Mantell Incident

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A F-51 like the one Captain Mantell flew

The Mantell Incident was the first known casualty attributed to a Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) since the beginning of the modern UFO era. It was a tragic event, caused a lot of worry within the Air Force as well as civilian UFO investigators, and led to speculation of hostile alien intent. The irony of the case, however, is that it was more than likely not even a true UFO, but a possible test balloon that was misidentified.

1 Incident
2 Air Force investigation
- 2.1 Rupelt re-opens case
- 2.2 Hostility?
3 Skyhook
4 See also
5 External sources
6 Related discussion

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Incident

On the afternoon of January 7, 1948, at 1:20 P.M., tower operators at Goodman Airfield, which was the airstrip for Ft. Knox, Kentucky, received a few calls from military and civilian police about a strange object observed to be flying over Maysville, Kentucky. Various civilian witnesses described a metallic, circular object that appeared to be 250-300 feet in diameter and in the shape of a parachute. The tower controllers looked out their window and saw the object themselves.

As they discussed the nature of the object, four F-51's returning from Georgia approached the airfield, led by Cpt. Thomas Mantell Jr. They asked Mantell and his group to see if they could close in on the object and identify it. One of the planes had to continue on, as he was running low on fuel. Mantell volunteered to ascend towards the object, and radioed the tower back stating the object was metallic and very large. He also stated he estimated its speed to be even with his, about 180 mph.

Mantell continued to pursue the object, and the two remaining pilots, 1st Lt. Albert Clemmons and 2nd Lt. B.A. Hammond, joined him. They were able to spot the object after having it pointed out to them. It appeared to the lower left of the sun. The pilots continued to climb in the hopes of getting a better look at it, but only one of the planes had their oxygen equipment handy, which was necessary for flying at altitudes above 20,000 feet. After following Mantell to about 22,000 feet, Hammond and Clemmons decided to break off the chase and tried to let Mantell know what they were doing. They got no response, and Mantell continued to climb towards the sun.

A few minutes later, William C. Mayes, who lived in a rural area outside Franklin, Kentucky, heard a strange noise and went outside to see a plane circle a few times and fall into a nosedive. The plane crashed in the front yard of a nearby farm. Mantell had died in the crash, and the controversy began.

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Air Force investigation

Worry began to ripple through the Air Force. Not only did they have a casualty on their hands, but also it was one related to a possible UFO. Many of the Air Force investigators felt that the object was a space craft and possibly responsible for shooting down Mantell. Outside of the Pentagon, however, Project Grudge investigators claimed the object was Venus, and that Mantell had blacked out after climbing too high without oxygen. At this point in time, Venus was the Air Force's favored way to explain most UFO sightings.

The object, however, moved and disappeared from view after a period of time, and its appearance and movements tended to rule out planets.

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Rupelt re-opens case

In 1952 after Cpt. Edward J. Ruppelt took over Project Blue Book, he decided to re-open and investigate the case. He concluded that the object that Mantell reported chasing sounded a lot like a Skyhook balloon, which was a top secret navy project for high altitude testing. The mystery, however, was from which base the balloon was launched. Ruppelt suggested the Clinton County Airbase; however, no Skyhooks were launched from this base until 1951.

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Hostility?

Several civilian researchers were unconvinced by the Venus explanation, and rumors ran rampant that hostile aliens had shot down Mantell and the Air Force covered it up out of fear. Many wild claims abounded, including some that said Mantell's body was missing from the plane and had never been recovered. Others claimed the body was full of strange wounds and marks and that there were burns and damage to the plane that were not caused by the crash. None of these rumors was ever substantiated.

Major Donald Keyhoe, head of NICAP (National Investigative Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), claimed that Mantell had reported the object to have "lightning like maneuvers," and thus, could not have been a balloon. However, Mantell made no such statements. He simply stated the object appeared to have been metallic and was traveling at the same speed he was.

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Skyhook

The Mantell case continued to remain somewhat of a mystery for decades until research later uncovered information that helped solve the case. The key was a Skyhook balloon. The problem was tracking the balloon to where it had been launched. The absence of a launch point continued to cast a shadow until the 1990's, when researchers discovered that two days prior, a Skyhook had been launched from Minnesota. After studying records and wind and weather patterns at the time, it was concluded that the Skyhook balloon would have been in the area of Godman Airfield on the day that the Mantell incident took place. This information helped solve the case for most researchers, who now believe that the Mantell Case was a tragic case of mistaken identification that led to disaster.

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