The Fort Monmouth UFO Case.

Another very interesting incident from the Project Grudge/Bluebook files in which two pilots of a T-33 training jet saw a disk like object descending below them - the T-33 began to give chase only for the object to stop, hover then fly away out over the ocean.

The object was also tracked on radar screens in front of visiting dignitaries who at the time were being given a demonstration of Fort Monmouth radar capabilities.

Captain Ruppelt, Chief of Project Bluebook, was very impressed by the facts surrounding this case and reccounts them in his book 'The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects' - he also mentions that the incident 'woke up' a lot of sceptics in the USAF.

The Monmouth Story - Too Many Coincidences - Captain Edward J. Ruppelt.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0d90ff0f8b58.jpg[/atsimg]

The incident had started two days before, on September 10, at 11:10 AM, when a student operator was giving a demonstration to a group of visiting brass at the radar school. He demonstrated the set under manual operation for a while, picking up local air traffic, then he announced that he would demonstrate automatic tracking, in which the set is put on a target and follows it without help from the operator. The set could track objects flying at jet speeds.
The operator spotted an object about 12,000 yards southeast of the station, flying low toward the north. He tried to switch the set to automatic tracking. He failed, tried again, failed again. He turned to his audience of VIPs, embarrassed.
"It's going too fast for the set," he said. "That means it's going faster than a jet!"
A lot of very important eyebrows lifted. What flies faster than a jet?
The object was in range for three minutes and the operator kept trying, without success, to get into automatic track. The target finally went off the scope, leaving the red-faced operator talking to himself.
The radar technicians at Fort Monmouth had checked the weather - there wasn't the slightest indication of an inversion layer.
Twenty-five minutes later the pilot of a T-33 jet trainer, carrying an Air Force major as passenger and flying at 20,000 feet over Point Pleasant, New Jersey, spotted a dull silver, disk-like object far below him. He described it as 30 to 50 feet in diameter and as descending toward Sandy Hook from an altitude from a mile or so. He banked the T-33 over started down after it. As he shot down, he reported, the object stopped its descent, hovered, then sped south, making a 120-degree turn, and vanished out to sea.
The Fort Monmouth Incident then switched back to the radar group. At 3:15 PM, they got an excited, almost frantic call from headquarters, to pick up a target high and to the north - which was where the first "faster-than-a-jet" object had vanished - and to pick it up in a hurry. They got a fix on it and reported that it was traveling slowly at 93,000 feet. They also could see it visually as a silver speck.
What flies 18 miles above the Earth?
The next morning two radar sets picked up another target that couldn't be tracked automatically. It would climb, level off, climb again, go into a dive. When it climbed it went almost straight up.
The two-day session ended that afternoon when the radar tracked another unidentified slow-moving object and tracked it for several minutes.

Edward J. Ruppelt, Captain
Head of Project Blue Book

Link

Pilot Report document:


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e44d217311c3.jpg[/atsimg]

AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT

Subject: UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT

Date of report: 21 SEPTEMBER 1951

Date of information 10 SEPTEMBER 1951

Reported by LT.COL. BRUCE K. BAUMGARDNER

On 10 September, Major ballard and Lt. Rogers were participating in a training flight from Dover AFB, Delaware to Mitchell AFB, New York (Direct), when they spotted an unidentified object over Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
The time was 1135 EDT, and the weather was CALM. When spotted, the object was at an estimated altitude of 8,000 feet. Flying at 20,000 feet, the pilot immediately made a diving turn in his T33 and followed and timed the object until it disappeared two minutes later.
Both pilots observed the strange object, which appeared to be the size of an F-86 but much faster (900+ mph), disc shaped, steady in flight with no visible means of propulsion, and shiny silver in color.
At 1110 EDT a radar station at Ft. Monmouth plotted an unidentified, high speed (above 700 mph) object in approximately the same location.
This headquarters has no information regarding natural phenomena, experimental aircraft of guided missiles that could have caused the observations.
Request USAF evaluation of incident be furnished this headquarters.

