UFO sightings 1955

1955

• Australia, Smithfield, near Cairns: Approximate date. Three farmers, among them Thomas Robinson, saw a light growing in size for 2 min and flying between them and Mt. Williams. Looking like a "light airplane on fire, " it changed course, losing altitude and trailing flames. It touched the ground, lighting up the whole area, rose again, and began to "feel its way along the crooked edge of the cane field and the swamp toward our house. " It returned to earth four times. The dogs ran out barking as it landed within 100 m of the witnesses before taking off again.

• England, Bradford: About 700 m away from Roundhill street, Mr. Wood, a warehouseman, saw a bright, bullet-shaped, silvery object behind a hillock. It measured about 4 m in height, 1. 5 m in diameter, had a surface similar to chromium and made a high-pitched buzzing sound.

• England, Bradford: Mr. Ernest Suddard, 35, and his 13yearold son were in a lorry on Roundhill Street when they saw what seemed to be a human being about 1. 20 m tall, dressed in skin-tight black clothes. It held its arms close to its sides, its feet close together, and walked by a series of jumps. On its chest was a silver disk perforated with holes. It turned off suddenly into a passageway and was lost to sight. The witnesses were too amazed to follow it.

• England, Galloway: A disk with a row of blue lights on the periphery slowly maneuvered above a car on a deserted road. BUFORA VICAT indicates location is "Near Newton Seewart, Galloway, Scotland". The following is cited from that catalog: "Mr. Maurice Brazier was driving his van along a lonely stretch of road when he noticed a large illuminated object flying toward him at low level. The object was shaped like a double saucer with a ring of apparently rotating light around the outer rim. When about 20m distant, the object banked sharply and flew around the van. A high pitched buzzing sound was heard as the object approached , and a clicking sound which became louder as the object banked more sharply. Mr. Brazier noted that the engine of his van stalled as the object approached... Weather conditions were reported as clear and the duration of the incident was about 5 mins."

• France, Boisseuges: A young shepherd heard a whistling sound as a dark mass appeared to fall from the sky and a rush of air swept him from his feet. The object looked like a machine with an opening where a stairway became visible. Two occupants were seen. One was observed to have a reddish face, a bald head and very fine teeth. The craft was round, about 3. 5 m diameter, 2 m high, lighted with neon-like light. The occupants gathered some plants and flew away to the northwest.

• France, Bru: Mr. Gamba saw an oval red object 50 m away. When he tried to approach it, he found he was unable to move. As soon as this "paralysis" subsided, he ran to get his brothers and came back to the craft, which turned white, then red. It rose and flew away toward the east. It had been on the ground for at least 15 min. Strange traces were found, as if the ground had been dug up. Small trees near the river were found damaged, as if they had been cut with a knife.

• France, Buzancy, Ardennes: Messrs. Coisin and Mahieu saw five brown, disk-shaped machines coming down and up again at great speed. One of them flew under the others, then two disks appeared to land 300 m away near the German cemetery. The others flew away toward the south at tremendous speed.

• France, Plessiel Airfield: Mr. Maupin and five other witnesses on the airfield were blinded by a light from a disk-shaped object 150 m away. It left orange glows in its trail. Silent, flying slowly, it hovered near the Metro station, close to the ground, but did not actually land. It left toward the northwest. A woodsman from Mareul Caubert, Mr. Rolle, saw the object half an hour earlier. It came from the direction of Amiens.

• France, Puy Saint Gulmier: A farmer, 74 year old J. B., was watching his cows on a clear, calm morning when he suddenly observed, in an easterly direction, a vertical circular object about 3 m away, the bottom edge about 30 cm from the ground. It measured about 10 m in diameter, was very luminous, white, but not blinding. Many filaments of various colors were radiating from the disk. Their length varied between 0. 5 and 2 m. The object rose over a hedge and was lost to sight behind some woods.

• France, Salon, near Arles: Two persons in a car saw a lighted object dive toward them and hover about 30 m above the road. A disk, 12 m in diameter, it flew around the car and went away without noise. The witnesses were tourists, who went straight to the Arles police.

• USA, California, Casa Blanca, near Riverside: A group of children was playing in the garden of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas when they observed a hovering object which disappeared and reappeared as a spinning disk with curved lines radiating from it. Other objects, silvery and semitransparent, soon appeared and were seen by all children. They made musical sounds as they vanished and reappeared. One of them landed, and a creature the size of a 4 year old child, transparent, wearing a belt with a bright disk, was seen nearby. Another creature appeared and spoke to one of the boys. All the children experienced visions of the object and the creatures, as well as "arms" which appeared to beckon to them.

