Tuesday 31 March 2020

UFO News Article:
“Runaway Speedometer Heralds UFO Sighting – Lindseys Sight High-Flying ‘Thing’ –
‘Definitely Unconventional . . .’ ”


8 November 1957
(Alamogordo Daily News, New Mexico)

Source: Newspapers.com
Clipped by: sshaffer_freedomfighters, 10 May 2019

The whole article:
“A runaway speedometer and a ‘high-flying, silvery oval object’ sighted by three Alamogordo residents, constituted today’s chapter in the unfolding Unidentified Flying Objects story.

What was labelled as ‘definitely an unconventional flying machine’ was spotted yesterday morning [7 November 1957] by Trent Lindsey, Alamogordo insurance man; his wife, Jewel; and his son, Byron, 22.

The mysterious object was sighted at a point between Escondida and Orogrande, about 35 miles from Alamogordo on Highway 54, while the Lindsey’s were traveling by car to El Paso.

Prior to the sighting, the speedometer on the Lindsey auto began to register in erratic fashion, and continued to operate in ‘a wild way’ until after the flying object disappeared from view.

Didn’t Stop Motor

Since the latest rash of ‘flying saucer’ reports began circulating in the Southwest (and elsewhere), several motorists have complained that flying objects have stopped car motors and cut off or dimmed car headlights.

But the object sighted by the Lindsey’s failed to affect the Lindsey car in such fashion.

Indeed, the senior Mr. Lindsey expressed the view that the erratic functioning of the car speedometer possibly could be traced to natural causes.

As to the speedy, high-flying object sighted by the Lindsey’s, Mr. Lindsey is sure of only one thing: it did not appear to be a ‘conventional flying machine.’

The object, Mr. Lindsey said, lacked the definable lines and angles of a conventional aircraft, and on that point the three Lindseys are in complete agreement.

Beyond that point, however, Mr. Lindsey is highly sceptical about the significance, if any, of the sighting. He explained: ‘There are lots of things flying around in the sky these days, particularly in this part of the country. Probably most, if not all, are explainable.’

The younger Lindsey, who leaves within a week for Argentina where he will take advantage of a scholarship at the University of Buenos Aires, and a former employe of The Daily News, attached more importance to the sighting, saying:

‘When the speedometer needle suddenly jumped over to 110 (as far as the needle could go), mother said that we better stop the car and see if we could see any thing that might be causing the strange action.

‘The needle kept skipping back and forth between 60 and 110 and making a clattering sound.

‘While the needle was jumping around, dad pointed toward the southwest and said, ‘I suppose you think that is something.’ And it was something. It was cylindrical in shape, silvery, and moving toward the southwest.

‘It appeared to be very high up, I would guess about 10,000 feet, and traveling at high speed.

‘It was a clear day (the hour of the sighting was 9:20 a.m.) and the object appeared to be made of metal rather than gaseous in nature.

‘The object seemed to be following the curvature of the [Earth] instead of moving in a straight line as would an airplane.

‘Also, the object seemingly did not have the definite lines and angles of conventional aircraft.

‘We saw the object for only about three minutes. It disappeared over the Organ Mountains.

‘When the speedometer needle first bounced over the 110 mark, the flying object was probably nearer to us — maybe directly overhead — but we didn’t see the object until it was at least 30 miles away from us.

Needle Leaned To Object

‘We traveled some 15 miles before the speedometer corrected itself, and we had no trouble during the rest of the trip or on the way back from El Paso. Strangely, the needle kept wavering to the side where the object was instead of toward the zero mark on the speedometer.’

The senior Mr. Lindsey checked with an Alamogordo garage mechanic and was advised that the speedometer’s erratic action could have been caused by ‘lack of proper lubrication.’

Mr. Lindsey said that he experienced no previous trouble with the speedometer on his car, a 1954 Mercury.

Oddly, the object sighted by the Lindseys apparently was traveling in practically the same orbit followed by a mysterious object sighted Monday by James Stokes of Alamogordo, retired U. S. Navy man employed at Holloman.

Stokes described the object as ‘egg shaped’ and said its color was on the order of mother of pearl.

Stokes sighted the object about 10 miles south of Orogrande on Highway 54. The object, he said, came in ‘from the northeast’ and caused his car engine to stall and the car headlights to fade.

Stokes reported that he received a slight ‘sunburn’ from the object.

On Same General Course

The object sighted by the Lindseys seemingly followed the same general course as that traveled by the UFO sighted by Stokes; and, in a general way, the descriptions of the two objects coincided.

Even so, the senior Mr Lindsey inclines to the view that the action of the car’s speedometer and the sighting of the flying object were coincidental, rather than related. Mrs. Lindsey and son Byron, however, aren’t so sure about that.”

My comment:
This is an electromagnetic (EM) interference (the car’s speedometer registered in erratic fashion) UFO case.

