NEVADA UFO ROUND-UP
by Skylaire AlfvegrenContinued...
Dozens of civilian pilots and hundreds of spectators watched the craft from all over the state. In Tonopah, a pilot watched the craft moving back and forth in its vapor trail. In Lovelock, pilots watched it shoot north at a terrific speed. CAA operators noted the vapor trail “was definitely made by a mechanical, flying object.” In Fallon, a woman told her husband, a reporter, that she witnessed a brilliantly intense light moving at an “unbelievable speed” in the northeastern sky. In less than a minute’s time it created a huge, circular “smoke trail” which other witnesses described as luminous and corkscrew-shaped. An hour after the initial report was made, the object had winged its way over northern Nevada. Witnesses in and near Ely watched the spiral trail light up the sky, which remained in the air for half an hour. The previous day a “great ball of fire” which left a smoky trail was witnessed by thousands from Texas to Alabama. One Beaumont, Texas newspaper reported a “ball-shaped object shooting flames out of its side and its back” streaked over the town.
The Nevada sighting was so remarkable that the pilots who made the initial report held a press conference about their experience on June 27th, which received substantial media attention.
President Harry Truman created the Nevada Test Site on January 11, 1951. The first atomic test, Operation Ranger, was conducted on January 27, when five relatively small bombs were airdropped over the desert. In February, Donald Keyhoe predicted A bomb tests there would lead to an increase in UFO activity, and indeed, two of the three Nevada cases Project Bluebook officially listed as “unknown” occurred in the summer of 1952. On April 17, a group of circular UFOs buzzed Nellis Air Force Base. Checking up on the test site, perhaps?
On July 24, 1952 three objects flying in a tight V-formation were witnessed by two Air Force colonels flying east past Reno. The bright silver, delta-winged crafts had a pronounced ridge running down their middles, no tails, and streaked past the B-25 at an impossible speed. This sighting occurred right before the famous “saucer invasion” in Washington, D.C.
From Project Bluebook, a sighting from USAF Captain D. A. Woods was reported August 26, 1952 at Lathrop Wells near Nellis Air Force Base. He reported a singular round and very bright object with a “dark cone” in the center which left a V-shaped contrail. It flew rapidly and hovered before making an instantaneous 90 degree turn, accelerating gently and rocketing into space.
Five years later, Project Blue Book ran into a little problem. At 6:30 on the morning of November 23, 1957, 1st Lieutenant Joseph F. Long was returning from advanced survival training at Stead Air Force base when he had a close encounter with four classic flying saucers.
