6.5 Military Aircraft Encounter - 1951

road Zamora initially thought he was looking at a car overturned into a gully. He saw two small humanoid occupants, reportedly dressed in white overalls.

At about 4:45 pm, Sgt. Zamora radioed to headquarters and reported a possible automobile crash, stating his intent to be outside of his patrol car investigating. Zamora stated that he drove up the road to a vantage point where he could see into the gully. Zamora reported: As I approached the scene, I thought it was an overturned car--on end, sort of. As I finally got a look at it, it was a shiny-type object. The object was like aluminum--it was whitish against a moss background, but no chrome. Seemed like a football shape like this. I saw two pair of overalls.54

Zamora went on to relate that one of the people turned and noticed his car, seemingly startled. Zamora was approaching closer with the intent of offering help when quickly a loud roaring began. It started at a low frequency, rising to a high and very loud frequency, accompanied by a flame. Sgt. Zamora hurried back to his patrol car, hitting his leg on the fender and knocking off his glasses. The roaring object rose into the air and moved away from him. Zamora was quite frightened. He flung his arm across his face but turned to look at the object. "I heard a whine, then total silence," Zamora reported. He quickly radioed back to police headquarters, almost hysterical. A fellow officer, Sgt. Chavez, soon arrived at the scene. He stated:

When I arrived, Zamora was sweating and white...very pale. I went down to where the object had been. I noticed the brush was burning in several places. I could see the tracks on the ground. The object had left four perpendicular impressions in the ground. I noticed smoldering bushes, but they felt cold to the touch. I knew Lonnie had seen something--the proof was right there. Before I arrived, he had made a sketch of an insignia he saw on the side of the object. I secured the area and called the local military authorities.55

Soon the area was swarming with spectators, reporters, an FBI agent and several others. Astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek flew in to investigate immediately. He in fact returned for two more visits to the site and interviews with local residents and Zamora, in whom he expressed belief. The FBI chief investigator on the case, Captain Hector Quintanilla, stated that soil and vegetation samples were obtained and tested at Wright-Patterson, measurements were taken and a thorough investigation was conducted. Yet the case was lost in red tape and no official determination was ever made. Several secret military test vehicles were mentioned by the press as possible explanations, all of which remained inconclusive. Sgt. Zamora was subjected to ridicule and finger-pointing which led him to leave the law enforcement profession and avoid discussion of the incident.

The sheer number of reports from credible civilian, law enforcement and military witnesses from New Mexico cry for a serious scientific investigation and a release of all evidence and material collected therein.

6.5 Military Aircraft Encounter - 1951

On February 9, 1951, United States Navy Flight 125 departed from Keflavik, Iceland en route to the Naval Air Station in Argentia, Newfoundland. The co-pilot was U.S. Naval Reserve Lieutenant Graham E. Bethune, a Disclosure Project witness who served 26 years on active duty.

54 Ibid, p. 64. 55 Ibid, p. 65.

Lt. Bethune, who was stationed in Maryland at the time, was one of three officers suggested to fly to Keflavik for a classified meeting between Lockheed and the Icelandic government. The Icelanders had asked for American troops to protect them, stating they had been seeing unidentified craft off the coasts of Iceland. Lt. Bethune assumed they were observing classified, experimental craft. However, his opinion changed while on board Navy Flight 125.

Just after midnight, at 0055 on February 10, 1951, Lt. Bethune and his crew had an encounter with an unknown object. The following report is in Lt. Bethune’s own words:

I was the pilot from Iceland to Newfoundland. 240 miles out I saw something on the water 40 miles away. Moonset had occurred an hour previous. Nothing was scheduled to be in that area. I called it to attention of my navigator and co-pilot. It looked like a city in the distance. There was a pattern to the lights on the water — an odd pattern. I thought it was a classified rescue mission. 20 miles out, the lights went out. A yellow halo appeared on the water. It flew towards us, some 20 miles, at approximately 1,000 miles per hour. It stopped 200 ft below us. I observed a faint dome shape to it. I had a knowing that it was intelligently controlled — it came over to look at us. The object stayed about five miles away, at about a 45Ν an angle. It flew with us, looking at us. I estimated its size at 300 feet in diameter. My plane had no guns. The on-board magnetic compass did spin. We had 31 passengers on board, including a Navy commander [and] a psychiatrist. I went back and spoke to the psychiatrist and asked him if he had observed anything unusual. The commander said he saw what we saw. The psychiatrist said, “Yes, it was a flying saucer and I didn’t look at it because such things don’t exist.”