[Signed]

BRUCE K. BAUMGARTNER

Lt. Colonel, USAF
Director of Intelligence

Link

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Newspaper Article:

Monmouth pilots see UFO.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ce451ecc8174.gif[/atsimg]

MITCHEL FIELD, N. Y., Sept. 11 (UP)--Two Air Force jet pilots reported today they chased a mysterious round flying object--traveling at a speed they estimated at 900-miles-an-hour--for 30 miles and couldn't catch it.
Wilbert S. Rogers of Columbia, Pa., told Mitchel Field authorities that he and Capt. Edward Ballard, of Dover, Del., sighted the object yesterday over Sandy Hook, N. J., while they were on a routine flight in a T-33 jet training plane.
"I don't know if it was a flying saucer, but it sure was something I've never seen before," Lt. Rogers, pilot of the plane, said. "We couldn't have caught it in an F-86." (The F-86 Sabre jet is the United States' fastest jet fighter).
Rogers described the object as white or silver-colored and said it was about the size of a fighter plane.
Lt. Rogers and Capt. Ballard, on a flight from Dover Air Base in New Jersey, said when they sighted the object they were traveling at 450 miles an hour at 20,000 feet.
"I pointed it out to Capt. Ballard," Rogers said, "who suggested we try to follow it. But we soon found it was no use. It was going too fast."
The object moved in an arc from Sandy Hook to Redbank, N. J., and then headed out to sea at Asbury Park, N. J., Rogers said. He estimated it traveled the 30 mile course in two minutes, or a a speed of 900-miles-an-hour.
The U. S. Air Force and Navy have officially said that flying saucers reported previously had been nothing more than weather balloons.
"This couldn't have been a balloon," Rogers said, "because it was descending and no balloon goes that fast."
He said they got as close as 8,000 feet from the object which kept a constant speed and "didn't appear to be running away."

Link

Monmouth UFO map:








Declassified Documents about the incident:

ATS Thread - FOIA: Project Grudge Special Report No: 1

NICAP - Monmouth case directory


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Wow, they even posted the pilots chart plate from the incident. Fascinating stuff as usual Karl, I wish I had more time to discuss it as I'm at work right now. Nice work.

reply to post by Jocko Flocko


Cheers Jocko Flocko - Captain Ruppelt makes a very interesting remark below about how the Pentagon convened a meeting after the incident...and destroyed the recording - theres also a lovely story about how a U.S. General gave the staff of Project Grudge a hammering and accused them all of 'sloppy debunking'.




Pentagon meeting - minutes destroyed

After the Fort Monmouth, NJ, radar sightings (which started on Sept 10, 1951), the Air Force held a meeting at the Pentagon. General Cabell presided over the meeting, and it was attended by his entire staff plus Lieutenant Cummings, Lieutenant Colonel Rosengarten, and a special representative from Republic Aircraft Corporation. The man from Republic supposedly represented a group of top U.S. industrialists and scientists who thought that there should be a lot more sensible answers coming from the Air Force regarding UFOs.

"Every word of the two-hour meeting was recorded on a wire recorder. The recording was so hot that it was later destroyed, but not before I had heard it several times......it didn't exactly follow the tone of the official Air Force releases--many of the people present at the meeting weren't as convinced that the 'hoax, hallucination, and misidentification' answer was quite as positive as the Grudge Report and subsequent press releases made out."
Captain Edward J Ruppelt - Chief of Project Bluebook.

Sloppy Debunking

There were a series of UFO sightings near Fort Monmouth, New Jersey in 1951. Pilots and radar operators reported encounters with a number of fast-moving, highly maneuverable disc-shaped aircraft. A Life Magazine reporter was at Monmouth for some of the sightings, and the case received significant publicity.
When General Charles P. Cabell asked Grudge for their analysis of this UFO encounter, he learned that Grudge had essentially swept UFO reports under the carpet and was essentially moribund, he became furious. The Fort Monmouth case had highlighted Air Material Command's sloppy debunking, and at a meeting, a frustrated Cabell was reported to have said, "I want an open mind; in fact, I order an open mind! Anyone who doesn't keep an open mind can get out now! ... Why do I have to stir up the action? Anyone can see that we do not have a satisfactory answer to the saucer question." At another meeting--this one of military Colonels--Cabell said, "I've been lied to, and lied to, and lied to. I want it to stop. I want the answer to the saucers and I want a good answer." Cabell also characterized the 1949 Grudge report as "tripe".

