Copyright, 2021/ Marilyn A. Hudson.
5 the 1960’s – part 1
The decade brought in vast changes across the country as well as a new youthful feel based on the vast numbers of children, teens and college age people. In Kansas there were also come very fascinating cases of the strange and the bizarre. One was even labeled “UNKNOWN” by Project Blue Book.
On August 23, 1960 at 3:34 a.m. an aeronautical engineer with
Boeing Aircraft manufacturing company, C.A. Komiske, saw something he could not
explain.
He reported a large sphere with lighted openings (windows), dull
orange with yellow light coming through what appeared to be three triangular
shaped opened low on the sphere toward the bottom. His sketch is very clear and
he noted it was moving in an arc for about two minutes.
The Project Blue Book report form states the object was, according
to the witness, the size of a golf ball held at arm’s length. This was the standard
format for describing size for most of these years. According to the summary
cover sheet the object was a yellow light that came from the three sources.
These “sources” were windows that were described as being 1/10 the size of the
total sphere. The overall color of the object was dull orange and the
appearance similar to a Japanese lantern. It appeared from the north at 40
degrees and disappeared to the north at 45 degrees. It was noted it flew a
pursuit curve on ECHO.
ECHO was launched that month destined to attain an orbit of one
thousand miles. ECHO was a massive (a
balloon as big as a ten story building, especially constructed to withstand
that altitude, and serve as the first telecommunications satellite).
The explanations offered in the conclusion included the statement,
‘witness could see light source to details suggest it was a tanker with its
special lights on while the crew was trying to get a better look at ECHO.” In view of the fact that the witness should
have been familiar with such an object, “this case class unknown.” In view of
the fact that a refueling tanker would not gain much advantage in trying to get
a better glimpse of a satellite orbiting that high the answer falls a little
flat. Consider, as well, that this excuse of refueling missions will be used in
the noted Exeter, New Hampshire UFO case as well and others in Michigan and
Missouri.
The tone of the paragraph in the report is intriguing because a
refueling tanker would never appear as a sphere, had no triangular lights
according to sources consulted, no “special lights” and, as noted, an aircraft
crew would have little better view by
plane than someone on the ground for an object orbiting at 1,000 miles.
Also inside was a delightfully peevish comment that may speak more
to the frustration and desperation of the investigators: “the object was in
sight two minutes and must surely have been traveling great speed, but the
witness didn’t note this fact?” Is it possible an engineer – one who was around
fast planes all the time – might not have considered that the most unique
feature of the object viewed?
It should also be noted that the prevailing winds at the time were
only 6-7 knots from the southeast. At the conclusion of one page was a notation
that suggested a “possible satellite other than ECHO.” To date no evidence of
such a low orbiting and/or large object has been found to support that
suggestion.
A story comes with some vagueness from the witness. Around
September 10, 1960 in the Wichita area a young girl recalled playing in her
backyard in Wichita, just north of Friends University, when she observed an
object overhead that was multi-colored and about 75 feet in diameter hovering
by a tree. She called for her mother and the object flew off. She said that the
next day there was a story in the local paper (Wichita Eagle and Beacon) about
a “Businessman and Farmer See UFO.”
As September rolled around came another report, this one from
Salina in north central Kansas’s Saline County.
An experienced pilot reported seeing something odd in the skies. He
acknowledged he thought it was probably a bit of space debris returning to
earth or maybe a meteor. He described a silver flash but something about it
appeared “off.” The object displayed a wide array of colors so he was curious.
The final notations in the report are clear that this sighting was
most probably the re-entry of “Kappa (Discoverer XVI)” that “reentered that
date.”
Inside of the report someone – where the consultants often wrote
notations – had penciled “probable meteor.”
This, however, was obviously rejected because the cover sheet went with
the Discoverer XVI explanation.
There is, however, a problem with that because the NASA records
note that Discoverer XVI (16) was “lost in launch 26 October 1960.” It could not have been versions # 13 or #14
either, because they were lofted and lost on re-entry in August.