• USA, Florida, Williston: Deputy sheriff A. H. Perkins, C. F. Bell, and a dozen other witnesses saw six bell-shaped objects moving by successive leaps. One came close to a patrol car; the men inside felt that their arms and legs "went dead" and that their clothes were burning them.

• USA, Georgia, Stockton: Mrs. Wesley Symmonds was driving near this town when she saw four "bug-eyed" creatures near the road. They were small beings with thin arms, large eyes, and pointed chins. Two were turned away from the witness; one was bending over with something like a stick in its hand; and the fourth one was facing her with its right arm raised. It had bulging eyes, a sort of cap, no visible mouth, a long pointed nose, a chin which came to a sharp point, and long thin arms with claws.

• USA, Illinois, Huntley: A car was followed for 10 min by three elongated "balloons, " each showing eight red lights and about 7 m long.

• USA, Kentucky, Hopkinsville: The Sutton family saw a light landing near their farmhouse, then several nightmarish entities about 1 m tall, with glowing silver clothing, an oversized round head, huge eyes and ears, and a slit-like mouth harassed them for several hours, in spite of heavy gunfire. At one point, one of the entities was knocked down from the roof by a bullet: it "floated down. " Running out of ammunition, the Suttons got the police, who observed a lighted object in the sky, flying very fast.

• USA, Kentucky, Kelly: A crowd told of how something resembling a space ship or flying saucer had landed at the back of their house near Kelly and 12 or 15 men, who appeared to be about 4 feet tall, had got out of ship and come up to the house and done battle with the occupants.

• USA, Minnesota, Great Falls: Little League baseball coach films two objects streaking across sky near an AFB. Original explanation was that objects were F-100s on approach to AFB, but photo-analysis shows objects to be travelling much too fast.

• USA, New Mexico, Cochise: An instructor and student pilot in USAF B-25 bomber trainer witness a metallic disc, shaped like two pie pans face-to-face, and 120- 130' in diameter, paced the B-25, showing both its edge and its face, for 5-7 minutes.

• USA, New York, Bush Pine: Mr. and Mrs. Bordes, of New York City, were fishing when they heard a loud splash and a "gurgling sound, " saw a pink, iridescent, mushroom-shaped object rise about 70 cm above the water, and sink into the reservoir. Later, they saw the object again, about 5 m long and surrounded with turbulence. It reversed direction several times without turning around and finally flew away very fast.

• USA, Ohio, Branch Hill: Robert Hunnicutt, a businessman, saw three men kneeling on the side of the road. They were about 1 m tall, had gray skin, and wore tight fitting gray clothes. They had froglike face, long slender arms, normal eyes, but no eyebrows. One of them held a dark object (emitting blue flashes) between his raised arms. Hunnicutt tried to go near but "must have lost consciousness, " because he found himself driving to the police station without remembering what took place in the meantime.

• USA, Ohio, Chardon Road: Mr. Sheneman, who was coming from Willoughby, came out of his car and saw a circular object with a red light on it that came down fast, hovered, and emitted two beams of light. The witness fled toward his house, and the object appeared to chase him at less than 70 m altitude. It measured about 30 m in diameter and supported a dome. Mr. Sheneman, his wife, and their two children saw it fly away.

• USA, Ohio, Greenhills: Four adolescents in a car saw a creature with a luminous body, standing near a fireplug.

• USA, LOOK Magazine Article Volume 19, June 14, 1955: Despite hundreds of "eyewitness" accounts of flying saucers, none has been captured and no government has come forward to take credit (or blame) for their reported aerial shenanigans. So, barring the possibility that the saucers are from other planets (a theory ardently supported by science-fiction fans), it seems reasonable to conclude that "there ain't no such animal."

But persistent and fairly credible rumors recur that a Canadian aircraft manufacturer, A. V. Roe, Canada, Ltd., has had a saucer design under development for two years. One report has it that the project was abandoned by the Canadian government because it would cost over $75 million to get a prototype flying model into the air. The A. V. Roe people maintain a confusing silence about the whole thing. They can't deny the project has been abandoned because they never announced it had begun. Our own Air Force offers "no comment."

At a recent meeting of engineers, it was indicated that, while flying saucer or sphere projects may still be purely hypothetical, new air-defense problems are setting up requirements for aircraft performance that would seem to be most ideally met by a saucer craft such as illustrated above.

