ufo_data/bin/rr0/tran1948.md

- **January**

-   At Chehalis (Washington), Mrs Bernard Zaikowski saw a man with silver wings buzzing and whistling almost 100 m above her barn.

-   In Glendale (Illinois), 12 year old James Trares excitedly shouted to his mother: "There's a bird outside, like a B-29! [\[Keel 1975\]]{.source}."

-   **January 7**

-   **14 h 45 :** Fatal encounter for [Thomas Mantell](MantellThomas.html).

-   **17 h :** At Lockbourne (Columbus), an object round or oval, larger than a C-47, flying horizontally at more than 800 km/h is followed by the control tower for 20 minutes. It is silent, changes color, has a trail 5 times its length, and sometimes flies like an elevator going down to the ground. It is lost from sight on the horizon. [[[GEPAN](GEPAN.html), Information Note No. 3, 1981]]{.source}.

-   **January 22:** Effective launch of the [Sign](Sign.html) project.

-   **February 13:** [Aztec Crash](Aztec.html) (New Mexico).

- **April**

-   **April 4**: In Alton, Caledonia, Overland, Richmond Heights and
    Freeport (Illinois), witnesses see a kind of giant bird-man. Among
    them, Walter Siegmund, retired colonel: "At first I thought my eyes
    were playing tricks on me, but it was a bird and not a glider, or a
    *jet*\... From the movements of this object and its wingspan, I
    thought it could only be a bird of gigantic size [\[Keel 1975\]]{.source}.

-   **April 5:** At the base of the [USAF](USAF.html) in Holloman
    (New Mexico), Alsen, Johnson and Chance, observers of laboratory
    balloon geophysics, observe 2 irregular, round, white or golden
    objects. One of them makes 3 loops then rises and quickly
    disappears; the other flies in a rapid arc towards the west
    during the 30s of the observation. Officers engaged in
    maintenance tasks such as pilots are surprised to observe a
    saucer-shaped object performing rapid and dangerous maneuvers
    above the air base. The witnesses agree on a diameter of 35
    feet for this object.

-   **April 6:** At White Sands base, Captain R. B. Mac-Laughlin and technicians from the [Navy](USNavy.html) tracked a [V-2](V2.html) rocket with a theodolite and saw a 30 m diameter disc accompanying the rocket at 1600 km/h and circling it. When it reached an altitude of 50 km, the object disappeared at a speed of 28000 km/h [\[Keyhoe, 1973\]]{.source} or 9000 km/h [\[Pottier 1973\]]{.source}.


-   **April 9**

- In Longview (Washington), two employees of a laundry saw a trio of bird-men describing circles above the city at an altitude of less than 100 m: "When they appeared, I first thought they were seagulls but, as they approached, I could clearly see they were men, not birds. I could very well see they were human (...) They were wearing some kind of dark gray flight suits. I couldn't make out their arms, but I could see their legs dangling, and they kept moving their heads, as if they were looking for something around them. I can't say if they had pilot glasses, but it seemed to me they were wearing some kind of helmets. I couldn't make out their faces," declares Mrs. Viola Johnson to the journalists [[Keel 1975]{.source}].


- A couple from Caledonia (Illinois) saw a monstrous bird (...) larger than an airplane [[Keel 1975]]{.source}.


-   **April 10**: In Overland (Illinois), 3 inhabitants see a sort of large bird-man. They initially believe it to be an airplane, until it begins to flap its wings [\[Keel 1975\]]{.source}.


-   **April 21:** [James Forrestal](ForrestalJamesVincent.html),
    Secretary of Defense, assigns primary responsibility for air defense
    to the [USAF](USAF.html).

-   **April 23, 10 PM:** On April 23, 1948, at 10 PM, Captain X saw an object moving in the sky, vertically from the base, at an altitude that could not be determined. The object, which looked like a star, was red in color; it was heading south, towards Munich. Then suddenly, it changed direction and first headed southwest and finally southeast. Its speed must have varied between 300 and 900 km/h (...) Captain X was a very experienced pilot; he was flying an F-80. His testimony was confirmed by another F-80 pilot. The meteorological service declared that it could not have been a weather balloon and that there were no other planes in that area at that time. [[Report addressed to the Official American Study Commission by military personnel stationed in Germany]]{.source}


-   **April 26**: In St. Louis, Dr. Kristine Dolezal sees a "birdman" [\[Keel 1975\]]{.source}.


"-   **April 27**"


-   A group of instructors from the Mississippi Aeronautical School observe a bird of astonishing size flying at 400 m [\[Keel 1975\]]{.source}.

