On 7 January 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died when the P-51 Mustang fighter plane he was piloting crashed near Franklin, Kentucky, United States, after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object (UFO). Pursuing the object in a steep climb and disregarding suggestions to level his altitude, Mantell lost consciousness at high altitude from lack of oxygen; his plane went into a downward spiral and crashed. The incident was among the most publicized early UFO reports.

Incident

thumb|Three F-51D Mustang of the 165th Fighter Squadron, the unit in which Mantell was serving

At 13:15 on 7 January 1948, Godman Army Airfield at Fort Knox, Kentucky, received a call from the Kentucky Highway Patrol of reports of an unusual aerial object near Maysville which could not be immediately identified. At about 13:35 a call was received again with the details of an object which was "circular, about in diameter" and moving with a "pretty good clip" in a westerly direction. At approximately 13:45 the control tower assistant tower operator and then the chief operator at Godman for the first time were able to visually observe the object, which they stated later they had determined was neither an aircraft or weather balloon.

Press coverage and rumors

The Mantell incident was reported by newspapers around the nation, and received significant press attention. A number of sensational rumors were also circulated about the crash. According to UFO historian Curtis Peebles, among the rumors were claims that "the flying saucer was a Soviet missile; it was [an alien] spacecraft that shot down [Mantell's fighter] when it got too close; Captain Mantell's body was found riddled with bullets; the body was missing; the plane had completely disintegrated in the air; [and] the wreckage was radioactive."

Explanations

thumb| A Skyhook balloon is filled aboard the [[USS Currituck (AV-7)|USS Currituck (AV-7) during operation "Churchy".|alt=A massive balloon hovers above a naval ship where it is tethered.]]

Venus had been in the same place in the sky that Mantell's UFO was observed, and the crash was initially thought to have been caused by the pilot mistaking the planet for an unidentified object, a conclusion reached by Project Blue Book investigator J. Allen Hynek in 1948. Hynek later retracted the Venus explanation, concluding it was incorrect because "Venus wasn't bright enough to be seen" by Mantell and the other witnesses, and because a considerable haze was present that would have further obscured the planet in the sky. The Army determined that Mantell lost consciousness pursuing one into the atmosphere without oxygen. the large craft would have been unknown to Mantell or the observers on the ground. A report from Madisonville, Kentucky, identified the object as a balloon after viewing it through a telescope. Carl K. Seyfert, an astronomer at Vanderbilt University, observed the object through binoculars drifting south of Nashville, Tennessee. He described it as "a pear-shaped balloon with cables and a basket attached." Skyhook sightings were behind many UFO reports during the 1940s and 1950s. The more famous Roswell Incident and 2023 high-altitude sightings were also later attributed to military balloon projects.

Career

Mantell graduated from Male High School in Louisville. On 16 June 1942, he joined the United States Army Air Corps, the preceding organization to the Air Force, finishing Flight School on 30 June 1943.

References

Additional reading

  • Jerome Clark. (1998). The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, Visible Ink,
  • David Michael Jacobs. (1975). The UFO Controversy In America, Indiana University Press,
  • The Mantell Case Directory by National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena