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.

Sighting From T-33 / Magnetic Variations Reported
June 4, 1955
Parker, Arizona
6:50 p.m. PST
Duration 3 mins
aircraft T-33
United States
 Military
observers, 1 air / 1 gnd
EMI yes
No radar contact


Brad Sparks:
June 4, 1955; Parker, Ariz. (BBU)
7:50 p.m. local USAF pilot flying T-33 trainer saw a yellow-white-red stationary object that abruptly disappeared. (Project 1947)

Dan Wilson:
June 4, 1955; Parker, Arizona (BB)
At 6:50 p.m. PST, 1st Lt. B. E. Beecroft flying a T-33 in a westerly direction at an altitude of 20,000 feet observed what he believed to be an extremely large star when passing over the town of Vidal, California, 13 miles west of Parker, Arizona. The light appeared to be high and stationary in the sky. Lt. Beecroft observed the object for 3 minutes before it suddenly disappeared. At the time of the sighting Beecroft encountered extreme magnetic variations in his magnetic compass and slave gyro. There had been two other occasions of pilots experiencing extreme magnetic variation in this area. A Constellation, TWA 21, reported that there was an unusual, strange looking, cloud formation in the area.

Fran Ridge:
The official BB sighting listing (see NARA-PBB1-128 below) says it was the planet Jupiter. According to Brad Sparks this was a gnd/air sighting, with two independent sites. The (original) 2:50 a.m. time he had listed is the Zulu time (and on June 5) while local time was 7:50 p.m. PDT, June 4. It occurred both in the air over near Vidal, California, and the GOC site in Parker, Arizona.

Detailed reports and documents
reports/550604parker_report.htm (Dan Wilson)
bb/NARA-PBB1-128.jpg (Fran Ridge)

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