The RB-47 of the United States Army was so technologically advanced that it could handle practically anything.

But, on the morning of July 17, 1957, an RB-47 discovered something unexpected in the southern United States.

That morning, a US Air Force RB-47 witnessed what is now considered to be one of the most iconic radar/visual UFO encounters.

The aircraft departed Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas, equipped with electronic intelligence equipment, for a mission with numerous goals, including gunnery, navigation, and electronic countermeasure (ECM) training. Three of the six crew members were ECM equipment operators who were electronic-welfare officers.t.

RB-47 UFO Incident

One of the three policemen running the electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment identified an anomalous signal as a precursor to what was to follow. As it climbed the radar screen, the radar blip passed in front of the RB-47 and then above Mississippi. Frank B. McClure, who was operating the second of three ELINT stations aboard the RB-47, detected a signal at a frequency of 3000 megahertz (MHz) at 5 o'clock in relation to the plane's position as it flew back over the Gulf of Mexico near Gulfport, Mississippi after achieving the first two predetermined objectives.

McClure originally assumed that the signal originated from a ground-based radar; however, the signal proceeded upslope, passed the aircraft's flight line, and then plummeted downslope on the other side. ELINT station number one was not using the frequency at the time, and station number three was incapable of ever using it.

Despite his confusion, he stayed mute. A few minutes later, at 4:10 a.m., the pilot and copilot were shocked by the abrupt appearance of a bright blue light bearing down on their aircraft. Even more unnerving, the object abruptly altered trajectory and disappeared around two o'clock. A strong signal was identified by the aircraft radar in the same place. The UFO kept its position even as the RB-47 headed into East Texas.

McClure searched the 3000 GHz area and identified a strong signal emerging from the plane's two o'clock position. Instantly, a check of the #2 monitor against known ground-radar stations indicated that it was running flawlessly, and John J. Provenzano's #1 monitor likewise identified the signal. When the RB-47 proceeded on its 500-mph westward course, the possibility that an unknown ground-radar station was responsible for the signal was eliminated when it went progressively upslope, not downslope as it would have if its source was on the ground.

It is thought that UFOs are Control Flights.

The airplane and its crew were located in Duncanville, Texas, inside the radar coverage area of a Utah-coded Air Force radar station. The passengers on the flight felt increasingly uneasy with their unexpected friend. At 4:39, the pilot spotted a "big" light 5000 feet below him at 2 o'clock. Even though he was unable to verify it, he was convinced that the light was atop a larger object based on his intuition. A minute later, McClure at ELINT #2 reported two signals at 40 and 70 degrees. Chase and McCoid have now sighted a second UFO in the same area where the first UFO was discovered. Surprising everyone, the second UFO was momentarily visible.

When he veered from his flight plan and approached one of the UFOs, Chase alerted Utah and asked all available aid. At 4:42, ELINT #2 identified one signal with a 20-degree bearing. When Chase increased his speed to 550 miles per hour, the UFO fled. Minutes later, McClure got two signals at 40 and 70 degrees, but a minute and a half later, just one signal at 50 degrees. When Chase reported the UFO's location (10 miles northwest of Fort Worth), Utah's radar targets instantly identified it. At 4:50, the UFO appeared to suddenly halt, and the RB-47 flew passed it. At this moment, it inexplicably vanished from the scopes, and ELINT #2 lost the signal.

Subsequently, Chase was interrogated by University of Arizona physicist James E Mcdonald, and he recalled that there was simultaneity between the instant he sensed he was approaching at roughly the RB-47 speed and the moment Utah signaled that their target had halted on their scopes. Originally uncertain of the object's height in relation to the RB-47, he allegedly swerved to avoid colliding with it, only to realize as he closed in that he was approaching it from above. At the time it disappeared entirely from the second monitor and the radar scopes at the Utah location, it was at a 45-degree depression angle relative to his position.

UFO

Once the objects vanished, Chase made a turn over Mineral Wells with the intention of resuming its predetermined course towards Forbes AFB. Unexpectedly, the light returned behind them, and Utah and ELINT #2 immediately began to record its existence. The RB-47 came within five nautical miles of the UFO before dropping to 15,000 feet, flickering out, and then vanishing.

Chase informed Utah that he would have to return to Forbes at 4:55 a.m. due to a gasoline issue. Within a few of minutes, McClure caught a signal at a bearing of 300 degrees, and at 4:58 p.m., Chase observed the UFO 20 miles north of Fort Worth. The UFO inexplicably vanished above Oklahoma City at 5:40 a.m. after generating signals that were detected by ELINT #2. Together, the UFO and the RB-47 had gone 800 kilometers.

Interrogation Of The RB-47's Pilots

Both Project Blue Book and Air Defense Command Intelligence examined the incident when it occurred. Twelve years later, the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects report, commonly referred to as the Condon report, was published. From 1966 and 1969, physicist Edward U. Condon led the Air Force-sponsored University of Colorado UFO Project (the "Condon Committee"), which was directed by the "Condon Committee."

RB-47

McDonald eventually questioned all six participating crew members, unearthed public papers inaccessible to the Condon Committee, and corrected a number of errors in Thayer's narrative (primarily the date, which Thayer had as September 20). Despite a convoluted redefinition by debunker Phillip J. Klass, who hypothesized that a complex system of radio wave errors and the successive appearances of a meteor, the star Vega, and an airliner were responsible for the incident, the 17 July 1957 incident remains as perplexing as it was on the morning of such an extraordinary day.

CONCLUSION

This astonishing case, considered one of the most significant UFO claims ever, remained classified for years. The Air Force eventually recognized that the RB-47 crew had trailed an airplane. Gordon David Thayer, the physicist who investigated the incident for the University of Colorado UFO Project, judged this theory "actually absurd."

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