judged its speed to be the same as his.

At that time, a member of the flight called to the leader and requested that he level off, but we heard no reply from the leader.

Signed, James F.

Dusler, Jr.

Statement of Captain Carrie W.

Carter, United States Air Force.

The undersigned was on duty at Godman Field, 7 January 1948 as operations officer.

At approximately 1400 hours and 7 minutes, I received a call from Lieutenant Orner, AACS Detachment Commander, that the tower had spotted an unidentified object and requested that I take a look.

Lieutenant Orner pointed out the object to the southwest, which was easily discernible with the naked eye.

The object appeared round and white, whiter than the clouds that passed in front of it, and could be seen through cirrus clouds.

After looking through the field glasses for approximately three or four minutes, I called Colonel Hicks' office, advising that office of the object's presence.

Lieutenant Colonel Wood and Captain Dusler came to the tower immediately.

Colonel Hicks followed them.

About this time, a flight of four P-51 P-51 aircraft were noticed approaching from the south.

I asked Tech Sergeant Blackwell, tower operator, to contact the planes and see if they would take a look at the object for us.

The planes were contacted and stated they had sufficient gas to take a look.

One of the planes proceeded on to Standerford, the other planes were given a heading of 230 degrees.

One of the planes said he spotted the object at 12 o'clock and was climbing toward it.

One of the planes then said, this is 15,000 feet, let's level out.

One of the planes at this point, apparently the plane who saw the object, estimated its speed, the objects, at 180 miles per hour.

A few seconds later he stated the object was going up and forward as fast as he was.

He stated that he was going to 20,000 feet and if no closer, was going to abandon the chase.

This was the last radio contact I heard.

It was impossible to identify which plane was doing the talking in the above report.

Later, we heard that one plane had landed at Standiford to get fuel and oxygen to resume the search.

The undersigned reported reported to Flight Service a description and position of the object while the planes searched for it.

Signed, Carrie W.

Carter.

Statement of the Commanding Officer, Colonel Guy F.

Hicks.

At approximately 1300 hours, a call came to this headquarters from state police, reporting a flying object near Elizabethtown.

Another report came in from Mansville about 10 minutes later.

A third call came in from Lexington, Kentucky.

All towns are south of Gobbin Field.

We alerted the tower to be on lookout for flying objects.

At 1445, 1445, the tower notified me that an object had been sighted at about 215 degrees.

I went to the tower and observed the object until 1550 hours, when it disappeared behind the clouds.

The object could be plainly seen with the naked eye, and appeared to be about one quarter the size of a full moon, white in color.

Through eight power binoculars, the object seemed to have a red border at the bottom at times and a red border at the top at times.

It remained stationary for one and a half hours.

When I arrived at the tower, Tech Sergeant Quentin A.

Blackwell had contacted three P-51 airplanes over the field and suggested they have a look if they had sufficient fuel.

When I arrived, they were within sight of the tower, heading on a course of 215 degrees.

I heard one of the pilots report that he saw the object straight ahead and estimated the speed of 180 miles per hour.

The pilot stated that the object was very large and very bright.

Signed, Guy F.

Hicks, Colonel, United States Air Force.

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Now, several hours after Mantel's plane crashed near the Kentucky-Tennessee border, and no doubt as Godman personnel were trying to locate the scattered pieces of his aircraft and begin their investigation into that incident, a new, unidentified object made an appearance 200 miles away to the northeast, near Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio.

Air Force investigators would eventually state that the object Mantel had been chasing before he crashed was likely one or all of a combination of a bright Venus on the horizon and one or more weather balloons or aircraft flying overhead.

Any appearance of fast movement by the objects, specifically the weather balloon Mantel was said to have been chasing, was attributed to the movement of clouds in front of the object, which created an illusion of speed.

However, eyewitness accounts of this secondary object would be far more bizarre than Mantel's.

specifically in their description of its rapid movements in multiple directions.

This object was considered by none of the observers to be anything like a star, planet, balloon, or any known type of aircraft.

Report of unusual circumstances from Lockbourne Tower Radio Operator Albert Pickering.

On Wednesday, January 7, 1948, at about 1925 Eastern Time, I observed in the sky an object which

I could not identify.

It appeared to hover in one position for quite some time, moving very little.

It disappeared once for about a minute, and I assumed it entered the overcast, which was at about 10,000 feet.