NOTE: Escondida, New Mexico, is located to the west of Highway 54 and 205 kilometres (128 miles) to the north of Orogrande, New Mexico. It is therefore possible that the UFO incident occurred (on Highway 54) 56 kilometres (35 miles) to the north of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Alamogordo is located 59 kilometres (36 miles) to the north of Orogrande.


Related posts:








realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1957

















Satellite photo of Alamogordo, New Mexico (tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)

U.S. Government UFO Document:
“SUBJECT: UNKNOWN SUBJECT(S): Unidentified Flying Object Sighted near Orogrande, New Mexico at Approximately 1310 hours,
4 November 1957 by Mr. [James Stokes], Civilian Employee, Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico”


18 November 1957
(Project Blue Book, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.)

Quote from the document (not written in U.S. Department of Defense document format):
“TO: Commander
          34th Air Division (Defense)
          Kirtland Air Force Base
          New Mexico

ATTENTION: Inspector General

1. Forwarded herewith in accordance with AFR 200-2, is information obtained by our OSI Detachment, Holloman AFB, New Mexico, from Mr. [James Stokes], Civilian Employee (Electronics Technician – Telemetry, GS-11), Holloman AFB, New Mexico, who advised that while driving south of Orogrande, New Mexico on Highway 54 at approximately 1310 hours, 4 November 1957, he noticed that his car radio began to fade as though the radio tube filaments had been turned off, and the engine of his car slowed and quit. [James Stokes] advised that he pulled off the highway and at that time noticed another motorist pointing toward the sky. He stated that he then observed an unidentified flying object approaching from a northeast direction which appeared to swoop toward the town of Orogrande and headed north. [James Stokes] estimated the speed of the object to be extremely fast (in the Mach 1 or Mach 2 range), stating that this estimation was based on his comparison of the time the object was visible and the known distance between the San Andres Mountain Range and the Sacramento Mountain Range. [James Stokes] indicated that he felt a rising temperature and that his face was slightly sunburned, however, the burn was not painful. [James Stokes] furnished the following information which is submitted for any action you may deem appropriate.

     a. Description of the Object:
          (1) Parabolic shape.
          (2) Size compared to a known object, size of a pen held in the 
                 hand at arms length.
          (3) Color, Egg shell white or pearl color.
          (4) Single object, sighted twice or two objects sighted at 
                 two separate and distinct intervals.
          (5) No discernible features or details other than general 
                 shape.
          (6) No tail, trail or exhaust or means of propulsion visible.
          (7) No sound.
          (8) Heat was noticed by the observer when object passed,
                 allegedly giving the observer a sunburn, reportedly 
                 not painful.

R. S. RIFE
Lt Colonel, USAF
District Commander”



Related posts:





realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1957

















(ufocasebook.com image)













James Stokes, AFMDC Engineer
(nicap.org photo)






The yellow line indicates where James Stokes saw the UFO,
16 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of Orogrande, New Mexico
(Google photo)

Monday 30 March 2020

UFO News Article:
“Flying Object Seen On Desert”


5 November 1957
(Las Vegas Daily Optic, Las Vegas, New Mexico)

Source: NICAP.org

The whole article:
“An electronics engineer reported seeing an unidentified flying object on an isolated desert highway near Alamogordo in southern New Mexico Monday afternoon [4 November 1957].

James Stokes, 42-year-old engineer in an upper air research project at the Air Force Missile Development Center near Alamogordo, said 10 automobiles stopped or were stopped on U.S. Highway 54, between White Sands Proving [Ground] and the Air Force Development Center, when the flying object appeared.

Earlier in the day, officials at White Sands Proving [Ground] said two army patrols reported seeing a similar object or objects on Sunday [3 November 1957].
    
Object Stops Cars
  
Similar reports came Sunday from Levelland, Tex.
  
Stokes, in a taped interview for Terry Clark news director of station KALG in Alamogordo, reported that object approached from the northeast over the Sacramento mountains. He said the first indication that something out of the ordinary was happening was a gradual fading of the radio in his automobile.
  
Then, he said the car engine died, and he noticed that several other cars on the highway had stopped. He said he noticed that the occupants were getting out of their cars and pointing toward the sky.
      
Passed At Highway
  
‘Looking up,’ Stokes said in the interview, ‘I saw a light-colored egg-shaped object making a shallow dive across the sky to the northeast.
  
‘Then it wheeled and made a pass at the highway, across the road not more than two miles ahead.

‘It then moved away toward the Organ mountains near White Sands Proving [Ground] to the southwest.

‘As it passed at its closest point I could feel a kind of a heat wave but there was no sound.
      
No Visible Portholes
  
‘It had no visible portholes and there was no vapor trail, smoke of flame visible.’
  
(Stokes said he remembered the details precisely because he pulled out a notebook and jotted down everything he saw.)
  
‘When I got back to my car and checked the engine, I found it intact, but the battery was steaming. But it started with no trouble and I headed for a phone to notify officials at the Air Force Missile development Center at Alamogordo.’
  
