Antonio Rullan:
5.12 USS Gyatt – November 20, 1964. The USS Gyatt was stationed in the Atlantic about 220 miles NW of Puerto Rico, when its radar detected a bogey approaching the island from the Northeast at speeds exceeding Mach 1. The USS Gyatt relayed a message to Roosevelt Roads Navy Base in Puerto Rico, which then contacted an F-8C aircraft of Utility Squadron Eight. This aircraft was already flying at an altitude of 30,000 ft over Puerto Rico. The aircraft reported a stranger closing in very fast. The pilot of the F-8C described the object as delta shaped and about the size of a fighter. Its color was black or gray and had no lights. It had no contrail but had a light source emitting from the tail during periods of acceleration. The pilot pursued the bogey but could not intercept. The target accelerated out of sight in a wide starboard turn climbing through 50,000 feet at about 18°-20° angle of climb in excess of Mach 1.

The USS Gyatt took photographs of the radarscope during the 22 minutes that the target was detected. The scope photographs provided bearing and range for both the bogey and the F-8C aircraft. Foreign Technology Division (FTD) analyzed the photographs and concluded that the target was traveling at subsonic speeds during the first 10 minutes and that it then accelerated. They determined that the average speed during the period of acceleration was 1,200 knots.

The Executive Officer of the Utility Squadron did not have a reasonable explanation for this target because the speed, acceleration, ceiling and ability to decelerate exceeded any aircraft that he ever seen or heard of. Nevertheless, he evaluated the target as a very high performance aircraft because it maneuvered as an aircraft and performed no unusual maneuvers except extreme acceleration and deceleration, plus a very steep climb angle in excess of 50,000 at high speed.

The author’s own evaluation of the radarscope data does not support the conclusion arrived at by FTD that the target was subsonic for the first ten minutes. The author’s analysis supports the original statements from the USS Gyatt: that the bogey was approaching the island at over Mach 1 speeds. The actual scope data (bearing and range) and my estimates of distance traveled and speed are shown on Table 7. My estimates indicate that the bogey was flying, most of the time, at supersonic speeds.  It then quickly accelerated to about 1,500 mph, and then, after it lost its pursuer, it decelerated to about 260 mph.

Blue Book Conclusion: Aircraft

Table 7: Radarscope Data from USS Gyatt on UFO Target & Evaluation of Distance Traveled and Speed -.pdf (Rullan)