Somewhere in the Skies - Bite-Sized UFOs | Intercept and Identify

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

In a special episode of Bite-Sized UFOs with Graeme Rendall, we bring you an extra large bite! Here is a sample chapter from his best-selling book, Intercept and Identify: Aerial UFO Encounters, 1953-1954. You can purchase the book at: https://amzn.eu/d/6Jv8lzk Please take a moment to rate and review us on Spotify and Apple. Book Ryan on CAMEO at: https://bit.ly/3kwz3DO Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ PayPal: [e-mail] Discord: https://discord.gg/NTkmuwyB4F Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ryansprague.bsky.social Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomewhereSkies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somewhereskiespod/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryansprague51 Order Ryan’s new book: https://a.co/d/4KNQnM4 Order Ryan’s older book: https://amzn.to/3PmydYC Store: http://tee.pub/lic/ULZAy7IY12U Read Ryan’s articles at: https://medium.com/@ryan-sprague51 Opening Theme Song by Septembryo Copyright © 2025 Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Plus, unlimited plans started $35. months. Now that's a deal that doesn't stay. Explore GoogleFi Wireless plans today. Plus taxes and government fees. GoogleFi Wireless is not subject to data traffic deprioritization during times of high network usage. Welcome to bite-sized UFOs, a show where we break down lesser-known UFO cases in 20 minutes or less. And now here's your host, Graham Rendell. Something different for you today. This is a sample chapter from my book Intercept and Identify Aerial UFO Encounters. 1953 to 1954. It's more down and dirty just straight off the page with minimal editing. My voice is also all over the place at certain sections, so that's a good reason why I usually

like to use AI voices. But I thought it'd just be nice to put this out there and see what people think. Enjoy folks! July August, 1954, an ever-growing mystery. Only brief details emerged regarding an interceptor that attempted to catch a UFO over Idaho on 21st July 1954. News of the abortive pursuit was provided in an article published in the Daily Herald newspaper in Utah the following day. Ontario, Oregon.

An Air Force jet interceptor climbed to 20,000 feet yesterday in pursuit of an unidentified flying object sighted in the sky between here and Boise, 50 miles away. The civil aeronautics administration here said that the jet was unable to get close enough to the object to see it clearly. The plane was from the air base at Boise. The CAA said that the object might have been a weather balloon, but it appeared to be drifting slowly against prevailing winds of that altitude. That story was published in the Daily Herald, Utah County, Utah, 22nd, June.

July 1954. While not stated in the article, the aircraft would have been an F-86 Sabre from the 190th Fighter Interceptor Squadron based at Gowan Field Boise. The case does not appear in the publicly available Blue Book Records, but one would have thought that a record would have been made, even if it was simply an acknowledgement of the newspaper article. Encounters over Southern Africa were not common at this time, so it was interesting to learn that a former Air Force pilot reported witnessing what was initially described as a sausage-shaped

object over what is now Zimbabwe. Mr. A.J. Roberts, the former squadron leader with RAF bomber command, was at the controls of his Tiger Moth biplane on 26 July 1954, flying over Lake Watt McElwain, now Lake Chivero, near Salisbury, now Harari. The pilot also had a student with him, whose name was Mr. R. Howell. Although the time of day when the sighting took place near Salisbury as unknown, the tiger moth was up at 6,900 feet and flying at 65 miles an hour. According to Cynthia Heinz's 1982 book UFOs, African encounters, the pilot soon realized that the shape of the object was much different from how he had originally perceived it. Robert spotted an elliptical sausage about 10 kilometres away and about 750 meters high than his own. plane. The thing, seen through a patch of haze, appear to have a clear-looking centre part and at two hazy ends. Intrigued, Roberts changed his course and took up a pursuit. The UFO,

apparently aware of the moth's approach, turned over and then zoomed away. Whilst racing towards the fleeing UFO, Roberts suddenly noticed that it had stopped, reversed its heading and was now motionless. Closing within four kilometres, Roberts could see more clearly and he could make out the actual shape of the UFO. The thing was really two dull grey saucers moving together, one above the other, with no visible connection between them. After hovering for a few seconds, the UFO again went through its departure manoeuvre, turning over and then zooming away at an incredible speed. The performance of the UFO astonished Roberts. The most amazing, thing about the object was the way it changed direction. It flew upwards, forward, and sideways,