Link

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

reply to post by karl 12


WOW, do you ever stop man? LOL, great work again! ATS is surely building a great UFO database (unfortunately many members may not find such legit sightings interesting, as they don't involve reptoids or Steven Greer!lol...) with your continuous excellent case reports posted. MUCH thanks my friend, you are truly a great asset to this forum. S/F...

reply to post by jkrog08


Hey bud, appreciate the reply - this case is certainly a very important one and, as it states below, was responsible for major restructuring of UFO policy within the Pentagon and USAF - the NICAP case directory on this incident is huge and the comments at the top of their page just about sum things up:

"What we have here is almost the perfect case, and there is certainly more to the story than we presently have on file".

Link

Report

We refer to this report as the Fort Monmouth Incident, although it actually covers a wider territory and is better documented in the T-33 jet encounter at Sandy Hook. I seriously doubt that we would have ever learned of either case had the latter encounter not been leaked to the press.

The Sandy Hook, NJ, encounter involved two credible witnesses, an AF lieutenant and a major, flying the T-33. The domed object, described as being discus-shaped and as large as a fighter plane, traveled 30 miles in two minutes (900 mph), made an 120-turn and vanished out to sea, something impossible for a balloon. And the fastest thing we had at the time was an F-86 Sabre jet which had just recently set a world's speed record at 735.411 mph.

And prior to this, Fort Monmouth witnesses had observed and radar-tracked an unknown they could not lock-on to because it was traveling too fast, above 700 mph. These witnesses included a radar expert who stated he had never seen anything like this object before. It was four years later that Captain Edward J. Ruppelt brought out the radar report which was glossed over in the Sandy Hook press coverage and Air Force documents.

The incident caused a major stir at the Pentagon and a restructuring of the Air Force UFO Project from GRUDGE to BLUE BOOK. The incident also had something to do with the project changing policies to restrict release of further information on UFOs. The evidence also indicates that these two events seemingly (temporarily) ushered in more pro UFO advocates at ATIC and AFOIN.

Link

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

From now on since I've seen absolutely zero interest in topics like this from the so called skeptics on this forum --they know who they are-- I'm going to give those skeptics ZERO credibility until they start tackling the hard subjects like this and many others like it.

Their opinions on the UFO phenomenon are considered null and void until they quit ignoring factually based evidence like this.

Incidents like this are KEY in understanding what is taking place in our skies. Trained observers, radar reports, investigations and documentation, all the essential ingredients for a solid case.

reply to post by karl 12


G'day karl 12

It is obvious that I have a huge interest in this topic.....

.....& it's an interest I've had since I was 7 or 8 years old.

Your ongoing reports & associated material are one of the highlights amongst all of my UFO reading over the years.....thank you

I have some questions.....

How important was Cabell in the context of senior officials that were involved in the UFO issue?

How credible is the reporting of the content of the Pentagon meeting?

What do you perceive as the "weakest" elements of this seemingly quite strong case?

Thanks again for all of your strong work on ATS.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

Originally posted by Jocko Flocko
From now on since I've seen absolutely zero interest in topics like this from the so called skeptics on this forum --they know who they are-- I'm going to give those skeptics ZERO credibility until they start tackling the hard subjects like this and many others like it.

Their opinions on the UFO phenomenon are considered null and void until they quit ignoring factually based evidence like this.

Incidents like this are KEY in understanding what is taking place in our skies. Trained observers, radar reports, investigations and documentation, all the essential ingredients for a solid case.

G'day Jocko Flocko

It's always nice to see you in the threads!

The point you raise about "skeptics" is a good one.

I was very interested to see Phage jump into one of the current UFO cases & strongly debate elements of a '50's disc sighting.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think it adds a lot to the discussion when Phage applies his strong, critical mind to these cases because he is able to "zero in" on details that appear to escape other members.