I told my crew not to report it. But it was picked up on Gander radar. We were interrogated in Iceland. It was obvious from the questions and demeanor of the US Navy men who debriefed us that they’d seen things out there before. A report on this event was kept at Wright-Patterson AFB. I found it in 1991, in the archives. I have the report, along with letters from NICAP, Keyhoe’s report to congress, and photos of the plane I was in. All five pilots described it the UFO the same — its size; the aura around it. A lieutenant who was on duty the night we were interrogated was told they tracked it by radar in excess of 1,800 mph. No radar report was included in the 17-page report — it was missing from the report when I finally found the report in 1991. Radar was confirmed at the time. I estimated the speed of the object at 1,000 mph. The other pilots estimated 1,000 - 1,500 mph. The fastest fighter we had at time could go 500 mph. There were no jets at the time — in February 1951.

This object was not a shooting star. It was always between the plane and the water. We had extensive recognition training then. We didn’t have the instrumentation assists that we have today. We navigated by stars. We had about a 54th of a second to identify something while we were flying in a moving plane. We are the ones who gave the information to the astrophysicists since we were the ones up there. We had many sightings but this is the one that we have documentation for. 56

Upon landing in Argentia, Newfoundland, Lt. Bethune and his crew were interrogated by Naval officers about the incident. In Lt. Bethune’s official, confidential report filed at the Fleet Logistic Air Wing, Atlantic/Continental, Air Transport Squadron One, U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland, dated February 10, 1951, he gave additional details: The object was

56 Taped transcript from closed Disclosure Project witnesses' meeting, April 9, 1997, Washington, D.C.

first seen when the aircraft was at least 250 miles off the coast of Iceland. Bethune and the copilot kept the object under observance for four to five minutes before calling it to the attention of the rest of the crew. When the object lifted and rushed towards them at an estimated 1,000 miles per hour, Lt. Bethune’s first feeling was that the Navy plane would collide with the UFO in midair. When it approached the plane, its shape was clearly discernable to be that of a disc, at least 300 feet in diameter. Its color changed from yellow to reddish-orange. When it reversed course and flew away from the aircraft to vanish over the horizon, its speed tripled.57

The other members of the Flight 125 crew submitted written reports as well. Lt. Fred W. Kingdon, serving as second Plane Commander, stated, "I was an eye witness to an unusual sighting of an unidentified object." Lt. Kingdon was in the right-hand seat (co-pilot) while Lt. Bethune was in the left-hand seat. When the UFO rose from the surface of the water and sped towards the plane, Lt. Kingdon described it as "very large and was circular with a glowing yellow-orange ring around its outer edge." Although the object was very close, it was difficult to determine its exact speed and configuration since it was observed over water at night. "However, the speed was tremendous and the size was at least 200 to 300 feet in diameter. The object was close enough to me to see and observe it clearly," Kingdon reported58 .

Plane Commander LTJG A. L. Jones was in the cabin of the plane when one of the navigators came aft and pointed to the object. He stated:

I watched it for a minute and went forward to the cockpit to get a better view. Upon reaching the cockpit, I took the plane off of the autopilot and turned to a true heading of 290Ν in pursuit of the object. The object left on a heading of about 290Ν true and went over the horizon in a very short time. I would guess the speed to be well over 1500 miles per hour, and the diameter to be at least 300 feet. My first view of it resembled a huge fiery orange disc on its edge...When it went over the horizon, it seemed to go from a vertical position to a horizontal position, with only the trailing edge showing in a half-moon effect.59

The plane’s navigator, Lt. Noel J. P. Koger, remarked in his report:

Lieutenant Kingdon pointed out an orange colored object about 060° relative, or 290° true, saying it appeared like a small village or a ship. Due to our position, I was certain it wasn’t a village. I had been looking at the object about thirty seconds, which it appeared to me was another demonstration of the ‘northern lights’ phenomenon...when the object suddenly started getting much brighter, taking on shape and coming in our direction at a great rate of speed... The best view I had of the object showed it to be a circular, bright orange-red disc, which was approaching us at a very great, undeterminable speed.60

The Air Intelligence Information Report61 prepared for this encounter summarizes the observances of the crew members, stating that Lt. Bethune was the first to see the object. The report states that all five crew members were experienced North Atlantic fliers and that all five observers agreed on the facts as stated.

57 Commander Bethune’s original Memorandum Report U.S. Navy, 10 February 1951, Appendix I. (Documents A1.4) 58 Memorandum Report of F.W. Kingdon, Jr., LT, U.S. Navy, 10 February 1951 in Appendix I. (Documents A1.4) 59 Memorandum Report of A. L. Jones, LTJG, U.S. Navy, 10 February 1951 in Appendix I. (Documents A1.4) 60 Memorandum Report of Noel J. P. Koger, Lt. U.S. Navy, 10 February 1951 in Appendix I. (Documents A1.4). 61 See Air Intelligence Information Report in Appendix I. (Documents A1.4)