(An Air Force public information officer told United Press Monday night he had no information to report.).
      
Severe Sunburn
  
Stokes said that he noticed later, after he reached home, that he had a severe sunburn.
  
He said most of the motorists who saw the object were engineers or technicians who work on rocket projects at White Sands. He identified two others at the scene as Allan D. Baker of Las Cruces, N.M., and a Mr. Duncan, also of Las Cruces.
  
Stokes said it appeared to be 500 feet in length, with a shiny surface like the mother of pearl.
  
He said it remained visible for about three minutes—from 1:10 p.m., m.s.t. to 1:13 p.m.

Seen By Patrols
  
Otero county’s sheriff’s office had no reports on the object.

Officials at White Sands Proving [Ground], where missiles are tested, said two separate military patrols reported seeing an unidentified flying object [or] objects Sunday over an isolated area of the proving grounds near ‘Trinity’ site where the first atomic bomb was exploded in 1945.

They investigated the site, but found no markings.”

My comment:
It is very interesting to note that the 3 November 1957 UFO incident at White Sands Proving Ground occurred just two months after the activities at the Air Force Missile Development Center (Holloman AFB) started.

Anyone researching the UFO phenomenon will sooner or later discover that UFOs apparently are very interested in military bases and military technology.

http://www.nicap.org/articles/571104orogrande_article.htm

Wikipedia article: “Air Force Missile Development Center”:


Quote from the above Wikipedia article:
“The Air Force Missile Development Center and its predecessors were Cold War units that conducted and supported numerous missile tests using facilities at Holloman Air Force Base, where the center was the host unit (‘Holloman’ and ‘Development Center’ were sometimes colloquially used to identify military installations in the Tularosa Basin.)

Active: 1 September 1957[2]-1 August 1970[3]”

Wikipedia article: “White Sands Missile Range”:


Quote from the Wikipedia article:
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a military testing area operated by the United States Army. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on July 9, 1945.

Significant events

* The first atomic bomb (code named Trinity) was test detonated at Trinity Site near the northern boundary of the range on July 16, 1945; seven days after the White Sands Proving Ground was established.[7]

* White Sands V-2 Launching Site. (This was followed by the testing of American rockets, which continues to this day, along with testing other technologies.)

* NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia landed on the Northrup Strip at WSMR on March 30, 1982 as the conclusion to mission STS-3.[8] This was the only time that NASA used WSMR as a landing site for the space shuttle.”

Related posts:






realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1957













James Stokes, AFMDC Engineer
(nicap.org photo)






The yellow line indicates where James Stokes saw the UFO,
16 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of OrograndeNew Mexico
(Google photo)






















Satellite photo of OrograndeNew Mexico (tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)























Map of White Sands Missile Range and Tularosa Basin
New Mexico (2004)
(wikimedia.org) (wikimedia.org image)

UFO Case Directory (EMCAT):
“Stokes Incident
Nov. 4, 1957
Orogrande, New Mexico”


(NICAP.org)

The whole UFO case report:
Brad Sparks:
Nov. 4, 1957.  About 8-10 [4?] miles SSW of Orogrande, New Mexico (BBU)
1:10 p.m. (MST). James Stokes, electronics instrumentation technician, Rocketsonde Branch, High Altitude Test Division, AF Missile Development Center, Holloman AFB, NM, a Mr. Duncan of Las Cruces, NM, and Allan Baker of Holloman AFB. Stokes was driving S down Hwy 54 when his radio faded and the car slowed [stopped?] as if the battery was failing then he noticed 6-12 cars ahead of him had stopped and drivers were out looking at the sky (looking behind him to the NE), including Duncan and Baker. Stokes stopped and got out, saw pearl-white oval or egg-shaped object about 500 ft wide with slight purplish tinge heading S at high speed estimated 1500-2000 mph from the NE below elevation angle of Sacramento Mtns ridgeline, descending from about 5,000 ft above ground level in shallow dive to about 1,500-2,500 ft altitude as it swerved to the W to pass to the S of Stokes and the other stopped cars about 2 or 3-5 miles at closest, then circling around headed W and disappearing. The same or another object appeared in the NE (as if the object had completely circled) and performed same rounded course but passing farther to the S of the parked cars [about 5 miles?] and disappeared in the W. Duncan took 35 mm film of the object. Stokes noticed a wave of heat from the object at closest approach, later that evening was sunburned, but it cleared up the next day. (Sparks; APRO;  BB files; McDonald list; Saunders/FUFOR Index; etc,)”

NICAP.org presents a U.S. government (Project Blue Book, U.S. Air Force) document that pertains to the UFO case.


Related posts:





realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1957













James Stokes, AFMDC Engineer
(nicap.org photo)






The yellow line indicates where James Stokes saw the UFO,
16 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of Orogrande, New Mexico
(Google photo)


















Satellite photo of Orogrande, New Mexico (tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)