Discoverer XV (15) burned up on re-entry on 17 October 1960 as did
Discoverer XVI (16) (Corona 9011),”lost in launch failure” on 26 October
1960. “Kappa” may have been a corruption
– intentional perhaps to cover some secret aspect – for the Corona 9011 but the
date of the sighting does not correspond to lift-off and re-entry. One source
indicates that there was a recovery of a ‘Discoverer XV’ about September 16
from the ocean.[i]
Other sources have no mention of that date related to any re-entry of craft.
How could the T-33 pilot have seen a re-entry that had not yet
happened for a craft that had not yet been sent aloft? More importantly, why provide such an
explanation when one had been suggested already in the report? A meteor would have made sense, explained the
colors, the movement in general, and been a simple way to close this particular
case.
One possible explanation presents itself. At the time of this
sighting the majority of those satellite launches were labeled “secret.” In
filing this sighting under that heading there was a stronger probability of the
report being unavailable to researchers, reporters, politicians and others with
a “need to know.” Categorizing this as one of the top clearance projects
insured that it was kept deep in the files.
At the time Air Force regulations only allowed the release of
information by approval of higher ups and only if there was an explanation for
the sighting.
Some might easily theorize that for some reasons, this report and
this sighting needed to be kept under tighter control than others. Since only
recently have many of the records of those once top secret projects been opened
for public consideration the answer to the questions raised by this case may
yet be answered.
HOW MUCH TO
PARK A UFO? Wichita, November 1960
In early November a UFO with lights “parked” near Wichita all
night. The object was witnessed by several people as it rapidly descended from
the northwest on Thursday evening, November 3, 1960.
Sheriff Patrol Officer Lt. Hollis Nichols approached within a
quarter mile of the lights around 4 a.m. the morning of November 4. He noted
three lights that winked out just north of 37th Street North, west
of Andover Road in eastern Sedgewick County.
Other witnesses were all agreed that they thought a plane was
crashing because the object came fast out of the northwest. Witnesses included
Edgar Boslaugh of 1519 Lulu, Wichita, Kansas and Mrs. George Enlder of 1753 E.
24th Street North, Wichita. They saw blue-green lights and thought
it must be crashing.
Ernest Feeler, 2206 W. McArthur Road, also reported seeing three
lights in a field: one was blue, one in the middle was a vivid purple, and one
was yellow. The lights were described as
being ten feet apart and setting about ten feet above the ground. The lights
Feeler saw were stationary as if the mysterious object had parked in the field.
A police officer also reported seeing the lights. Boslaugh, who
had pilot experience, thought it had crashed as he was driving eastward in the
2400 block of East Harvey at about 7:50 p.m. on November 3rd. His
brother-in-law Marvin Wray of 6602 E. 9th, was looking at the full
moon that night when his attention was diverted to a bluish-green light. He too
thought he was seeing a plane that was in the process of crashing somewhere
north of Harvey and to the east.
Mrs. Enlder (also spelled Enlertin) was driving east on 24 North
at Minnesota Street at the same time.
She rolled down her window to see if there was a crash.
Ernest Feeler said he saw a falling star. “Brightest one I’ve ever
seen.” The light was gone in three
seconds. That light began at 60 degrees above the horizon and fell down over
the area of the Boeing Aircraft Company plant. It stated the “falling star” had
a tail ¾ of a mile long.
Many calls came into local authorities including one from a Derby
Man. Derby is a suburb of Wichita to the southeast. He was driving east of
Beech Aircraft’s plant in east Wichita when he saw the object. He reported it
to the Sheriff’s dispatcher, Frank Hensley. Other calls were also received
about the same object.
The pulsating glow emanating from the mysterious object resulted
in emergency calls to the Butler County (to the east) and to the Sedgwick
County (where Wichita sits) about concerns of a large fire. Patrol cars from
Augusta, El Dorado, and Andover all responded and began searching the area for
a large fire.
Lt. Nichols, Sheriff’s Department, said it was the glow that
attracted his attention. As he approached the object, it appeared to die down
in intensity. He observed three lights in the field: one bright blue, a middle
one that was the “most vivid purple” he had ever seen, and one a bright yellow.
