March 3, 1953 — nr. Blythe, CA
1:25 p.m. USAF Capt. Roderick D. Thompson, 3600th Fighter Training Group out of Luke AFB near Glendale, Arizona, is an instructor pilot flying an F-84 at 25,000 feet over Blythe, California. He spots an object 300–500 feet wide leaving a contrail crossing his path from left to right at about 35,000–45,000 feet at about 400 mph. It is visible only by condensation vapor emitted from its manta-ray shaped flat surface. Student pilots flying two F-84s, Lt. Jack E. Brasher and Lt. Thomas W. Hale, also see the object but do not follow in pursuit. When Thompson turns to pursue it, the object makes a slight dipping turn to the northwest and begins climbing at about 20°. It appears to be very thin and immediately begins to form a heavy condensation trail behind it for roughly 1,000 feet and splits in two. Thompson reaches 30,000 feet and closes to within roughly 5–10 miles to a point over the Colorado River north of Parker Dam on the Arizona border. He takes 151 frames of gun camera film of object with a 16 mm N-9 camera, apparently at 16 fps 1/40 second exposure setting. [Eberhart]
Sources:
Project Blue Book Report No. 11;
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 942, p. 194;
Edward Ruppelt, The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956, pp. 229–231;
Barry Greenwood, “The Luke Air Force Base UFO Sighting,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 2 (August 1978): 11-15;
Jenny Randles, Alien Contact, Sterling, 1997, p. 22;
Michael Swords, et al., UFOs and Government, pp. 213–214;
“Luke AFB, Arizona, 03/03/1953,” US National Archives YouTube channel, October 24, 2013;
The National Archives has put multiple videos from the Blue Book files online:
LUKE AFB, ARIZONA
Local ID: 341-PBB-382
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/61940
Barry Greenwood, “The Luke Air Force Base UFO Sighting”; [Same as FSR article]
NICAP, “Three F-94 Pilots Encounter Manta-Ray, Gun Camera Shots”;