Guy Franklin - The Tuskegee Airmen UFO Connection: The Rest of the Story

Table of Contents
Table of Contents......................................................................................................................... 3
Table of Figures............................................................................................................................... 4
Witness #2 Capt. Charles McGee statement [Pg. 1]............................................................................. 7
Witness #2 Alex A. Boudreauxs Statement......................................................................................... 9
Witness #3 Franklin Gustav Eiseles Statement ................................................................................. 10
Maj. William Wild Bill Campbells Review....................................................................................... 13

Table of Figures
Figure 1. Capt. Charles E. McGee................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 2. Alex A. Boudreaux........................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 3. Capt. Spann Watson [circa 1948]................................................................................................ 14

On January 7, 1948 at 1:45 P.M. [CST], fighter pilot Capt. Thomas F. Mantell, Jr. [age 25] of theKentucky Air National Guard crashed his F-51D fighter near the small town of Franklin, Kentucky. Capt. Mantell and two other pilots had been chasing a large object of unknown origin. The three-ship of F-51Daircraft had originally left Atlanta, Georgia on a routine flight to Louisville, Kentucky. Capt. Mantellsaircraft along with the other two aircraft had been checked and okayed for flight by maintenancepersonnel prior to leaving Atlanta. The Atlanta Air Guard reported that two of the pilots went to about15,000 feet and were unable to get near the object, so they returned to base (UPA 1948). The call sign ofthis ship was NG869. They turned around and stared toward the southwest again. One pilot in theformation told the flight leader that he e (F. M. Eisele 1948)would like to continue on to Louisville withthe flight leader giving his permission to do so. We kept in contact with the flight leader for about twentyfive [25] minutes. The last contact we had with the flight leader was when one of his wingmen called andsaid what the hell are we looking for. Flight leader stated had the object in sight and he was going up tosee what it was. He said at present he was at 15000 feet and was still climbing (Randle 2013, 8). GeorgeHunt Williamson, who would gain some fame in the contactee1 field, reported that Mantell's last wordswere:There are windows and I can see people in it (Clark, 64) !

During the chase the two other P/F-51D pilots lost visual and radio contact with Capt. Mantell and itwasanybodys guess what happened to Capt. Mantell after the other two landed (UPA 1948). Therewere several witnesses who had also sighted the object to include the commanding officer at Godman Army Air Field, Col. Guy F. Hix, who said he had observed the flying saucer for some time. Moreover, Col. Hix said the three-ship of National Guard planes that Capt. Mantell was a member of hadbeen contacted via radio and instructed to investigate. Col. Hix said We lost contact in about 20minutes Two planes later called back and reported no success (AP 1948, 2).The final, officialconclusion was that Mantell had violated regulations by climbing above 14,000 feet without oxygen equipment and died in the resulting crash, and that the object he chased was a cosmic ray research balloonknown as a Skyhook (Randle 2013, 1). (F. M. Eisele 1948)

Another UFO incident that occurred the same day at Lockbourne AAB and only a few hours later inthe day from the Mantell incident occurred at Lockbourne AAB near Columbus, Ohio. Three witnesseswatched an object seem to land. Moreover, these witnesses were well trained members of the civilian airtraffic control at Lockbourne. The UFO was also sighted at Lockbourne AAB, Ohio about 6:25 P.M.[EST] by witness #1 Mr. Albert R. Pickering a civilian air traffic controller who on January 14, 1948gave an official written statement to the commander of the Commanding Officer, 332nd Fighter Wing,2Lockbourne AAB with the subject line Report of Unusual Circumstance that stated:

On Wednesday, January 7, 1948 at about 1925 Eastern time I observed in the sky an objectwhich I could not identify. It appeared to hover in one position for quite some time, moving verylittle. It disappeared once for about one minute and I assumed it entered the overcast, which wasat about 10,000 feet. After descending again below the overcast, it circled one place for theduration of three 360 degree turns, then moved to another position to circle some more. Turnsrequired approximately 30 to 40 seconds each, diameter estimated about two miles.

In moving from one place to another a tail was visible of approximately five times the length ofthe object. Not knowing how close or how far the object was from me at the time, I could notestimate the size very accurately, but it appeared as large or larger than one of our C 47 planes,and of a different shape. Either round or oval shaped. Just before leaving it came to very near theground, staying down for about ten seconds, then climbed at a very fast rate back to its originalaltitude, 10,000 feet, leveling off and disappearing into the overcast heading 120 degrees. Itsspeed was greater than 500 mph in level flight. It was visible to me for a period of twenty minutes. No noise or sound could be detected. The color was amber light but not sufficiently bright to coveror obscure the outline of the configuration was approximately round. During up and downmovement, nomaneuvering took place. Motions was sameas an elevator, climbing anddescending vertically. Exhaust trail was noticeable only during forward speed. It appeared as a thin mist approximately same color [amber] as the object. Length about 5 times length of object.3