Bob Gribble UFO report column

摘要

FORTY YEARS AGO - October 1948: It was 8:30 in the evening of the first and George F. Gorman - a 25-year-old second lieutenant in the Air National Guard - was coming into Fargo, North Dakota from a cross-country flight. He called the control tower for landing instructions and was told that a Piper Cub was in the area. He saw the Cub below him. All of a sudden what appeared to be the tail light of another airplane passed him on his right. He called the tower and complained but they assured him that no other aircraft except the Cub were in the area. Gorman could still see the light so he decided to investigate. He pushed the F-51 over into a turn and cut in toward the light. He could plainly see the Cub outlined against the city lights below, but could see no outline of a body near the mysterious light. He gave the F-51 more power and closed to within 1,000 yards, close enough to estimate that the light was six to eight inches in diameter, sharply outlined, and blinking on and off. Suddenly the light became steady as it apparently put on power; it pulled into a sharp left bank and made a pass at the tower. The light zoomed up with the F-51 in hot pursuit. At 7,000 feet it made a turn. Gorman followed and tried to cut inside the light's turn to get closer, but couldn't do it. The light made another turn, and this time the F-51 closed on a collision course. The UFO appeared to try to ram the F-51, and Gorman had to dive to get out of the way. The UFO passed over his canopy with only a few feet to spare. Again both the F-51 and the object turned and closed on each other head-on, and again the pilot had to dive out to avoid a collision. All of a sudden the light began to climb and disappeared. "I had the distinct impression that its maneuvers were controlled by thought or reason," Gorman said later. Four other observers at Fargo corroborated his story, Dr. A.D. Cannon, the Piper Cub pilot, his passenger, Mr. Jensen, the senior air traffic controller, and the assistant air traffic controller. The official explanation was that Gorman was pursuing a weather balloon with a light attached. The weather station at Fargo had released a lighted weather balloon approximately 10 minutes prior to Lt. Gorman's call to the tower. The balloon, however, was at all times in sight by Mr. Sanderson of the weather station, moving slowly in a westerly direction at an altitude of about 500 feet. According to Mr. Jensen, the tower controller, "The F-51 was some distance behind, and the light was traveling fast enough to increase the spacing between itself and the fighter. The main identifying characteristic (of the UFO) ... was the high rate of speed at which it was apparently traveling." The assistant tower controller said, "The object seemed to be about 2,000 feet and appeared to be traveling at an excessive speed..."