1948: SOME QUESTIONS

1957 Skyhook Balloon Aloft

On January 7, 1948 a pilot lost his life when his aircraft plunged to earth in southern Kentucky. Always a tragedy is the loss of life among those who bravely made up the military of the United States.  The element that has served to make the life and death of Capt. Thomas Mantell  lingering long in memory for most is the alleged connection to a) sightings of the Planet Venus, or 2) sighting of a UFO or,  3) sightings of a secret project "Skyhook" and 4) aircraft accidents and the loss of oxygen as cause.

At the time of the crash of Mantell's plane rumors exploded about the UFO angle, with wild stories spreading like proverbial wildfire that spacemen had destroyed his plane, stolen his body and other bizarre.

The almost immediate response from authorities (i.e., the Air Force) was that the ground personnel and the pilots had seen - the planet Venus.

A story of a pilot flying too high, losing oxygen and control of his craft, plunging to his death was charged to misinterpretation of the planet.  When Skyhook records were released, claimed Donald Menzel in his book on the subject of UFO's, it was discovered Columbus, Ohio was a major launching site for the Skyhook balloons.  In his book he offers a map outlining the course of said balloon from Columbus, to Kentucky and into Tennessee as it moved in an SW, S, SW arched plan.  Mysteriously the flight plans and the information gained by tracking these balloons were destroyed and no one could recall when said balloons were launched and their possible relationship to the air crash in Kentucky.

The file online of Project Blue Book for the Mantell Case makes mention of sightings in Columbus, Ohio, Kentucky and even Tennessee. It also has some reports of odd things reported in St. Louis and Kansas City and other fields notified points west and southwest from those points to report things seen.

The entire case cluster fell under the explanation of sighting of the Planet Venus.  It bounced from unexplained to explained in public records and accounts.

Kevin Randle  and the Archivist of NICAP provide two detailed and thought provoking looks at the entire episode.

Investigating some of the files related to the incident, trying to gain a 'big picture' of other things going on at the same time and developing a time line based on the events listed in the records and various published accounts, I discovered something odd.  I found the file for Columbus, Ohio ,Jan. 7, 1947 (#32) and the Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 7, 1948 (#30) that so supported the "Planet Venus" story was just 1 page of file badly faded in parts.  The summary page of the case had been rewritten on a form with the printed words "Temporary ATIC Form 329 (Jan 1952).  Nothing more, not witness form, no nothing!  Just the transcription of information onto a form about 1952 (the time frame of the noted Roberston Panel).  A suspicious corner of my mind contemplated how easy it would be to 'correct' a record in such a manner.

One of the chief problems in the use of the Air Force for the investigating of unknowns was they were also in the business of secret keeping. This no doubt helped in many cases but it also called for instances that had to create a conflict of interest. Imagine the headaches caused as they no doubt balanced so many secrets against so many people seeing things in the skies.  No wonder the official approach was a 'move along, nothing to see' attitude that had them trying to make a select set of explanations fit every shoe size of the witnesses.

Other links of note: Kevin Randle's analysis