After descending again below the overcast, it circled one place for the duration of three 360 degree turns, then moved to another position to circle some more.

Turns required approximately 30 to 40 seconds each.

diameter estimated about two miles.

In moving from one place to another, a tail was visible, or approximate five times the length of the object.

Not knowing how close or far the object was from me at the time, I could not estimate the size very accurately, but it appeared as large or larger than one of our C-47 planes and of a different shape, either round or oval-shaped.

Just before leaving, it came to very near the ground, staying down for about 10 seconds, then climbed at a very fast rate back to its original altitude, 10,000 feet, leveling off and disappearing into the overcast heading 120 degrees.

Its speed was greater than 500 miles per hour in level flight.

It was visible to me for a period of 20 minutes.

No noise or sound could be detected.

The color was amber light, but not sufficiently bright to cover or obscure the outline of the configuration, which was approximately round.

During up-down movement, no maneuvering took place.

Motion was the same as an elevator, climbing and descending vertically.

Exhaust trail was noticeable only during forward speed.

It appeared as a thin mist, approximately the same color, amber, as the object.

Length about five times the length of the object.

During descent, it appeared to touch the ground, or it was very close to touching it.

It was approximately three to five miles away from Lockbourne Air Base, in immediate vicinity of Commercial Point.

It positively was not a star, comet, or any astronomical body to the best of my knowledge of such things.

I also rule out the possibility of it being a balloon, flare, dirigible, military, or private aircraft.

I am 26 years old and in good health and have excellent vision.

I have been actively engaged in aviation for six years.

I have a private pilot license and spent three years, 10 months in the U.S.

Army Air Corps as a sergeant-link trainer instructor, instrument flight observer.

The statements made herein are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and may be used for any official purpose as deemed necessary.

Signed, Albert R.

Pickering

Report of unusual circumstance from Lockbourne Airways operator Frank Eisel.

At approximately 1940 hours, January 7th, the control tower operator advised me that he had been observing a strange light in the southwest for some time.

However, by the time I reached the entrance steps in front of the operations building, the light had disappeared.

I had not returned to my position for more than two minutes when the tower operator advised the light had again appeared.

I returned to the operation steps, and this time I saw the object.

It was 15 degrees above the horizon to the west-southwest of Lockbourne, emitting a ruddy red light, changing to amber-yellow at intervals not exceeding 1-2 seconds.

Its size and magnitude was greater than that of any star.

Good comparison of size and magnitude would be with one of the runway lights turned on at full intensity as viewed from a distance of 500 feet.

Its shape appeared appeared to be circular, with the exception of a thin wisp of tail extending towards the horizon,

the tail's length being five diameters of the object long.

From the time I first saw the object to approximately 1950 hours, it appeared to remain motionless in the sky.

At this time, the object descended to the horizon in an interval of about four seconds, hovered on the horizon for about three seconds, and then ascended to its original position in an interval of three seconds.

Its course was elliptical, counterclockwise.

It then faded and lowered towards the horizon and disappeared at about 1955 hours.

There was no sound audible from the object at any time.

Its distance appeared to be about five miles from Lockbourne.

However, information was received from Clinton County Tower that they too observed a similar or the same object in the same general direction and position at the same time as our observations at Lockbourne.

If the object was the same, the distance would be much greater than five miles, the velocity well to the excess of 500 miles per hour.

The object actually looked to be traveling at a speed around 500 miles per hour.

Flight Service also advised that Godman Field observed a similar phenomenon at the same time, and that the object disappeared at 2006 hours at Godman.

Clinton advised the object they observed disappeared about 2000 hours.

It is not known to me what time either Clinton or Godman first observed the object or objects.

The information from Clinton and Flight Service was received by direct line telephone communication from Clinton and Flight Service at Patterson.

Our weather department was reporting a high overcast and not one heavenly body was visible.

The object apparently being under the overcast and its erratic movement proves that it was not an astronomical phenomenon.

Air Force 9944, a C-45, relayed a position report to the Lockbourne Airways over Columbus at 1953 hours at 5,000 feet on a round-robin flight from Wright Field to Washington and return.

I asked him if he had seen any strange light to the west-southwest of his position, and he reported that he observed a bright light off his right wing, appearing like an oversized beacon.

