The Flying Saucers are RealKeyhoe, Donald E. (Donald Edward)
History
The Flying Saucers are Real
Keyhoe, Donald E. (Donald Edward)
Unidentified flying objects
Gorman reported his speed at full power as 350 to 400 miles per hour.
During the maneuvers that followed, both the C.A.A. men watched from
the tower. Jensen was using powerful night glasses, but still no shape
was visible near the mysterious light. The fantastic dogfight continued
for twenty minutes. Gorman described it in detail.
“When I attempted to turn with the light, I blacked out temporarily,
owing to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition, and I
don’t believe there are many, if any, pilots who could withstand the
turn and speed effected by the light and remain conscious.”
During these sharp maneuvers, the light climbed quickly, then made
another left bank.
“I put my fifty-one into a sharp turn and tried to cut it off,” said
Gorman. “By then we were at about seven thousand feet, Suddenly it made
a sharp right turn and we headed straight at each other. Just when we
were about to collide I guess I lost my nerve. I went into a dive and
the light passed over my canopy at about five hundred feet. Then it
made a left circle about one thousand feet above and I gave chase
again.”
When collision seemed imminent a second time, the object shot straight
into the air. Gorman climbed after it at full throttle.
Just about this time, two. other witnesses, a private pilot and his
passenger, saw the fast-moving light. The pilot was Dr. A. D. Cannon,
an oculist; his passenger was Einar Nelson. Dr. Cannon later told
investigators the light was moving at high speed. He thought it might
be a Canadian jet fighter from over the border. (A careful check with
Canadian air officials ruled out this answer.) After landing at the
airport, Dr. Cannon and Mr. Nelson again watched the light, saw it
change direction and disappear.
Meanwhile, Gorman was making desperate efforts to catch the thing. He
was now determined to ram it, since there seemed nothing solid behind
it to cause a dangerous crash. If his fighter was disabled, or if it
caught fire, he could bail out.
But despite the F-51’s fast climb, the light still outdistanced him. At
14,000 feet, Gorman’s plane went into a power stall, He made one last
try, climbing up to 17,000 feet. A few moments later, the light turned
in a north-northwest direction and quickly disappeared.
Throughout the dogfight, Gorman noticed no deviation on his
instruments, according to the Project “Saucer” report. Gorman did not
confirm or deny this when I talked with him. But he did agree with the
rest of the Project statement. He did not notice any sound, odor, or
exhaust trail.
Gorman’s remarks about ramming the light reminded me of what Art Green
had said. When I asked Gorman about the court-martial rumor, he gave me
a searching glance.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Several places,” I told him. “At Chicago, in Salt Lake City—in fact,
we’ve been hearing it all over.”
“Well, there’s nothing to it,” Gorman declared. He changed the subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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