One problem, recently stated by Brig. Gen. Benjamin Kelsey, deputy director of research and development of the Air Force, is this: "Airplanes today spend too much time gathering speed on the ground and not enough flying in the air." Today's fighters, he pointed out, need extremely long runways and there are few in existence that are now long enough. These few, and the concentration of the planes using them, provide a worth-while target for an A-bomb. With a single blow, the enemy might cripple a substantial portion of our air defense.

Planes that could take off vertically would not need long runways, which cost millions of dollars. They could be dispersed widely and safely. In this country, four vertical-rising aircraft already have been revealed. All but one, however, are modifications of conventional plane designs. None yet approaches the performance a true saucer might be capable of.

What are the requirements of an ideal defense fighter? 1) Ability to take off and land vertically; 2) high speed of over Mach 2. (more than 1500 mph); 3) high rate of climb; 4) excellent maneuverability; 5) heavy armament; 6) ability to operate at 60,000 feet.

These sketches indicate a highly educated guess of what a flying saucer to fulfill these requirements would look like. It provides for a one-man crew, housed in a glass bubble that would provide excellent visibility.

The prone position of the pilot not only allows improved streamlining but also enables the pilot to withstand high accelerations and quick turns. The design contemplates use of cannon, rockets or guided missiles. Exact armament would depend on the mission. The target would be sighted by radar, and the actual firing would be computed and accomplished electronically, as in several interceptors now in operation.

Power unit is key to design. The whole success of the saucer design depends on the unusual engine. The sketched design is remarkably similar to a conventional jet engine but is many times larger. It consists of a set of combustion chambers and a large turbine. These produce blasts of propulsive air around the circumference of the saucer. Air entering the intakes around the pilots cockpit is deflected to the engine. This pressurized air is swept up by the impeller, with a subsequent rise in pressure and temperature. Next, the air goes to the combustion chamber, where fuel is added and ignited and a propulsive gas is formed. The hot gases rush through the turbine blades, in the process turning the impeller wheel. The gas then expands and exhausts at high velocity through the many-fingered jet pipes. The large turbine acts as a stabilizing gyroscope keeping the plane level even when it is hovering.

Design is structurally strong. The saucer shape lends itself to engineering for strength much more readily than a conventional aircraft does, with its long fuselage, thin wings and troublesome tail unit. The simple saucer shape makes structural rigidity much less of a problem. New materials will also come into the picture. Titanium, for example, is 60 per cent heavier than aluminum but with qualities of steel and is not as vulnerable to temperature effects as the light alloys now used in supersonic planes. Landing problems are simple. In contrast to present vertical take-off designs, the saucer need not make a touchy stall-type landing. It is already in the correct flight attitude for landing and only the forward jets need be switched on and all jets deflected downward to provide the necessary lift to hover and land.

This description is brief and highly simplified. Military security and rapidly changing defense problems not only cloud many details of a project like this but also obscure whether anything comparable actually exists. But based on the current requirements of our defense effort and the demonstrated abilities of our designers, an educated guess is that a flying saucer much like this one may well be flying within the next few years.

• Frank Halstead, an astronomer observed a cigar-shaped object followed by domed disk on November 1.

• General Douglas MacArthur. General MacArthur is believed to have been involved in establishing the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU), which was formed to investigate crashed and retrieved flying saucers. In 1955 MacArthur stated: "The nations of the world will have to unite for the next war will be an interplanetary war. The nations of the earth must some day make a common front against attack by people from other planets." This statement has led to intense speculation that the IPU uncovered more facts about UFOs than has ever been revealed.

1955 Project Blue Book Unknowns

• Iceland May 4, 1955; Keflavik, Iceland. 12:38 p.m. Witnesses: Lt. Col. E.J. Stealy, lst Lt. J.W. Burt. About 10 round, white objects, one of which left a brief smoke trail, flew in an irregular formation, some of them making erratic movements during the 5-8 second sighting.

• Iceland Aug. 11, 1955; Iceland. 11:45 a.m. Witness: 2nd Lt. E.J. Marlow. Twelve grey objects, from cigar to egg-shaped, varied their formation from elliptical to wavy line to scattered to straight line to trail formation. Speed varied from hover to 1,000 m.p.h. Sighting lasted 3-4 minutes.

• USA, California Feb. 2, 1955; Miramar Naval Air Station, California. 11:50 a.m. Witness: USN Cmdr. J.L. Ingersoll. One highly polished sphere, with reddish-brown coloring, fell, then instantly accelerated to 1,000-1,500 m.p.h.

• USA, Colorado Nov. 25, 1955; La Veta, Colorado. 10:30 a.m. Witness: State Senator S.T. Taylor. One dirigible-shaped object (fat front, tapered toward the tail) object, which was luminous green-blue and jellylike, appeared overhead diving at a 45’ angle, then reduced angle to 30’. Object seen for 5 seconds.

