Airliners Paced by three UFOs (The Killian
Case)
Date: February 23, 1959
Location: Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA
On February 24, 1959, Captain Peter W.
Killian and First Officer James Dee, American Airlines, were flying a DC-6B
nonstop from Newark to Detroit. It was a clear night, with stars brightly
visible and no moon. At 8:20 P.M. (EST) the plane was approximately thirteen
miles west of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, flying on a heading of 295 degrees at
8,500 feet. Off the left wingtip, Captain Killian noticed three bright lights,
which he first thought was the three stars making up the belt of the
constellation Orion. But then he realized that Orion was also visible, higher
overhead. The UFOs were about 15 degrees above the plane.
As he and Flight Officer (F/O) Dee continued to watch, the objects pulled ahead
of the wingtip. At this point, in the vicinity of Erie, Pennsylvania, Captain
Killian contacted two other American Airlines planes in the area. One, at the
"Dolphin checkpoint" (over the northern shore of Lake Erie), saw the
objects directly to the south over Cleveland. The other aircraft, near Sandusky,
Ohio, and heading toward Pittsburgh. spotted the objects a little to the left
of their heading, to the southeast.
As the DC-6B continued west, the UFOs occasionally pulled ahead and dropped
back until they were in their original position with respect to the left
wingtip. Then Captain Killian began letting down for landing in Detroit, and
the crew no longer had time to watch the objects.
During the forty-five minute observation, the UFOs continuously changed
brightness, flashing "brighter than any star," and then fading
completely. This did not occur in any apparent pattern. The color fluctuated
from yellow-orange to a brilliant blue-white at their brightest. The last
object in line moved back and forth at times, independently of the generally
western motion of the formation.
When the plane began letting down for landing, about 9:15 P.M., Captain Killian
and F/O Dee lost sight of the objects. At 9:30 P.M. in Akron, Ohio, George
Popowitch of the UFO Research Committee received a phone call from a contact at
the Akron airport. A United Airlines plane (Flight 937) had just landed for a fifteen-minute stop and reported sighting
three UFOs which had followed their plane for thirty minutes. Popowitch had
already received nine reports from local citizens between 9:15 and 9:20 of
there UFOs seen in the area, so he arranged to interview the crew of the
airliner.
Captain A. D. Yates and Engineer L. E. Baney said they had tracked the object
from the vicinity of Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, to Youngstown, Ohio, between 8:40
and 9:10 P.M. United Airlines flight 321, also, had discussed the objects by
radio. Captain Yates had seen the UFOs pacing his plane to the south. But in
the vicinity of Warren, Ohio, the objects passed the aircraft, veered to the
right, and finally disappeared to the northwest.
On May 6, 1959, Major General W. P. Fisher, Air Force Director of Legislative
Liaison, in a letter to Senator Harry Byrd, stated: "The investigation of
this incident revealed that an Air Force refueling mission, involving a KC-97
and three B-47 aircraft, was flown in the vicinity of Bradford, Pennsylvania,
at the time of the sighting by Captain Killian. The refueling operation was
conducted at 17,000 feet altitude at approximately 230 knots true air speed
(about 265 mph) for a period of approximately one hour."
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