Kingman, Kansas: A Minister and a UFO

Location: US 54, 9 miles west of Kingman, Kingman County, Kansas, USA

On either June 29 or 30, 1950, Rev. Ross Vermillion, of Cheney, Kansas, where he pastored the Cheney Christian Church, had an encounter with what was termed then a "flying saucer."

Vermillon (or Vermillion) was a minister and B-17 pilot veteran of WW2 (which had ended just five years prior). He had logged over 30,000 air miles. He and his wife were on US 54, nine miles west of Kingman, Kansas when they saw a huge red light in the sky. It came close and was only about 50 feet above them and the couple watched the object appear to whirl over them.

He stated it was approximately 250 feet in diameter and about 10 feet thick and he thought there was a small canapy on the top in the center about 2 feet high.

Another motorist, Dwayne Mulinex , his wife and three daughters, of Meade, Kansas, also stopped to observe the object. It hovered over two tractors  in a field there. The men scanned for indications they were seeing a helicopter but could see no indications of known helicopter design.

Vermillon, who along with Mulinex had stopped near the bridge over the Ninneskah River, suddenly turned his car around and drove under the object, intent on getting a closer, better look at the odd aerial object. When he did this, the object shot off into the sky at a "terrific speed".  Vermillon would state: "I've never seen such acceleration in my life. I've seen B-29's at Wichita and F-80 jets tested on the coast, but they can't hold a candle to the acceleration of that saucer."  He rejected the notion the object had been radio controlled, he told  the newspaper, "I think the pilot saw us..."

See a newspaper clipping at this sight.

The Project Blue Book file (as seen online) contains several pages that may have more information but the pages are hard to read (they appear to be photocopies of carbon copies) but there are interesting things to learn from this file.

Sketch of Object

The file contains references to two other cases at about that same time. One is an intriguing 'bouncing meteor' seen at Ft. Collins, Colorado by motorists passing through. At first the driver had believed the object slanting down toward the ground was nothing but a 'shooting star' , a term for a meteor, but was open jawed when the object bounced back and angle back into the sky in a movement that mirrored its descent but in the opposite direction. It then disappeared into the sky.

This, or another case, was reported in Santa Ana, California. There was a later request made for records and permission to release information on the case the Vermillon 29 June 1950 case.  A response to this was from one Wallace W. Elwood, 1st Lt. Ass. Adjutant, USAF, 17 May 1955 and in that letter he said: "As a matter of fact, the details of individual sightings reported during the 1947-1950 period are no longer available, since this data have been thoroughly analyzed."  A clear statement that the missing cases often commented on by frustrated researchers were - does that mean they were destroyed or simply made "unavailable" - once they had been analyzed? Why? Not all such cases analyzed were removed from PBB.  The question has to be why were some removed and others left in place?

The sketch in the file is poor quality but does reflect details and a striking similarity to other sightings being reported in places around the globe at the time and later. The striking pattern of lights, the revolving "whirling" aspect, and dimensions.