Category 11 Case Directory
  SIGHTINGS FROM AIRCRAFT 
 
  Preliminary Rating: 5  

                                   
     

AVCAT is a special project being conducted by NICAP, with the help and cooperation of the original compiler of AIRCAT, Dr. Richard Haines, and other sources, to create a comprehensive listing of sightings from aircraft with detailed documentation from these sources, including Projects SIGN, GRUDGE & BLUE BOOK.

Flying Saucer Observed From Aircraft
April 28, 1949
Gary/Michigan City, Indiana
8:00 a.m. CST
5 mins
private aircraft
United States
 Private
1 observer
No EMI
No radar contact

Fran Ridge: 
April 28, 1949; Gary/Michigan City, Indiana
8:00 a.m. CST. Businessman-Pilot Leon Faber was “just amazed” by the mysterious object he said he saw. Faber said he spotted “a bright, shining object moving east” while flying over the Gary-Michigan City, Ind. area.“It looked like one of those flying saucers." he said. “Certainly it was something I've never seen before.”Faber said he was flying at 6,000 feet and the object, 10,000 feet away, looked about the size of a basketball.“It was on its flat side and just disappeared suddenly,” he said.  “It didn't get any smaller, like something moving away from you at a distance.  It just suddenly disappeared.  Goodness, it’s the most stunning and amazing thing that ever happened to me.  I didn't think it was possible.”Faber, 49, is president of the James Knights Company, manufacturers of radio crystals.  He said he was talking by radio to some radio hams when he spotted the object and described it to them for the five minutes the object remained in his view. (Project 1947; Sandwich, IL; Terre Haute, Indiana,  The Tribune - April 29, 1949)

Rushville, IN Republican, Apr 28, 1949 (AP)
April 28, 1949; Michigan City, Indiana
A Michigan City radio “ham” said today an aviator flying over this city had reported sighting a “flying saucer” while in flight. The radio “ham,” Floyd Zerber, told a newsman that the aviator identified himself as Leon A. Faber, a Sandwich, Ill., business man and had said he was flying from Peoria, Ill., to Lansing, Mich. Zerber said it was a one-way conversation as he was unable to talk back with the flier.  Two other “hams” were also in on the conversation, Zerber said, but he was unable to identify them. He quoted the flier as saying he sighted the “saucer” at an altitude of 3,000 feet.  Zerber said Faber described the object as “a big aluminum disc,” and remarked that “it couldn't be a weather balloon as it is traveling against the wind.”

Barry Greenwood:
Attached * is the Sandwich IL Free Press for May 5, 1949 regarding the April 28th incident over Gary IN. Not helpful on time but an item on the local witness.

Detailed reports and documents
1949_04_28_US_IL_Sandwich1.pdf (Barry Greenwood)
1949_04_28_US_IL_Sandwich_FP.pdf (Barry Greenwood) *

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