January 20, 1951 — Sioux City, Iowa
9:20 p.m. Sioux City, Iowa, CAA Control Tower operator John M. Williams sees an odd light in the west. Capt. Lawrence W. Vinther and copilot James F. Bachmeier of Mid-Continent Airlines Flight 9 takes off and Vinther is asked by the tower to look for the light. While still in a climbing turn at about 1,000 feet, the pilots spot the object to the north-northwest at about 8,000 feet and 4 miles away. It looks like a B-29 fuselage with wings but no engines and blinks some lights like running lights. The object comes towards the DC-3, flies across the nose within 200 feet, then suddenly reappears on the other side, paralleling them for 2–3 seconds. The object then flies under them and disappears to the northwest. This is one of the first reports to make it into the CIRVIS system specified by JANAP 146. [Eberhart]
Map:
Sources:
“Sight Strange Aircraft Over Sioux City; It Does Tricks New to Pilots,” Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, January 22, 1951, p. 1;
“Weird Plane Seen Over Sioux City,” Lincoln (Neb.) Journal, January 22, 1951, p. 2;
“Strange Aircraft Is Seen Over Sioux City by Kansas City Pilot,” Kansas City (Mo.) Star, January 22, 1951, p. 1;
“Pilot Spots Monster Air Craft in Iowa’s Sky,” Macon (Geog.) Telegraph, January 23, 1951, p. 14;
Lawrence W. Vinther, “Another Saucer Mystery,” Flying 48 (June 1951): 23, 56;
H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robet Ginna, “Have We Visitors from Space?” Life 32, no. 14 (April 7, 1952): 90–91;
Donald Menzel, Flying Saucers, Harvard University Press, 1953, pp. 15-16;
Donald Keyhoe, Flying Saucers from Outer Space, Henry Holt and Company, 1953, p. 46;
Edward Ruppelt, The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956, pp. 84-85;
Richard H. Hall, ed. The UFO Evidence. p. 44;
James E. McDonald, “Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 43–44;
Brad Sparks Blue Book Unknowns, Case 435, p. 104;
NICAP, “UFO Buzzes DC-3”;
Lawrence W. Vinther, “Another Saucer Mystery,” Flying 48 (June 1951): 23, 56, reprinted by Project 1947;
James E. McDonald, “Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 43–44;
H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna, “Have We Visitors From Outer Space?,” LIFE Magazine, April 7, 1952
Wikipedia, “Sioux City mystery plane incident”;