June 24, 1957: The First Flying Saucer

We stood on the top of a super tanker deck house and watch this strange thing fly overhead. It stopped several times as it move from the bow to the stern of each ship on the line then to our ship in the dry dock.

We figured it was some kind of Navy device the nuke powered fans that was used to take pictures. We had 3 subs in the lower dry docks at the time.

It probably was some kind of military device, dadw5boys - at least in my opinion. Many of the UFOs that people have seen are classified military projects. Perhaps you even saw some prototype of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

As starboard lookout on a trans-Pacific crossing (U.S. Navy ship from Pearl Harbor to the Philipines), I was one of several observers who watched a bogey overtake us (aft lookout sighted it first). In the space of five minutes or so it passed us on the port side and disappeared over the horizon. It was only a few hundred yards away and a couple of hundred feet off the water. It made no noise whatsoever, and the "cockpit" was brightly illuminated with yellow light. Although it was a moonless night, we could partially see a dark shape, and it did not much resemble anything in the known inventory of aircraft. One observer was the radar operator, an experienced hand, who came out of CIC to look at it because it did not show up on his scope. He didn't believe it was there until he saw it. This was in the autumn of 1969.

Hey guys, how about some more details? You are citing a very unique experience and I am anxious to know more about it. Just the basic when, what, where, who, how and why - sort of.

1. When and where was the object seen? (E-man, what was your best estimate of location.)
2. What was going on in the area at the time of sighting?
3. What was its appearance, shape, color, size? Control surfaces? Rotors? Wings? Ports? Discharges? Provide details.
4. What was its form of propulsion (if you could tell?) How did it move, where did it go? Try to estimate its speed and maneuverability. What sounds were heard from it?
5. What were the local meteorological conditions – day, night, bright sunshine, full moon, overcast or clear, raining or snowing, etc?
6. What ship were you on? Was a log entry made?
7. How old were you and what level of experience did you have with aviation at the time?
8. Who else saw it? How experienced with aviation technology were other observers?
9. How did people react to it? What was said?

I just can't think of any good "why" questions.

These answers should be interesting.

Records of UFO sightings seem to go back a very long time but it is only recently, with the advent of digital cameras all over the place and the tremendous improvements they have seen, that photographs have been more common. Of course, at the same time there has been the advent of photo touch-up software (PhotoShop.) As a result the "truth" of the matter is no more clear.

Still, one must be impressed by the quality improvement of web sites addressing the matter. You might google "UFO shape" and see the list of compendiums that have been put together for recognition. It might be useful to check one out and see if anything looks familiar. (Or, google "UFO cockpit yellow" to see other reports with those characteristic words.)

I remain agnostic regarding UFOs. I have seen no compelling evidence of their nature or even existence. And yet, with so many reports from very competent observers of things seen, it is clear something is being observed. No such "mass hallucination" ever existed.

Reports seem to be more frequent, even common, today. But then, communications has improved a great deal. Most reports seem to make it only to online sources - blogs and such, but many show up in the regular newspapers and TV news shows. (Phoenix lights?)

Then there is sensationalism that frequently shows up. "UFO hits Plane" headlines.

At time one might suspect particular reports to be attempts to increase tourist traffic to given region, like some of the various Florida beach sightings reported for the last five years or so. .(It has worked, too.)

It is not like the USA has a monopoly in this thing. It is more like choose a country and google it with "UFO" and the lists are huge. Australia seems popular, as well as UK and France. Recently Russia has shown up more. Even just this month.

Dedicated web sites have become much more sophisticated. There are Google Earth overlays of sightings, sites for individual reporting of sightings, lists of ancient sightings (some of the objects photographed for this page are extraordinary,) and more recent history.

There have been shows, reports and specials on the History Channel, BBC, ITV1, lots from Discovery Channel, CNN, ABC News, ABC (Australia), and many others (some not so serious.) There are even scholarly publications addressing UFO issues. Arizona firefighters are trained for UFO or (ET) alien contact.

None of this is evidence, but it's certainly an awful lot of smoke. Surely, there's gotta' be a fire somewhere.

Guess I am at least fascinated. Perhaps, I want to believe.

Well, I think I answered most of the questions already, but here's a bit more:

1 - approximately 2/3 of the way from Hawaii to Philippines.

2 - flat, calm seas, no other vessels or aircraft in vicinity.

3 - shape an elongated triangle, less than 100 feet long, wing-like structures, too dark to see other details.

4 - appeared to have a hot exhaust, traveled in straight line horizon to horizon very fast, while making no sounds we could hear.

5 - around 2 AM, moonless, no overcast, and as I mentioned, less than 200 yards away.

6 - USS Gunston Hall (probably now decomissioned) and the Officer of the Watch would have made an entry about an "aircraft sighting", but I have no idea how much detail would have gone into it.

7 - 20-ish with minimal aviation experience but much interest, and knew enough to realize no aircraft has yellow cockpit lighting at night.

8 - at least 6 others on watch including the older, more experienced radarman, and mainly similar to me in age and experience otherwise.

9 - "look at that", "what the heck is it", "sure is moving awful fast", and "dang!", or words to that effect.

I can't think of any good "why" answers, so it's just as well you didn't come up with any questions.

Was it this guy?

Nah, I'm pretty sure I'd have recognized Marvin.