January 16, 1957 — Sweetwater, TX
8:00 p.m. The crews of two Air Force B-25s are flying about 90 miles north of Sweetwater, Texas, when they see a round white object make rapid maneuvers. Lt. Col. Howard T. Wright notes that his radio compass starts pointing directly toward the object, following its movements, instead of the beacon at its destination at Reese AFB [now Reese Technology Center] in Lubbock, Texas. The entire object begins blinking on and off and continues to follow the plane for an hour. When the aircraft gets within range of Lubbock, the object moves toward the aircraft, hangs motionless in front of them for 5 seconds, then flies away on a straight-line course in about 12 seconds. One of the B-25s refuels and is sent on a 4-hour search of the vicinity with no results. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Telex:
James McDonald Interview Notes:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1218, p. 241;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 January–March 22nd, The Author, 1995, pp. 20-22;
Dominique F. Weinstein, ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - Eighty Years of Pilot Sightings: A Catalog of Military, Airliner, and Private Pilots sightings from 1916 to 2000’, NARCAP TR-04, 2001, p. 33;
Michael Swords and Robert Powell, UFOs and Government, pp. 244–245;
Robert Powell, UFOs: A Scientist Explains What We Know (And Don’t Know), 2024, pp. 90–91;
NICAP, “Object Maneuvers near B-25’s / EME”;