He too noted that the lights were about ten feet apart and about
ten feet off the ground. He and another
officer watched the lights as he was driving until he nearly went into a ditch
in the pre-dawn darkness. When he got himself and his vehicle back under
control on the road he glanced back to where the object lights had been but the
lights were either off or the object had left.
Elsewhere about that time, numerous authorities had been searching
for a fire to explain the vivid pulsating glow people were reporting. No house,
building, field, vehicle, oil well, or other structure could be found on fire.
When the lights disappeared, the fire reports ceased from the area. The sirens
went off and puzzled they all went back to their various stations.
Meanwhile, the officers who had seen the odd lights up close
realized “something”, they had been unable to make out any shape or form beyond
the bright lights.
As dawn brought clarity and a means to get closer to the location,
all that could be seen was a normal and empty landscape. The source of the
mysterious pulsating lights was gone.
This story appeared in a Wichita newspaper in the file of Project
Blue Book for a different case. It is filled with specifics, names, addresses,
and similar details. It has been
suggested that this was an experimental craft from one of the aircraft
development plants or from McConnell or some other base.
Boeing in the 1960’s did have a secret stealth plane, “Quiet Bird”
but from information found it never took flight. Its size was approximately 33
feet by 33 feet and stood about 7 feet tall. This craft, Model 853 only began
in 1962 and only a half-size prototype was ever produced. The existence of this
project, however, does not exclude the possibility that another or different
craft might have set down in a field east of Wichita that November evening.
The fact that no “cover story” emerged to prevent the needless
response and investigations of local law, fire, and rescue units and the
apparent absence of a guards or similar barriers is perplexing. And those
lights; top secret experimental craft goes down in a field – maybe because it
was too big for the local runways? – and leaves all those attention grabbing
lights on. That does not seem to make sense.
There were numerous secret projects developed under the auspices
of the CIA, the DOD, military branches and several other agencies so a top
secret project may be an explanation. Note too that this event occurred in the
backyard of McConnell Air Force Base, Forbes Air Force Base, Schiller (old
Smoky Hills) Air Force Base, Ft. Riley and old Marshall Air Field, as well as
the Naval Weather Tracking center at Hutchinson and a busy municipal airport –
someone had to have known company had come to the county.
Yet, according to the news article, it remained unchallenged and
unexplained several days later.
The purple light is also worth noting because in 1965 in Damon,
Texas and in Exeter, New Hampshire reports by police of mysterious objects will
include similar purple to purple-red descriptions. Those cases will be marked
“unknown.”
On November 11, 1960 a report was filed from 30 miles west of
Goodland in north western Kansas, near the Colorado border.
A civilian pilot in a Beech Bonanza was flying at 8,520 feet at
night when he observed an object the size of a half dollar held at arm’s
length. The object had what appeared to be a blue-green tail and was traveling
to the west faster than a jet on a level flight path. It disappeared instantly
into the west at about 45 degrees.
The weather was clear with winds from the south at 12 knots.
Witnesses included air crew officers, the pilot and two passengers. The
conclusion offered was that the 4 second sighting by “duration” and “descent”
were characteristics of a meteor sighting.
On November 23, a surveyor in Kansas City reported seeing three
objects moving north to south for 20-25 minutes. Inside the eight page report
were statements that the observer saw three disc shaped objects about 100 feet
long, black against the light. Two of the objects were in front, one object
traveling 1,000 feet behind the other two. The original observation was due
west of the observer. Objects were only visible with naked eye but the trail
was visible through the transit and appeared orange. Estimated speed was
300-400 mph and the time was dusk looking into the west at about a 10 degree
elevation. Witness estimated altitude to
be 1500 feet. All estimates were made through the transit. The explanation offered was the man had seen
“contrails.”
Mid December near Hutchinson a round, bluish-white, pear to egg
shape object was sighted 060 above the horizon by a witness. It then
disappeared at 20 degrees, azimuth 160 degrees. The explanation offered was
that the witness had seen a “meteor” but inside the report was an odd comment
“estimate…sightings were one of the many satellites now in orbit
...non—existent.” There was no explanation for this odd statement in the eight
page report.
1961 –
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1963 –
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