Somewhere in the Skies - Bite-Sized UFOs | The UFO That Tried to Ram a Plane

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Starting point is 00:00:33 What does RAV stand for anyway? To me, it's the remarkably advanced vehicle. Really? To me, it's the runway approved vehicle for its amazing style. What about remarkably adaptable vehicle because of its versatile cargo space? Or really admired vehicle? Oh, or really awesome vehicle. It really is the recreational activity vehicle. The stylish 2026 Toyota RAP4 Limited.

Starting point is 00:00:57 What's your Rav 4? 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. Oak Ridge was founded as the Clinton Engineer Works in 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project. The X-10 reactor built there produced plutonium from natural uranium. It was the first one designed for continuous operation. By 1946, Oak Ridge had turned to scientific research rather than military applications.

Starting point is 00:01:41 The following year, the site was renamed as the Oak Ridge National. laboratory. A school of reactor technology was established there in 1950, and research conducted at the site concentrated on energy production. Despite the move away from weapons, however, the site was still considered to be a very, very sensitive facility. But where does the story of the UFO that tried to ram a plane come in? For that, we have to turn to the 1956 book by Edward J. Ruppelt, former director of Project Blue Book, the third official United States Air Force UFO investigation program. The following can be found on page 44 of that book. On June 21st, 1952, at 10.58 p.m., a ground observer core spotter reported that a slow-moving craft

Starting point is 00:02:33 was nearing the AEC's Oak Ridge Laboratory, an area so secret that it is prohibited to aircraft. The spotter called the light into his filter. center and the filter center relayed the message to the ground control intercept radar. They had a target. But before they could do more than confirm the GOC spotters report, the target faded from the radar scope. An F-47 aircraft on combat air patrol in the area was vectored in visually, spotted a light, and closed on it. They fought from 10,000 to 27,000 feet, and several times the object made what seemed to be ramming attacks. The light was described as white, six to eight inches in diameter, and blinking until it put on power.

Starting point is 00:03:19 The pilot could see no silhouette around the light. Rupelt chose to include this story amongst others which had already been written off as nothing more than weather balloons. But what was the truth behind the Oak Ridge encounter? What really happened? Shortly before 2300 hours Eastern Standard Time on 20th of June 1952, Staff at a ground observer corps post located at Oak Ridge, spotted something flying at high altitude. A call was placed to the observer's local air defence filter station, and his information was taken seriously enough for it to be forwarded to the 663rd Airborne Control and Warning Squadron,

Starting point is 00:04:03 which was responsible for radar coverage of the immediate area. Local radar stations were immediately alerted and a site at either Lake City or McGee-Tice-Nell. airport soon picked up a contact. The events that took place that night were described in a teletype message sent by the 30th Air Division. Times quoted in this report was Zulu Time, five hours ahead of local time. At the 21st of June 0358 report received from Ground Observer at Oak Ridge, Tennessee that aircraft was flying there at very high altitude. At approximately same time, pilot airborne in F-47 on routine flight, in Cat 2 observed blinking white light making passes at him.

Starting point is 00:04:51 Fox 4.7 at 15,000 feet at indicated 250 knots, 10 miles north, northeast of Maryville, Tennessee. Pilot turned to meet pass and Unknown would pull up 4,000 to 5,000 feet. No silhouette visible, only white light. At 0415 pilot of F-47 was at 22,000 feet when Unknown made final pass from 28,000 feet and pulled up to same. altitude and disappeared. Pilot saw no exhaust or trail but thought object to be a jet by reason of its speed and rate of climb. Entire incident took place within radius of 25 miles or Maryville, Tennessee. No electronic reading of F-47 or unknown due to ground clutter on equipment. White blinking light, no exhaust, very elusive. Time-sided 210358 to 210415. Visual

Starting point is 00:05:46 from air 10,000 feet on level. The pilot was identified as Lieutenant James W. Wilson, a member of Detachment War 105th Fighter Squadron. This unit was part of the Tennessee Air National Guard and was based at McGee Tyson Airport. This is a very interesting case for several reasons. Not only was the UFO in close proximity to a sensitive atomic research plant,

Starting point is 00:06:15 but it had also been seen by ground observed observers and then picked up on radar, albeit briefly before lost amidst the ground clutter around Knoxville. Then there was a small matter of a dog fight, where the pilot reported the mysterious object heading directly for his aircraft on several occasions, making what he described as ramming attacks. If this was true, it presented a major problem for the United States Air Force in terms of their effectiveness in defending such a high value target from possible aerial surveillance and possible attack. It appears that much of the project Blue Book file for this event is sadly missing,

