December 12, 1951 — Hastings, MN
3:50 p.m. USAF Capt. Donald “Deke” Slayton, flying a P-51 fighter at 10,000 feet, sees a whitish or gray object off his left wing about one mile away and 1,000 feet below his flight level about five miles southeast of Hastings, Minnesota. It looks like a kite at first, then like a weather balloon, then two rapidly revolving discs that overlap with centers about 1 foot apart. He attempts an intercept, but the UFO increases speed and disappears. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
ATIC Report (AF-112):
Project Blue Book Status Report 2+Table, SR3 Table:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 496, p. 117;
Donald K. Slayton, Michael Cassutt, “Deke!: An Autobiography”, Macmillan, 1994, pp. 49-51;’
NICAP, “‘Deke’ Slayton / P-51 Encounter”;
Frank Stalter, “Astronaut Deke Slayton’s Amazing UFO Encounter,” UFOPartisan weblog, October 2009;
“Astronaut Deke Slayton UFO Encounter 1951” eeasynow Youtube channel, July 15, 2012;
