Search results
On 7 January 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died when he crashed his P-51 Mustang fighter plane near Franklin, Kentucky, United States, after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object (UFO). Mantell pursued the object in a steep climb and disregarded suggestions to level his altitude.
Jan 6, 2023 · FORT KNOX, Ky. — His 2,867 flight hours, much of it in combat, and Distinguished Flying Cross and four Air Medals weren’t enough to avoid a fatal crash near a Franklin, Kentucky farm. Exactly 75...
January 7, 1948, would be a day of tragedy for Captain Thomas F. Mantell of the Kentucky Air National Guard, and his family, friends, and fellow Guardsmen. The Mantell case will forever be an important part of the hotbed of UFO reports of the late 1940's and early 1950's.
On January 7, 1948, Kentucky Air National Guard Capt. Thomas F. Mantell, Jr., died when his F-51 crashed after chasing what he called, in one of his last radio transmissions, "a metallic object of tremendous size." The official Air Force line was that Mantell saw Venus.
- Separating The Myth from The Historical Record
- The Witnesses and What They Reported
- The Flight Path of The Object
- So What Happened to Thomas Mantell?
- The Critical Moment of Contact with The Object
- The Investigation and Potential Conclusions
There are many reports of this event containing the same descriptions and sensationalized reports of Mantell dying in pursuit of a UFO. Sadly, most of them are heavy on drama but short on verifiable facts. There is one videothat was published just last year that purports to be a documentary-style report of the incident. https://www.youtube.com/watc...
Reports created from Project Blue Book interviews with numerous people who were witnesses to these events at various stages are included in our analysis. We will first identify the key witnesses who will be referenced here. The first group is composed of military personnel who were in or around the control tower at Godman Field and who observed the...
The ensuing investigation revealed reports of what the investigators believed or at least suspected was the same object from a number of locations in two states. A close examination of all of these witness reports reveals what appears to be several instances of either typographical errors or mispronunciations of the names of towns and even roads. F...
Perhaps somewhat ironically, while there is some confusion and debate over the flight path of the object prior to the incident at Fort Knox, the one area where we have the most verifiable information involves the locations and activities of Captain Thomas F. Mantell himself, with the unfortunate exception of one critical moment. There is little to ...
In one version of the report (found on page 26 of the linked archive), Hammond and Clements then turned back to land at Standiford to refuel while Mantell continued to climb in pursuit of the object. After refueling, Clements flew back to Godman and climbed to 32,000 feet but could not locate either the object or Mantell’s plane. He returned again ...
Over the course of the Blue Book investigation, multiple letters from Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base were sent out requesting all meteorological records from the region on the day in question. They also asked astronomers to identify the positions of both Venus and Jupiter in the sky on an hourly basis. They definitely seeme...
On January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died when he crashed his P-51 Mustang fighter plane near Franklin, Kentucky, United States, after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object (UFO). Mantell pursued the object in a steep climb and disregarded suggestions to level his altitude.
Feb 1, 2022 · On January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died in the crash of his P-51 Mustang fighter plane near Franklin, Kentucky, United States, after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object (UFO).
