RADCAT Case Directory
  Category 9, RADAR  
 
  Preliminary Rating: 5  

                                   
     

RADCAT is a revitalized special project now being conducted jointly by NICAP & Project 1947 with the help and cooperation of the original compiler of RADCAT, Martin Shough, to create a comprehensive listing of radar cases with detailed documentation from all previous catalogues, including UFOCAT and original RADCAT.

Kirtland UFO Incident / Radar Case
Nov. 4, 1957
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Jim McDonald:
Nov. 4, 1957; Albuquerque, New Mexico
10:45 p.m. MST. CAA tower personnel, R.M. Kaser and E. G. Brink, were reliable observers with 23 years of airport control tower experience between them. A lighted object came down steeply at the east end of a runway, left the flight line, crossed runways, taxiways, and unpaved areas at about a 30 degree angle, and proceeded southwest towards the control tower at an altitude of less than 100 feet. Observed through through 7x binoculars, the object appeared to be egg-shaped, having no wings, tail, or fuselage, and was elongated vertically. It appeared to be fifteen to twenty feet tall, about the size of an automobile standing on its nose, and had a single white light at its base. After the UFO left the area it was tracked on a CPN-18 surveillance radar and it exhibited some amazing flight characteristics. The object also came back towards Kirtland until it took up a position behind an Air Force C-46 that had just taken off. It stayed in position behind the C-46 until they both moved out of radar range.

Dan Wilson:
The case is missing from the PBB files as shown here (NARA-PBB1-176). McDonald, was able to get the report somehow.

Fran Ridge:
This would have been scary. Apparently the UFO flew right-to-left along the E-W runway, then turned SW toward the tower, stopping near the nuclear weapons storage area for about a minute. McDonald mentioned that the UFO stopped near the Kirtland "Drumhead Area" where the B-58 operated.. (See report link by Joel Carpenter below). The B-58 Hustler was still in the R&D phase in 1957 and was _just_ beginning its nuclear qualification testing at Kirtland at the time. In fact, the first special nuclear bomb pod for the plane was delivered to the base on 15 Nov 57, eleven days after the incident, and the B-58 arrived to begin drop testing on the 25th.

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