Gorman dogfight
The Gorman dogfight was a widely publicized
Background
Although he was only 25 years old when the incident occurred, George F. Gorman was a veteran fighter pilot of
Shortly after he noticed the Piper Cub, Gorman saw another object to his west. When he looked for the outline of a wing or fuselage he could see none; this contrasted with the Piper Cub, whose outline was clearly visible.[4] The object appeared to be a blinking light. At 9:07 PM Gorman contacted the control tower at Hector Airport and asked if it had any air traffic in the area other than his P-51 and the Piper Cub. The tower answered that it did not, and it contacted the Piper Cub pilot, A.D. Cannon. Cannon and his passenger answered that they could also see a lighted object to the west.[4]
Dogfight
Gorman told the tower that he was going to pursue the object to determine its identity. He moved his Mustang to full power (350 to 400 MPH), but soon realized that the object was going too fast for him to catch it in a straight run.[4] Instead, he tried cutting the object off by turns. Gorman made a right turn and approached the object head-on at 5,000 feet; the object flew over his plane at a distance of about 500 feet. Gorman described the object as a simple "ball of light" about six to eight inches in diameter. He also noted later that when the object increased its speed, it stopped blinking and grew brighter.[4]
After his near-collision, Gorman lost sight of the object; when he saw it again it appeared to have made a 180-degree turn and was coming at him again. The object then made a sudden vertical climb; Gorman followed the object in his own steep climb. At 14,000 feet his P-51
Gorman continued to follow the object until he was approximately twenty-five miles southwest of Fargo. At 14,000 feet he observed the light at 11,000 feet; he then dived on the object at full power. However, the object made a vertical climb. He tried to pursue but watched as the object passed out of visual range, last sighted at 9:27 PM.[6] At this point, Gorman broke off the chase and flew back to Hector Airport.
Gorman's account
On October 23, 1948, Gorman gave a sworn account of the incident to investigators. His statement was often reprinted for decades afterwards in numerous books and documentaries about UFOs. The statement read:
I am convinced that there was definite thought behind its maneuvers. I am further convinced that the object was governed by the laws of inertia because its acceleration was rapid but not immediate and although it was able to turn fairly tight at considerable speed, it still followed a natural curve. When I attempted to turn with the object I blacked out temporarily due to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition and I do not believe that there are many if any pilots who could withstand the turn and speed effected by the object, and remain conscious. The object was not only able to out turn and out speed my aircraft ... but was able to attain a far steeper climb and was able to maintain a constant rate of climb far in excess of my aircraft.[7]
Air Force investigation
Within a few hours, military officers from Project Sign – the United States Air Force's (USAF) study of UFO phenomena – arrived to interview Gorman, Cannon, his passenger, and the control tower personnel at Hector Airport. The officers also checked Gorman's P-51 Mustang with a Geiger counter for radiation. They found that the Mustang was measurably more radioactive than other fighters which had not flown for several days; this was taken as evidence that Gorman had flown close to an "atomic-powered" object.[7] USAF investigators also ruled out the possibility of the lighted object being "another aircraft, Canadian Vampire jet fighters, or a weather balloon."[7] Their initial conclusion, writes UFO historian Curtis Peebles, was "that something remarkable had occurred" to Gorman in the skies above Fargo.[7]
However, further investigation by Project Sign personnel soon revealed flaws in the evidence.[8] A plane flying high in the Earth's atmosphere is less shielded from radiation than one at ground level, thus the Geiger readings were considered invalid evidence for stating that the lighted object was atomic-powered.[8] In addition, the Air Weather Service revealed that on October 1 it had released a lighted weather balloon from Fargo at 8:50 PM. By 9 PM the balloon would have been in the area where Gorman and the Piper Cub passengers first saw the lighted object.[8] Project Sign's investigators also believed that the incredible movements of the object were due to Gorman's own maneuvers as he chased the light—the object's maneuvers were an illusion brought about by the movements of Gorman's fighter.[8][5] The investigators also believed that, as the weather balloon passed out of sight, Gorman had come to believe that the planet Jupiter was the UFO, and therefore he had been chasing the planet as he flew south of Fargo before giving up and returning to land. By early 1949 the Gorman case was labeled by Project Sign and its successors, Project Grudge and Project Blue Book, as being caused by a lighted weather balloon.[8]
Aftermath
The Gorman dogfight received wide national publicity and helped fuel the wave of UFO reports in the late forties.
In popular culture
- The first (pilot) episode of the 2019 History Channel television series Project Blue Book, entitled "The Fuller Dogfight", is loosely based on the Gorman dogfight.[9][10]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Ruppelt, p. 30
- ^ Ruppelt, p. 31
- ^ a b Clark, p. 452
- ^ a b c d e f g Peebles, p. 29
- ^ a b c d Clark, p. 453
- ^ Peebles, p. 30
- ^ a b c d Peebles, p. 30
- ^ a b c d e Peebles, p. 31
- ^ "Watch Project Blue Book Season 1 Episode 1 | HISTORY Channel".
- ^ Service, Kim Hyatt Forum News. "1948 'dogfight' with UFO recounted by new TV show". Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved Jul 9, 2019.
References
- Condon, Edward Uhler (1969). Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. Dutton. p. 505.
- ISBN 0-7808-0097-4.
- ISBN 0-425-15117-4.
- Ruppelt, Edward J. (1956). The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. pp. 30–31.