September 18, 1951 — Hudson Strait, Canada
10:20 p.m. USAF B-36 radar operator Maj. Paul E. Gerhart and navigator Maj. Charles J. Cheever are flying northwest at 239 mph over the Hudson Strait in northern Canada when they pick up radar interference coming from an unidentified aircraft moving away from them to the east about 32 miles away. The anti-jamming device on their radar is turned on at 11:20 p.m. but does not affect the jamming on the radar scope.
At 11:35 p.m., a UFO is seen visually on the right side of the B-36, which is flying at 18,000 feet over southwest Baffin Island, Nunavut. The object has all-white “unconventional running lights” and two white flashing tail lights, travels about 35 mph faster than the B-36, crosses the front from right to left heading toward the north-northwest, and is in view about 20 minutes. While the object is still visible at 11:50 p.m., the B-36 autopilot and APQ-24 radar set malfunction, the latter coming back a few minutes later when the object disappears. ECM operators S/Sgt. Donald E. Jenkins and S/Sgt. Doty T. Larimore on two B-36 flights over Labrador on September 19 detect carrier wave signals at several frequencies and some radar-like pulses at other frequencies, all below 1,000 MHz. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Staff Message:
AF-112:
Source:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 831, p. 111;
J Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, p. 267; [Case RV-11]
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., p. 996;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 4th Ed., p. 1109;
NICAP, “B-36 Radar Picks up Object Seen Visually”;