I've been a member of the American Museum of Natural History, which is closely associated with the Hayden Planetarium of New York City, for six years, and have always been somewhat of an enthusiast of astronomy.

I spent 37 months in in the Air Force in communications work, including command control tower operation.

I now hold a valid certificate for a control tower operator in aircraft communications and have worked at Lockbourne in this type of work for better than one and a half years.

I am of sound mind and health and am 25 years of age.

I have described the incident exactly the way I saw it, also as to what I heard on the interphones.

Signed, Frank M.

Eisel.

Report from Lockbourne Army Air Base by Captain Charles McGee.

At approximately 1925 Eastern Standard Time on the 7th of January 1948, I turned to runway 23 for an overhead approach at traffic altitude, 1500 feet.

Just prior to my breakaway, I saw a very bright white light southwest of the field.

I began my 360-degree approach.

It struck me that the light was very unusual and it was not on the ground, so I looked in its direction at again for my base leg position.

It appeared the same, and as though it were about 3,000 feet in the air.

While on my base leg, the light suddenly disappeared.

The light did not cast a beam and seemed the size of a floodlight.

While on my approach, it flashed on and off again immediately.

I landed and taxied to the ramp, thinking that it may have been a reflection from the ground or the like.

Before flying, I had heard part of an interphone conversation from Letterson Center to Olmsted Center relative to a circular object seen over Tennessee.

I returned to the operations building.

While there, the airways operator, Mr.

Eisel, said the tower operator, Mr.

Boudreau, reported seeing something unusual southwest of the field.

I stated that I had seen an unusual light and suggested calling him to check.

We called the tower on the squawk box, and Mr.

Boudreau said the light was what he had been watching about 15 minutes or so, and that through the field glasses it appeared to have bluish streaks, like a jet effect, out from the right.

He stated that it went out while I was in the pattern.

During the conversation, he said it could be seen again, about 1935 to 1940.

He went to the door to observe.

From the ground, the light appeared to move westward.

It was further west and lower than I saw it in the air.

Also, the light was similar to that of a lantern light in that it was glimmering.

The light varied yellowish to orange and appeared to be descending and burning out.

It moved very slowly and finally disappeared.

The latter observation may be that in its westward movement, it appeared to be fading out and descending.

However, the light was not nearly as bright on the second observation.

This object was too large and too sharp a light to be a reflection from the ground.

It was not a heavenly body of any type in that the sky was solid overcast in the Lockbourne area and the object's movement outweighs such a thought.

I heard no noise in connection with the object.

I estimated at the first observation that it was 45 miles southwest of the base.

At the second appearance it was 67 miles west and moved westerly in a hovering manner, but moving away.

The winds at this time were west-southwest, averaging 6 miles per hour.

Signed, Charles E.

McGee

Report of unusual circumstance from Lockbourne Air Traffic Controller Alex Boudreaux.

On Wednesday, January 7th, between 1915 and 1930, there appeared in the sky a bright glowing object, which I could not identify.

At first, I assumed it to be a star, but the sky being overcast, I knew definitely that it was not a star, nor an aircraft, because the only aircraft flying the local area was landing at the time.

It was not an aircraft flare, nor a balloon, because it appeared to to be enormous in size.

I then observed it through binoculars.

It appeared to be cone-shaped, blunt on top and tapering off toward the bottom.

I could not distinguish the altitude in which the object appeared to be.

It was going from a bright white to an amber color with a small streak trailing.

It was at a distance between five and seven miles from the control tower, at an altitude of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 feet, bobbing up and down, moving in a south-southwesterly direction at a speed exceeding 500 miles per hour.

Also, the wind at the time was blowing from east to west, and if it had been a balloon or lighter-than-aircraft, it would have drifted in the direction the wind was blowing.

There was no sound or unusual noise.

Its performance was very unusual, and the light emitting from it seemed to fade out at times.

Just before it disappeared beyond the horizon, the light changed to a sort of red color.

The same object was later sighted in the vicinity of Clinton County Airfield by the operators on duty in the control tower.

I have actually engaged in aviation as an air traffic control tower operator and a private pilot for a period of five years, and thus, for all my experience, I have never encountered an optical illusion or any physical defect that would disqualify my possessions of such ratings.

Signed, Alex A.

Boudreaux.

Wartime Stories is created and hosted by me, Luke Lamana.

Executive produced by Mr.

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Written by Jake Howard and myself.

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