United States · 17 July 1957

Airborne over Mississippi, 1957

Documented

Simultaneous ELINT, ground radar and visual acquisition from a strategic reconnaissance aircraft across four states: the strongest multi-sensor Blue Book case of the 1950s.

Where
Airborne over Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma
When
17 July 1957
Who reported it
6 USAF aircrew of an RB-47H
Entities described
None reported
Handled as
INVESTIGATED / UNRESOLVED
Evidence class
GOV-1

The record

An official file preserves that a report was made and examined. It does not, by itself, establish what was seen.

The document is attached to this entry.

What is not settled

ADC's line in the file: this Command is unable to offer any explanation, so the sighting is carried as unknown. Philip Klass later argued the whole event was a ground radar signal misrouted through the aircraft's own equipment plus an airliner; that rebuttal has never been fully settled.

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