Subject:  C-45 Transport Crew Encounters Unconventional Aircraft

Date:     January 24, 1950

Francis Ridge:
A very interesting case. Page 1162 of the documents goes into the best detail. The unconventional aircraft appeared to be "hemispherical or spheroid in shape of approximately 200 to 250 ft. in diameter. The object appeared to be flat on the bottom, but this is further explained that the bottom half of the sphere could have been obscured due to a black trail which  appeared to follpw the object." This case is not listed among the original BB Unknowns but IS listed in the Catalog of Comprehensive Project Blue Book Unknowns by Brad Sparks:

210. Jan. 24, 1950. Near Blackstone, Virginia (37° 5' N, 78° 1' W). 4:50-5:05 p.m. (EST). 15 mins. 3 Pentagon  officials, 2 USAF combat flying officers, pilot Capt. G. B. Edwards and copilot Capt. Theron C. Fehrevach flying C-45 transport plane heading 26° at 5,000 ft, saw a dark 200-250 ft diameter hemispherical parachute-shaped or B-35 flying wing shaped object at about 20° azimuth at about 7,000 ft about 5-10 miles away with a large black smoke region below it almost looking like a large suspended black object about 3x the object's diameter, possibly obscuring a lower portion of a sphere instead of the object being just an upper hemisphere. UFO was darker than the 50% cloud cover and “easy to distinguish as not being cloud.” Object moved smoothly horizontally to the right to about 32° azimuth at about 300+ mph then back again without any noticeable turn radius. Edwards put the C-45 into a climb to 7,000 ft so they would be on the same height level as the UFO and turned left slightly to 20° to head directly toward it. Army Courier Service passenger 1st Lt. John H. Van Santen was alerted by Fehrevach and now also saw the object move right then left by 12° again, then they all saw the object recede at high speed radially away and disappear [at possibly 6,000 mph to reduce angular size below visual resolution by increasing distance at least 200 miles in <2 mins at about 4:55 p.m.]. About 1-1/2 mins later object reappeared about 30°-45° to the right of their heading at the same level but at greater distance, stationary in position, then oscillating or “wiggling” about that position horizontally right-left about 1-1.5x object’s width. Object moved horizontally to dead ahead again and disappeared by receding in the distance at high speed. (Jan Aldrich)

Bt. Pope AFB, NC and Bolling AFB, Washington, DC - BB Microfilm - Dan Wilson

NICAP Home Page