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)

UFO Case Report:
“The James Stokes Story
Near Orogrande, NM
Nov. 4, 1957”


By Loren Gross, Francis Ridge, Jan Aldrich and Larry Hatch
(NICAP.org)

James Stokes sighted a UFO 16 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of Orogrande, New Mexico.

People from six other cars also observed the UFO incident, according to a 5 November 1957 Alamogordo Daily News article (see below link).

Quote from the Alamogordo Daily News article:
“It must have been about 300 to 500 feet long and was of material—would have been something like 100-200 feet in thickness. There were no windows, or observation platforms visible on the object,’ he [James Stokes] continued.”

Stokes guessed that the UFO (which had the colour of an egg) travelled at a rate of Mach 1 or Mach 2.

A Mr. Duncan of Las Cruces, New Mexico, photographed the UFO, according to Stokes.

This is an electromagnetic (EM) interference (stalled cars and radio signal interference)/medical incident (sunburn) UFO case.

Orogrande, New Mexico, is located 51 kilometres (32 miles) to the south of Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range.


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)