without any apparent difficulty. Unidentified objects had been reported in the Salisbury area the previous evening by a local policeman and some of his friends. Six were witnessed in total, remaining relatively static in the sky, being observed for around 20 minutes, although it disappeared when night fell. Lights, discs, and even sausage-shaped objects were quickly becoming somewhat commonplace in terms of UFO sightings by this time, which made the subject of a UFOB report received on 30th July 1954, even more interesting. A message was sent by March Flight Service Centre to Air Technical Intelligence Centre, describing a pencil-thin, line-shaped object which was cocker and colour, and possibly metallic, or made of a similar material. No specific features were

discernible. The incident was reported as follows. Two test pilots of Hughes Aircraft Corporation flying in a B-25, southeasterly heading, approximately 15 miles southeast of the city of Los Angeles, cited an object looking like a pencil-thin line in a horizontal plane in a relationship to the Earth. Both pilots made sighting simultaneously. Object appeared to be in a stationary position. Aircraft climbed to 11,000 feet and made 30-degree turns in an effort to obtain better view of object. Object did not disappear while making 30-degree turns. Object appeared to be solid and of metallic or similar material. The Hughes test pilots in the B-25 were identified as Engelt and Peterson,

the latter also being an Air National Guard pilot who flew F-86 Sabre interceptors. He clearly believed that the object was worth investigating by the air-fetched, as the report went on to describe in brief detail, along with another curious piece of information, and felt citing important enough for scramble and jet intercept attempt, but unable to establish radio contract with Van Nuys National Guard operations. Navy aircraft flying from southerly directions seemed to pass underneath object without seeing it, type unknown. Aetig did not have enough information to come up with any kind of. of useful determination, so the case was classified as unidentified in the Project Blue Book Records.

South American sightings were also being reported in numbers at this time, with one that involved an aircraft taking place on the evening of 5th August 1954. A Varieg DC3 airliner was heading for Rio de Janeiro and had just passed over the town of Florianopolis in Santa Catarina at around 1700 hours. Heading out over the Atlantic on route to their destination, the aircraft, flown by Captain Najib Ayub, was at an altitude of 2,250 metres. A high overcast created a very dark night with no moonlight or stars. Ayub's report of his subsequent encounter with a UFO was not an ordinary run-of-the-mill

sighting of a strange light. This one appeared to carry out a series of passes which ended in near-missos, totally unnerving the crew. Alavo Fontes, the famous Brazilian researcher, described the events that took place off the coast of Brazil. Suddenly, Commander Najib Adyub, the pilot, spotted a bright red light glowing at about 500 metres above the plane and to the left, near the coast. It glowed brightly for two seconds and vanished.

200 kilometres ahead, when the plane was flying over Gatoruba, in the state of Piranha. The light appeared again for a few seconds. This time the co-pilot, Mr. Pineru da Silva, saw it too. At 10pm they were approaching the Penurga Bay when it happened again. But now it wasn't a mere light.

The co-pilot was turning around to look at an engine when he saw it. From the coast, a huge fireball was closing in at a tremendous speed. He alerted the others. The strange UFO, growing in size steadily, looked like a round blob of hot metal, sweeping through the night sky. It had an apparent size larger than a full moon.

It came from below, straight for the airplane on a collision course. It approached swiftly, getting bigger and bigger. Frightened the crew waited for the crash which seemed imminent. In the last moment, however, the thing maneuvered abruptly reversing course and then pulled away from the aircraft. It zoomed up, made another turn, closed again, and again turned out at the last minute to prevent the collision. This dangerous game was repeated again and again for about ten minutes.

The nightmarish scenario was watched by three frightened men glued to their seats, with sweat trickling down their backs. Then Mr. Godino, the radio operator, came to life, A frantic call was picked up by the ground operators at the airports of Porto Alegre, San Paolo and Rio. The incredible story was reported. Immediately a full alarm was spread. The Air Force Security Service and the Air Defence Command were alerted. The Varig Airlines president arrived hurriedly at the Porto Alegre Airport.

