(NICAP.org)
The whole UFO case report:
“Francis Ridge:
There was a date discrepancy on this case. Ruppelt
said it was the 12th and subsequently NICAP listed that date in The UFO
Evidence. Project Blue Book, which didn’t list this as an ‘Unknown,’ showed it
clearly as August 5, 6, and the documents (see below) show that this case as ‘unsolved.’
This incident always impressed me, and apparently it impressed a lot of others,
too. For the die-hard skeptics at Project Blue Book this was the one they had
always asked for. Here was a good UFO sighting. ‘This was an unknown, one of
the best,’ a ground witnessed visual, with a ground radar tracking, and the
pursuit of the object by a jet interceptor that also locked on with its radar,
with all the maneuvers independently verified. The UFO was playing a cat &
mouse game with an F-84 ‘Thunderjet,’
the first USAF jet fighter able to carry a tactical atomic weapon. Major
Lawrence Tacker not only confirmed this case, but he wrote one NICAP member and
told him the Air Force had gun-camera photos of the object and radarscope
photos. (FSTS,243). Ellsworth AFB is located about 12 miles from Rapid City,
and in 1947, the base hosted the 28th Bombardment Wing (BMW), flying the B-29. In July 1949, the 28th
began conversion to the gigantic B-36 bomber. Ellsworth was one of the original
five Air Force Operational Storage Sites for nuclear weapons, and first
received its atomic bombs in 1952.
Joel Carpenter:
I've been checking on the model of F-84 assigned to
SAC, and it turns out that the F-84G was the one based at Rapid City at the
time. This was a tactical-nuclear-capable day fighter-bomber with straight
wings and gun ranging radar.
NICAP.org presents U.S.
government (U.S. Air Force) documents that pertain to the UFO case.
Wikipedia article: “Ellsworth Air Force Base”:
Related post:
Aerial view of Ellsworth Air Force Base (circa 1990)
(located near Box Elder, South Dakota) (wikimedia.org)
(wikimedia.org photo)
(tageo.com photo)
