June 1, 1954 — nr. Boston, MA
9:30–9:40 a.m. TWA pilot Capt. Charles J. Kratovil, copilot W. R. Davis, and flight engineer Harold Raney, on a Paris to New York TWA Constellation heading southwest, spot near Boston, Massachusetts, “a large, white-colored disc-like object” overhead, occasionally losing it behind overlying clouds. Flying into west-southwest headwinds at 300 mph, they conclude it cannot be a balloon, and radio Boston airport control tower, which tells them jets are scrambled. They then see the object at about 10,000 feet higher than their 10,000 feet altitude but cannot close with the object. [Eberhart]
Sources:
“Flying Saucer Seen by Pilots in Boston Area,” New York Daily News, June 2, 1954, p. 42;
“Pilot Sights a ‘Flying Disk,’” New York Daily News, later ed., June 2, 1954, p. 457; [Also “Saucer Sightings,” Flying Saucer News 1, no. 1 (March 1955): 8; ]
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1038, p. 214;
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. 68–69;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 June–August, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2002, pp. 6-7;
NICAP, “TWA Crew Spot White Disc / Kratovil Case”;