Commander Ayub was reporting. The following. After making several passes at the DC, the fireball is now following it. Now it has started a crazy dance around us, changing constantly and rapidly its altitude, course, speed and brightness, always tracking the plane. You said this place was steps from the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost. Or you could book a stay with Hilton. Welcome to your ocean front room, just steps from the water. The Hilton sale is a

on now. Book on Hilton.com or the Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. Ayub described how the UFO had maneuvered wildly around his aircraft, appearing to swerve in and out of his flight path as he pulled a series of left and right-hand turns, reversing course in an instant. Ayub described how the UFO had maneuvered wildly. around his aircraft, appearing to swerve in and out of his flight path as it pulled a series of left and right-hand turns, reversing course in an instant. In addition, it seemed to climb and dive rapidly in effortlessly, often slowing down abruptly and then accelerating away, much faster than

any conventional flying machine, incapable of, and reminiscent of the foo fighters of World War II. These changes in speed appeared to be reflected in the light's colour. The UFO emitted a very strong light, but this light changed too. It was steady and looked red, or orange-red, and brighter than when the alien craft seemed to put on power. When it slowed abruptly, the colour changed to amber, its bright glow dimming noticeably, and when the UFO accelerated rapidly, the glow seemed to take on a bluish hue. The thing left no discernible trail or exhaust in any noise that might have emitted. was drowned out by the sound in the DC3's radial engines.

Aob received a reply to his report from one of the ground stations. We have checked, and it seems that the object reported is an alien, unknown craft. There are no aircraft in your area. How about switching off your lights and trying to escape it? But please do keep it in contact with us and report everything that happens. The captain of the Varick airliner took the control's advice and switched off his running. lights. However, what was up in the sky with him was able to detect their presences just as easily without visual aids in the dark. As the DC3 flew on towards Rio, the light continued to buzz them

for a further two hours, the pilot giving almost a running commentary on the radio. This nerve-wracking ordeal was taking its toll on the mental health of the crew, flying over the outskirts of Sanpalo. Aope could take no more. He requested permission to make an emergency emergency landing at the city's airport which was approved. The light did not follow him down. Najib Ayyub and his crew were not the only witnesses. Another Varieg airline that was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Porto Alegre was in the same general area at the time when permission for the emergency landing was given. Captain Edu Michel altered course from his authorised flight path to search for the flight and spotted it a few minutes later. Whatever the UFO was, it could be

seen rapidly moving out over the sea. Unable to follow it, and shaken by his colleague's story, and seeing the strange light for himself, Michel also decided to land Sao Paulo to provide his side of the story. Another set of witnesses later emerged, two Air Force officers who have been flying near Sao Paulo observed the object near Santa Cruz. Their sighting was similar to the crew of the second Varag aircraft, since the object was heading out of the Atlantic, quickly vanishing into the night. Najib Ayub and his flight deck colleagues were interviewed for around three hours by Brazilian Air Force intelligence officers, who also talked to Michel and his crew plus the two Air Force pilots

who had seen the object. Despite being unable to estimate the size of the thing, Ayub said that it was exceedingly quick, fast enough to wrung rings around his aircraft. He could not determine its shape, or even if there was any shape behind the light itself, it was so bright. The pilot ended the written statement he gave to the intelligence officers with these words. I think it impossible to mistake that for any known man-made machine or a device. It was not a jet plane or aircraft. It was not a balloon. It was not a secret weapon. We have nothing like it. Nor was a meteorite or a reflection or a mirage.

Because none of these things can fly more than 200 kilometres an hour, following an airplane maneuvering around it. I think it was an alien craft. one of those so-called flying saucers. The story of the Varick DC-3 crew being harassed by a UFO naturally hit the headlines the following day as there were too many civilian witnesses. Journalists contacted the Brazilian Air Force

for official comment, but were informed that none would be made. It appears that it were unable to explain what was happening, finding themselves in the same situation that the United States Air Force had been in since June 1947. Army aviation sightings were somewhat thin on the ground during the early 1950s, but the next case addressed this deficit slightly. The event occurred at Maxwell Air Force Base Alabama on the 12th of August 1954 and involved two US Army helicopter crews and several witnesses on the ground. A service report was sent by Maxwell Flight Service Centre later the same day, describing what had occurred.

A 1201-54 Zulu, Tower observed and reported to base operations strange stationary object located due west of Tower. After initial sighting of stationary object, it unexpectedly gained apparent high velocity and speeded across the sky in north-northwest heading, which was followed by its return to its original position in relation to the Tower and a noticeable descent and motionless. Tower immediately notified operations and dispatched a local helicopter number Army 267 to observe the phenomena. Helicopter stated that the object was definitely not a star and approximately 20 miles west at 2,000 feet. His fuel would not permit further observation. At 0156 Zulu, Airdrome officer and driver observed mystery object.

