Part 43 (1/2)

Sohters and it suddenly dawned onlot was the operations office of the local ADC jet outfit, the 97th Fighter Interceptor Squadron

I ran over to interceptor operations and went in I knew the duty officer because several times before the 97th people had chased balloons over Dayton When I told him about the UFO's all I received was a rather uninterested stare When I said they were over the base he didback in and hit the scramble button Three minutes later two F-86's were headed UFOward They soon disappeared but their vapor trails kept the tense crowd inforress

And believe me there was tension

As the vapor trails spiraled up, first as two distinct plumes, and later only one--as they blended at altitude-- on the ramp expressed his thankfulness for his unenviable position--on the ground watching

The vapor trails thinned out and disappeared right under the three UFO's and it was obvious that the two jets had closed in

Here were three that didn't escape

That night the 97th Fighter Interceptor Squadron added three more balloons to their record The F-86's had been able to cli photos confirether and carried an instruists who had studied UFO's had been fooled A C-54 load of ”experienced observers” (many pilots) had been fooled The tower operators had been fooled and so had a hundred others

This was an interesting sighting and we used to discuss it a lot

All of the observers later agreed that what made them so excited was the tower operator's announceh speed objects” This set the stage and from then on no one even considered the fact that if the objects had been traveling 2000 or 3000 one in the fifteen minutes atched them

Secondly, I found out that the C-54, a slow airplane, had actually overtaken and passed the balloons between Coluers I talked to had stopped to think of this

And I'm positive that in our minds the balloons, which were about 40 feet in diaer than they actually were

I know the power of suggestion plays an is Once you're convinced you're looking at a UFO you can see a lot of things

But then there's the ”unknowns”