-   [Joseph Kaplan](KaplanJoseph.html) visited the [OSI](OSI.html) at the [USAF Kirtland Air Force Base](KirtlandAFB.html) and the [AEC](AEC.html) Sandia Base at Los Alamos, under the orders of [Theodore von Karman](VonKarmanTheodore.html), Secretary of the [AFSAB](AFSAB.html). According to a secret memo from the [USAF](USAF.html), the purpose of these visits was to examine the investigative reports and circumstances surrounding the "unidentified aerial phenomena" observed in the area, and to make recommendations as to the need for scientific investigation of these cases [\[Good 1987\]]{.source}.

-   **April 28:** Doctors [Kaplan](KaplanJoseph.html) and [LaPaz](LaPazLincoln.html) meet with various members of the Los Alamos security staff, so that Kaplan can attempt to ascertain the nature of UFO sightings made by members of the [AEC](AEC.html) project and AEC Security Service inspectors. He appears to be impressed, and indicates he will immediately submit his report to Doctor [von Karman](VonKarmanTheodore.html) [\[Good 1987\]]{.source}.


- Astronomers have spotted a celestial body near the [Earth](Earth.html) with a diameter of 3 km. The [Earth](Earth.html) and [Venus](Venus.html) seem to be its directional poles. It appears to be heading towards one or the other according to its whims. Professor Gustav Arhenius from the University of Berkeley (California) will study it again in the early 1970s. It appears that this unknown body behaves capriciously and does not behave like a standardized celestial body. Nobody is able to predict its orbit. This unknown planetary body also has quite a few similarities with *Icarus*, an asteroid 1 km in diameter that crosses the orbit of the planets without scruples, even though its orbit never intersects. It crosses the path of the [Earth](Earth.html) every 200 days and constantly changes its trajectory. Despite its very high speed, it is thought to be influenced in its course by the attraction of the planets.


- In Soviet Central Asia, paleontologist and science fiction writer Ivan Efremov describes the discovery of an immense cemetery of tens of thousands of dinosaurs whose skulls are pierced with neat holes, which he describes as bullet holes, as in 1939.


-   **June 16**: Highly decorated Soviet Air Force pilot Arkadii Ivanovich Apraksin conducts a test flight with a new Soviet jet aircraft. During the test he encounters a flying cucumber-shaped object crossing his course. Conical lights radiate from the object, which appears to be descending. As Apraksin reports his observation to his base at Kapustin Yar he is told that the object has been picked up on radar. Apraksin is ordered to approach the UFO and force it to land, even if it means opening fire if it refuses. As he approaches to a distance of 10 km beams of light are emitted from the UFO, reach his aircraft, and blind him. All technical systems and the engine fail, but as he sees the UFO disappear behind the clouds he manages to guide the aircraft to a safe landing. Apraksin is interrogated several times and the aircraft is examined by experts from Moscow. [[Timothy Good, *Above Top Secret*, page 224]]{.source}


-   **July 7th:** Recovery of a body in Mexico south of Laredo (Texas).


-   **July 24, 2:45:** [Observation of Chiles and Whitted](1948-07-24_Chiles_Whitted.html).

-   **July 29, 9am:** In Indianapolis (Indiana), James Toney and Robert Huggins, two employees of a coating cleaning company, observe an object shining like aluminum, whose shape resembles that of an airplane engine, with 10 to 12 small bumps emerging from each pale. The object is estimated to be 6 to 8 feet long and 1.5 to 2 feet wide. The object slides along the road for a few hundred feet in front of their vehicle and then apparently descends into a wooded area. The observation lasts a few seconds [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #185 unexplained]]{.source}.


-   **July 31, 8:25 AM:** At Indianapolis (Indiana), Vernon Swigert, an electrician, and a female witness observe an object resembling a cymbal or a curved disc. About 20 feet in diameter and 6 to 8 feet thick, it is white but does not shine. It flies in a straight and horizontal line from one horizon to the other in about 10 seconds, glinting in the sun as if it were spinning [\[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #190 unexplained\]]{.source}.

- **August**


-   (or July) To Marion (Virginia), shortly after sunrise,
    Max Abbott, piloting a 4-passenger private *Bellanca Cruisair* plane, observed a white light accelerate and dive into a valley [\[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #191 unexplained\]]{.source}.


-   4 officers witnessed the crash of an object and the recovery of corpses in an area of Mexico, 60 km (38 miles) south of Laredo (Texas). The information comes from one named [Todd Zechel](ZechelWTodd.html), who relayed it to an NBC-affiliated station in Chicago. The story appeared in the *Midnight Globe*, a scandal sheet of dubious credibility, under the byline of one Steve Tom. It is based on a rumor circulated in the 1960s by someone working for either the Army Security Agency or the [NSA](NSA.html).