Airdrome officer proceeded to tower for further observation. At 0205 Zulu, two members of alert crew observed object from Tower. Columbus CAA Radio also has object in sight. The object then became dimmer and showing a slight red glow. At 026, Zulu, object still stationary, several occurrences of variable brilliance shown and now becoming extremely dimmer. 027 Zulu Helicopter 294 returning from mission sighted object and proceeded towards it

At 029 Zulu Object completely disappeared and pilot of 294 has lost sight of it At 020 Zulu Army operations called and advised that Pires of helicopter wished to stress fact that object was of a saucer-like nature

was stationary and at 2,000 feet and would be glad to be called upon to verify any statements and to act as witnesses. This report has been taken from Tower and Operations Reports. The machines involved were HILA H23 Ravens belonging to the 506 helicopter company based at Fort Benning in Georgia. 267 would have been 51-16-267

and 294-51-1-1-6-6-7, and 294 5116294 both H23B models their pilots were warrant officers R.T. Wade and U.S. T. Tama. Blue Book included the following information on their record card

for the incident, which suggested to them at least that the event had a logical astronomical explanation. Spiker, the star, set 2100 hours. Mars in south-west at 20 degrees, elevation. Octurus, 90 degrees, azimuth

15 degrees elevation, setting at 233 degrees. Antares, at 240 degrees, azimuth setting at 233 degrees. No object sets at conclusion of sighting. Description indicates astrobi,

Mars most probable. These conclusions clearly ignored the first part of the witness testimony. Mars did not and presumably still does not to this day, speed across the sky and then descend. This case occurred on the same day that the latest version of Air Force Regulation 200-2 appeared, as explained in an earlier chapter regarding the 4602 AISS.

Messages from United States Air Force squadrons and air bases occasionally included errors, which makes checking and verifying the information that they contained an essential task, even now, 70 years later. A case in point is a teletyped UFO report sent by Scott Air Force Base in Illinois on 15th August 1954 regarding a sighting over Texas. It mentioned an object had been seen early the same day in the vicinity of San Marcos, something that was the apparent size of a nickel, dark blue and silhouette, but with no discernible features. The description of the encounter read as follows. Objects seemed to be flying formation with observing aircraft except that it was on a slight angle heading towards observing aircraft. At one point it took a

45 degree angle away from observing aircraft and then turned back into flight path and crossed in front of observing aircraft and disappeared. Air Visual, C47-44-84-6, 8,000 feet heading 245 degrees, speed 155 miles per hour indicated airspeed. The pilots of the C-47 will, listed as Major William J. Davis and Captain Roy D. Sainers, both from Gary Air Force Base at San Marcos. Information regarding their sighting had been obtained by a wing intelligence officer, although the exact unit was not listed, and therefore the connection with Scott Air Force Base cannot be determined. However, as far as the error went, this involves the exact type of aircraft involved in the encounter. The report identified it as a C-47, serial number 44-877346. This was in fact a much

smaller Beach C-45-F expediter transport, one which was delivered to the US Navy as a JR-4B in July 1945 as boo number 44-673. By July 1954, this particular machine had been stored at Litchfield Park, from 30 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona, a US Navy aircraft storage and disposal facility, and was eventually allocated to spares three years later. In case a fiscal year number had been written down incorrectly, I checked other possibilities. 42-87346 was a B-25 Mitchell delivered to the RAF as FW125, shot down over France in September 1944. The 1941,

1943 and 1945 fiscal year serial numbers don't go as high as 87346 and the C-47 wasn't produced beyond 1945. Therefore, the identity of the aircraft involved in the encounter is unknown and even whether it was actually a C-47 or not.

Oklahoma seemed to be the location for the next airborne encounter, although rather than a Project Blue Book file, the details were initially revealed by Donald Kehoe. The case involved a mass of strange objects. At 8.30pm on August 28, 1954, a formation of 15 flying sources approach Oklahoma City. Picked up by radar, the strange machines were spotted from Tinker Air Force Base. With seconds, by standing orders of the Air Defense Command, a flight of jets was dispatched. Under AFR 200-2, emergency teletype messages were flashed to Air Defence Command headquarters, to AITIC and to the Pentagon. At the same time,

warning alerts were phoned to Will Rogers Airport, the Oklahoma State Police, and to the Ground Observer Corps posts in a radius of 200 miles. Meanwhile, in precise triangular formation, the 15 saucers had raced over the edge of the city. The jets, guns set to fire, hurtled after them at full power. abruptly the formation broke. Changing into a semicircle, the sources speeded up and vanished into the west. Immediately additional alerts were flashed to Western air filter centres. When the Tinkerfield pilots landed after a fruitless chase, they were bombarded with questions by a team of intelligence officers.

