July 3, 1949 — Longview, WA
10:40 a.m. Aeronautical engineer Molt Taylor, airport manager at Longview, Washington, is preparing for an air show when someone points out an object in the sky to the northwest. He announces it over the PA system to the crowd of 150–200 observers, including pilots, who watch a metallic disc cross to the southeast with a falling-leaf motion. Estimated altitude is 30,000 feet at 300 mph, with the approximate size of 100 feet. A second object is seen at 10:49 a.m. for 2 minutes. A third sighting takes place at 11:25 a.m. An object approaches from the west at about the same altitude, oscillating at 48 per minute, and disappears into the sun. [Eberhart] Molt Taylor was the inventor of one of the first practical flying cars, the Aerocar. Which never went into mass productions, only six were produced.
Record Card:
Incident 389 Checklist:
Letter of details from Molt Taylor?:
Letter to command quoting the above letter:
Letters from Molt Taylor to Fahrney and Keyhoe:
Sources:
“Flying Discs Seen by Longview Flier,” Daily Olympian (Wash.), July 1, 1949, p. 1;
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknowns Catalogue, Case 251, p. 67;
Data Net 4. no. 5 (May 1970):
Loren E. Gross, UFOs, a History: 1949, July–December, 2ED, The Author, 1988, p. 4;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs, a History: 1949, July–December: Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, pp. 9-10;
Michael Swords, et al., UFOs and Government, pp. 82–83;
NICAP, “Metallic Discus Object Observed by 150–200 Observers”;
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. 48–49;
Wikipedia, “Molt Taylor”;
“A Drive in the Clouds” Captures Aerocar Dream, Inventor Molt Taylor’s Amazing Flying Automobile