Synopsis
Between 1950 and 1952 a huge number of UFO sightings were reported by pilots, aircrew and passengers flying over the United States and elsewhere around the world. For the first time, the details of these events have been collected in one volume which concentrates on a time when report after report was received by the military authorities, who appeared powerless in the face of what at first glance seemed to be vastly superior technology. Mirages, celestial bodies, canopy reflections and weather balloons were all put forward as possible causes, often even when witness testimony suggested something else entirely - and yet in the background, the fear of a Soviet origin for the mystery objects would not go away.
Each case is examined in depth, using witness testimony included in official United States Air Force documentation, occasionally backed up by radar reporting, newspaper articles and other sources to build up a picture of a phenomenon that increased in size and scope throughout the early years of the 1950s, culminating in two infamous weekends of sightings over Washington D.C., the seat of US government. Copies of source documents are used to illustrate the investigations and photos of the aircraft types themselves - sometimes even the actual machines concerned - are used to show the makes and variants involved.
Commercial airliners, interceptor jets, military transports, private aircraft, scientific research and survey machines - all of these types were involved in sightings. There is an emphasis on American cases but reports from Europe, Russia and Africa are also included.
This book will be one of a number of planned titles looking at airborne cases from specific periods of time after World War Two.