- The first generation of experts from the [Sign](Sign.html) project submit a top secret report to the highest level of authority, estimating the situation and concluding that UFOs are interplanetary vehicles, noting in passing that the [Kenneth Arnold](ArnoldKenneth.html) incident was not the first [\[Ruppelt\]]{.source}. When [Hoyt Vandenberg](VandenbergHoytSanford.html) receives this report, he orders it to be destroyed.


-   [Joseph Hynek](HynekJosephAllen.html) joins the 2nd generation of experts of the [Sign](Sign.html) project at the request of the [USAF](USAF.html).


- A DC-3 disappears above the "Bermuda Triangle" with 32 passengers on board. It would have made a navigation error.

- **September**


- Creation of the group [Majestic 12](MJ-12.html)?


-   **September 23, 12 PM:** In San Pablo (California), Sylvester Bentham and former US Army Colonel Horace Eakins observe 2 objects. One is a grayish rectangle with vertical lines, the other is a translucent amoeba with a black dot near the center. The arms of the amoeba are undulating. The 2 objects are moving very quickly [[case Blue Book n° 208 unexplained]]{.source}.


-   **October 1st, 9 PM:** In Fargo (North Dakota), Lieutenant George F. Gorman of the Air National Guard engages in a battle with a small glowing globe aboard his [F-51](appareils.html#F51): Perfectly round in shape, it measured about twenty cm in diameter; it was very white and its edges were slightly darker. The object passes over him at an estimated speed of 400 km/h, and Gorman observes a blinking of the object. When he engages in a pursuit of the object, the blinking disappears [\[VSD 2007 H\]]{.source}, but the light escapes him: When I got very close, it suddenly turned left (\...). I was diving on it at full speed without being able to catch up with it. It gained altitude again and turned left again as suddenly as the first time. After 20 minutes of fruitless aerial ballet for the pilot, the object turns towards the northeast and disappears. It showed great ease in getting away as well as signs of aggression. The lieutenant survives this engagement, followed by other planes in flight and by his fighter pilot colleagues on the Fargo base.


-   **October 15, 11:05 PM:** Near Fusuoka, Kyushu (Japan), pilot Halter and radar operator Hemphill of a P-61 "Black Widow" night fighter observe up to 6 objects on their radar and one visually. It is a dark object in the shape of a dirigible, with a flat base and truncated tail. The object seen visually dives quickly [\[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #218 unexplained\]]{.source}.

- **December**


- Above Moscow (Russia), a number of long, fish-shaped objects are observed, reflecting the sunlight [\[Vallée, Anatomy of Phenomenon, page 54\]]{.source}.


-   **December 3, 8:15 PM:** At the [USAF](USAF.html) base in Fairfield-Suisan (California), a USAF sergeant and a control tower operator observed a white circular light flying for 25 seconds at varying speeds, hopping, and disappearing in an erratic ascent [\[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #257 unsolved\]]{.source}.


-   **December 5**


-   **9:30 PM:** A bright green light appears near a [C-47](C47.html) Dakota of the [USAF](USAF.html) and another airliner, above New Mexico. The crew of the [C-47](C47.html) see the light beam directed towards them. They agree with the captain of the airliner to report the sighting to the Air Force base at [Kirtland](KirtlandAFB.html). This is the second time they have observed a mysterious green glow on this flight.


-   **21 h 35 :** A Pioneer Airlines [DC-3](DC3.html) Dakota
    transmitted by radio to [Kirtland](KirtlandAFB.html) a similar report. The green light headed straight for the plane, forcing the pilot to avoid it with a maneuver. When the plane landed in Albuquerque, the crew was questioned by [USAF](USAF.html) intelligence agents.


-   The investigation will show that 5 green fireballs were observed that day.


-   **12 December:** Observation of [Lincoln LaPaz](LaPazLincoln.html).


-   **December 16:** The project [Sign](Sign.html) is renamed project [Grudge](Grudge.html), officially only on February 11, 1949.

-   **December 27:** Commercial flight of a [DC-3](DC3.html) from San Juan (Puerto Rico) to Miami (Florida), piloted by Captain Robert Lindquist with 36 people on board, "vanishes" in view of Miami. We are approaching the runway at only 50 miles south, the pilot tells the control tower. We can see the lights of Miami now. Everything is okay. Awaiting landing instructions. The DC-3 disappears from the radar screen a few seconds later. The point where the plane would have crashed is above the Florida Keys, where clear waters of only 20 feet deep would have left the DC-3 visible. An official investigation is conducted to understand how the experienced pilot can disappear on a clear and calm night. Search teams inspect the site where the plane is supposed to have crashed, but no trace of the aircraft is found in the twenty-foot deep water [\[[The DC-3 Hangar](http://www.douglasdc3.com)]{.source}\].


-   Building of the secret underground facilities of [Los Alamos](lieux.html#LosAlamos).


-   Election of [Harry Truman](TrumanHarryS.html) to the Presidency of the United States.