Then the teletypes clattered again with urgent follow-up accounts. But though the source of chase had been seen by hundreds in the city and the alert was confirmed by the state police, Tinkerfield officers refused to admit the sightings. No blue book file, at least ones which are publicly available, can be found for this event. The United States Air Force spokesman denied that it had been any report of a UFO sighting at Oklahoma City in August 1954. The denial was made as part of a reply to a letter received of the Pentagon in July 1960 from Mr. James Mani of the Interplanetary Intelligence of UFOs, a group based in Oklahoma City. He had asked for an analysis of the formation of 15 UFOs, seen, tracked by radar and pursued by interceptors over Oklahoma City on 28 August 1954.

The reply from Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Tucker, a member of the Office of Information's Public Information Division, was as follows. The Aerospace Technical Intelligence Centre has no record of a UFO sighting at Oklahoma City during August 1954, Providing it was reported to a local Air Force Air Base at the time, this would indicate the sighting was probably solved locally. Tinker Air Force Base and the Oklahoma City Air Force Station have no record of the sighting in their files at the present time. Probably copies of Oklahoma City newspapers could shed more light on this sighting or the cause. In any event, the long interval of time since that date would preclude any further investigation of this case by the Air Force. Where had Kehoe's information come from?

No one appeared to know, although the former marine pilot had cultivated a large network of contacts throughout the various branches of the US military and across the civilian aircraft and aerospace sectors. The southern tip of Greenland didn't seem to the most likely location for an airborne UFO encounter, but this was a spot where the crew of a KLM airliner, flying from Amsterdam to Uganda, Newfoundland, spotted a strange group of objects on the morning of 29 August. 1954. At 11.05 hours, the co-pilot first officer H.J. Gardner, plus the fight engineer, HV. Vitsy, spotted them. News of their sighting was passed onto the 64th Air Division headquarters at Pepperell Air Force Base on Newfoundland, who almost immediately sent a

teletyped service report to air bases located in eastern Canada and on Greenland and to Aetik. The details were as follows. Message received this headquarters at 29, 1511 Zulu. No intercept attempted. No ground control intercept or ground control approach contact. Weather unknown. Aircraft flying 8,000 feet between layers, sighted objects approximately 2 miles south of aircraft track.

Pilot describes objects as a formation of large black oval objects. Request check flight plans for possible correlation. A correction quickly followed this initial report, stating the DC-4 Papa Hotel Delta Bravo Zulu, the aircraft in question, had been two miles north of track instead, and that the witnesses had kept the objects under observation for 10 minutes. Another follow-up report provided further details about the crew. The unnamed aircraft commander who did not see the objects but vouched for his colleague's reliability, had been a former US Navy pilot.

The co-pilot, First Officer Gardner, had 12 years' worth of flight experience, having originally been trained to fly in the RAF. It also reported seeing a UFO over Java when stationed there in 1952. Further details relating to the objects themselves were included in this follow-up. At first, appeared to be single object, black or dark, of lenticular shape, later believed to be three or four objects in formation on parallel course, with sighting aircraft. KLM aircraft heading 267 magnetic at 8,000 feet, speed 161 knots. Position of sighting approximately 50 miles south or southwest of Prince Christian at 29-1405 Zulu. Duration of sightings five or six minutes. Object viewed, illegible, only. Appeared change, illegible, formation,

enabling pilot to establish more than one single object, sighted first from co-pilot seat at clock position 2.30, north of KLM track, distance 20 to 30 miles. KLM aircraft entered cloud, half minute when emerged objects had disappeared. Objects considered too large to be single, measured approximately 1 to 1⁄2⁄2 inch on windshield from seated position. No contrales, smoke or noise. The KLM crew were questioned at length about their sighting after landing, but no records of their statements were included in the Blue Book Files. This has been bite-sized UFOs with your host, Graham Rendell.

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