Starting point is 00:06:55 with the normal Air Intelligence Information Report form including a summary of the pilot's citing and his unit in base details is absent from what is available. However, there's still plenty to piece together here. The pilot completed a standard questionnaire, as this can be found in the Blue Book archives. One of the questions asked, did you stop at any time during this sighting? To which the pilot replied, ha ha! It was, of course, in mid-air at the time of the encounter. Strenuous efforts were made to determine whether lighted balloons launched from the Oak Ridge area could have been responsible for the sighting. In the same file is a copy of a handwritten note

Starting point is 00:07:40 about a telephone call made to the Weather Bureau at Oak Ridge, one which includes, a report of someone releasing balloons in the area. No balloons launched since December 1st, 1950, research on air pollution. Atomic Energy Commission's security recently advised Crank in area-launched lighted balloons about two months ago in Oak Ridge area, was apprehended. However, the Air Technical Intelligence Centre, which obtained information on behalf of Blue Book, was pushing for more information relating to the time that the sighting occurred. Requests to the Atomic Energy Commission for more details resulted in a reply dated 17th July 1952. A lighted 100 gram pilot balloon with an ascent rate of about 1,000 feet per minute

Starting point is 00:08:25 was released at 2200 hours Eastern Standard Time June 20th, 213 O.O.O.O.O. Zulu from the McGee-Tyson Airport near Knoxville. This balloon was observed for 15 minutes, at which time the lighting unit failed. The O3OZulu Radio Sand balloon from Nashville was followed presumably by an SCR-6. To an altitude of 25,000 feet, no winds above 25,000 feet were reported by Nashville. No balloons were released officially in Oak Ridge at the time of the incident. This station has not released any balloons or flown any captive balloons since December 1950. Well, Oak Ridge had ruled themselves out, but what about the balloons released from McGee Tyson Airport, where the fighter pilot had possibly taken up from, and also Nashville?

Starting point is 00:09:08 Ruppelt obviously believed that his Project Blue Book staff, and his own efforts had managed to solve the case. Let's go to the report on unidentified flying objects again, his book from 1956. In the case involving the ground observer and the F-47 near the atomic installation, we plotted the winds and calculated that a lighted balloon was right at the spot where the pilot encountered the light. Ruppelt did not elaborate further so his assertion cannot be challenged. However, we do know that the lighted balloon.

Starting point is 00:09:42 balloon was released from McGee Tyson Airport at 2,200 hours local time on the 20th, or 0300 Zulu on the 21st, almost an hour before the F-47 Thunderbolt pilot first spotted the white light. Although the balloon's accentrate meant that it was reached high altitude by the time the pilot arrived anywhere near it to obtain a visual, the weather bureau's reply stated that the lighting unit had failed after only 15 minutes, and therefore they had lost sight of it. This would have been at least 40 minutes before the ground observer spotted the light in the sky. The latter was asked whether he'd seen an F-47 aircraft in the area, but replied in the negative. In addition, the light that Lieutenant Wilson saw had been blinking, or at least it had been until he put the power on in order to chase after it. The light in the supposed balloon then remained steady until it was finally extinguished. A 100 gram balloon was not some huge weightlifting construct.

Starting point is 00:10:43 The light was a small battery-operated device that had been suspended from the balloon's envelope by virtue of a string or a rope. The light itself would have been very small, otherwise a balloon would not have been large enough to lift its weight in that of its batteries. Project Blue Book's explanation therefore simply did not make any sense, unless it was just a ploy to dampen down any alarm

Starting point is 00:11:06 caused by a UFO being cited over Oak Ridge, and one that easily toyed with a fighter aircraft. The final comments on this case should go to 30th Air Division, whose history for April to June 1952 includes further details regarding this important case. However, you will not find these in the Project Blue Book files. On 21 June 52, an F-47 of the 100 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron on a night training exercise, flight reported a light apparently on a very fast and maneuverable aircraft making passes at him and that the object was able to out maneuver and out climb his aircraft the controller on duty noticed the air defense control center and permission to fire on the object was obtained permission to fire on the object

Starting point is 00:11:53 was obtained we might have been looking at a different set of events from back in June 1952 if the pilot had managed to get into a firing position and had use his weapons. This incident, plus descriptions of other pilot and aircrew encounters with UFOs from the same time period, can be found in my book Flying Sourcer Fever, available from Amazon. It has a forward written by Luis Elizondo. Remember, bite-sized UFOs is all about the facts. This has been bite-sized UFOs with your host, Graham Rendell. Be sure to rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. For a full video version of this episode,

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Somewhere in the Skies - Bite-Sized UFOs | The UFO That Tried to Ram a Plane

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