• USA, Florida Jan. 26, 1955; Lakeland, Florida. 6:15 p.m. Witness: J.M. Holland. A black smoke trail made a circle. There was an explosion and some objects fell. No further information in file.

• USA, Indiana Oct. 8, 1955; Loogootee, Indiana. 4:38 p.m. Witnesses: R.D. Prather, H. Ahern. One round, silver or white object flew straight and level at more than 1,000 m.p.h. for an unstated length of time.

• USA, New Mexico Jan, 1, 1955; Cochise, New Mexico. 6:44 a.m. Witnesses: instructor and student pilot in USAF B-25 bomber/trainer. A metallic disc, shaped like two pie pans face-to-face, and 120-130’ in diameter, paced the B-25, showing both its edge and its face, for 5-7 minutes. Only item in case file was summary form.

• USA, New Mexico Feb.l, 1955; 20 miles east of Cochise, New Mexico. 7:55 p.m. Witnesses: Instructor Capt. D.F. Ritzdorf, aviation cadet F.W. Miller in TB-25 bomber/trainer. One red and white ball hovered off the left wing of the TB-25 for 5 minutes, then made a very fast climb. Total time of sighting was 8 minutes.

• USA, Maine Dec. 21, 1955; Caribou, Maine. 111 p.m. Witness: Roberta V. Jacobs. One round, very bright gold, domed disc made a short climb, rotated, hovered and then accelerated during the 6-8 minute sighting.

• USA, Maryland Feb. 10, 1955; Bethesda, Maryland. 10:03 p.m. Witness: E.J. Stein, model maker at U.S. Navy ship design facility. One object, shaped like a small portion of the bottom of the Moon, with a radiant yellow color, hovered for 30 seconds. Its bottom changed to a funnel shape. Total sighting lasted 1.5-2 minutes.

• USA, Maryland Oct. 11, 1955; Pt. Lookout, Maryland. 4 p.m. Witnesses: B. Hale, A. Ostrom. One round object which looked white in the daylight and turned red with sparks toward the end of the 2.5 hour sighting, made a deep roar, unlike an aircraft.

• USA, Missouri Nov. 17, 1955; St. Louis, Missouri. 6:10 a.m. Witness: J.A. Mapes. Twelve round, flat objects, silver on top and dark on the bottom, flew in 4-deep formation, tipping in pitch and roll, for 45 seconds.

• USA, Tennessee Sept. 9, 1955; near Alcoa, Tennessee. 12 noon. Witness: M.N. Dawkins, using binoculars. One brown, almost square object flew with a circular motion for 10-15 minutes.

• USA, Tennessee Nov. 20, 1955; Lake City, Tennessee. 5:20 p.m. Witnesses: Operations Officer Capt. B.G. Denkler and five men of the USAF 663rd AC&W Sqdn. Two oblong, bright orange, semi-transparent objects flew at terrific speed and erratically, toward and away from each other. Observed by various persons form 4 to 15 minutes.

• USA, Texas April 30, 1955; Travis County, Texas. 7:30 a.m. Witness USAF Wing Intelligence Officer Maj. L..J. Pagozalski. Four black objects in a cluster made a whooshing sound like a zephyr. Sighting lasted 2-3 seconds.

• USA, Nebraska July 29, 1955; Columbus, Nebraska. 10:45 p.m. Witness: Morrice Raymond. Four orange flashing lights and one whIte flashing light moved up and down like yo-yos for 5-6 minutes.

• USA, Wyoming May 23, 1955; Cheyenne, Wyoming. Midnight. Witnesses: USAF Airman/Basic I.J. Shapiro and E.C. Ingber. During a 5 minute period, two slender, vertical rectangles were seen low on the horizon, and two ovals with tops (dark, with dark blue illumination) flew higher.

• USA, Virginia Aug. 23, 1955; Arlington, Virginia. 10:45 a.m. Witness: G.M. Park, using a 400x telescope. Several orange lights moved singly or in groups, circling and stopping during 30 minute sighting.

• USA, Washington Sept. 3, 1955; Bellingham, Washington. Witness: observer Saunders for Ground Observer Corps. One white pinhead moved slowly across 30^ of sky in 15 minutes. No further information.

• USA, Washington, D.C. Sept. 7, 1955; Washington, D.C. Witnesses: two photographers, one plate maker for the Army Map Service (one named Smith). One glowing round object flew an arc for 1 minute.