Whilst in my opinion Phage did not "debunk" or explain away that sighting completely, he certainly made me think more carefully about that & other cases.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

[edit on 26-2-2010 by Maybe...maybe not]

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


Maybe...maybe not, thanks for the message (and the very fine compliment) - you bring up some very interesting points about the case and I certainly appreciate the input.

Theres some important reading below about Major General George Cabell and it seems he was instrumental in UFO policy making and staff decisions within the Pentagon - it states below that after the Monmouth incident he replaced Colonel Watson with Frank Dunn and 'ordered ATIC to reactivate or create a new Project Grudge' (which turned out to be Project Bluebook) - as for the destroyed minutes of the Pentagon meeting, I wouldn't have put much stock in the story myself had it not come from the mouth of the 'Chief Official' in charge of investigating the UFO subject for the U.S. Government (Link).

Major General George Cabell

So much attention came to bear on the incidents that the Air Force Headquarters Intelligence director at the Pentagon, Major General Cabell, asked Air Technical Intelligence Center chief Harold Watson, in Dayton, Ohio, to look into the matter. Since 1948 the ATIC in Dayton had been responsible for collecting and investigating UFO reports.

Yet even before these incidents took place, General Cabell had come under pressure by many U.S. industrialists and scientists who felt the Air Force should be more forthcoming about UFO reports. They felt a renewed investigation should take place on a scale equal to that of 1948 during the first investigation named Project Sign. Cabell, who had once characterized the later Grudge Project and its report as “the most poorly written piece of unscientific tripe I’ve ever read,” seemed ready himself for a more serious study. That summer Cabell passed the mounting pressure on to Watson at ATIC although after the Fort Monmouth, New Jersey Reports, Cabell sent word down that he was even to be awakened during the middle of the night if he was needed.

Ironically, Watson had such a disdain for UFO sightings that initially he had hesitated to even forward the Fort Mommouth reports to Washington. In fact, when word of the incredible sightings first came into Dayton, the accounts were dismissed by Watson’s head of intelligence analysis, Colonel Bruno Feiling. Feiling completely bypassed Grudge and gave the report directly to James Rodgers who had once been in charge of the Grudge project and was Watson’s right-hand man. Apparently an argument of sorts soon arose within the ATIC offices as the New Jersey incidents gained more and more publicity. Finally, the report was sent to the Pentagon (apparently by some unnamed subordinate going over Watson’s head).

In response, Watson soon found himself in a heated conversation with Cabell. By then Watson knew he had to act fast, so he sent Lieutenant Colonel N.R. Rosengarten to New Jersey to conduct an investigation. Rosengarten then served as chief of Aircraft and Missiles at ATIC and technically had the old Grudge project under his many duties. He took with him intelligence officer Lieutenant Jerry Cummings who had actually taken over the administration of Grudge from James Rodgers. Although Cummings had only recently come to Grudge and, like Edward Ruppelt, had been reactivated with the start of hostilities in Korea. Ruppelt’s opinion of Cummings was very high, and it is evident from the UFO files that a more serious approach was taken as soon as Cummings was ordered to administer what was left of the Grudge operation. As a matter of fact, both Ruppelt and Cummings had desks in the same building. Ruppelt noticed that when Cummings was given the defunct operation, it had been due to Watson rewarding Rodgers with better duty. Yet during the transition, both Ruppelt and Cummings came to learn the history of Watson and Rodgers’ misadministration of Grudge.

Rosengarten and Cummings thus took great interest in their trip to New Jersey because it gave them the chance to finally investigate a really good report without direct interference from Watson and Rodgers. After arriving on the scene via a commercial airliner direct from Dayton, they worked around the clock to interrogate the radar operators and all participating technicians at Fort Monmouth. Following their investigation, Rosengarten and Cummings interrogated the T-33 pilots in New York. After that they headed to Washington to brief Cabell but couldn’t get an airliner out of New York in time to catch a scheduled 10:00 A.M. meeting, so they charted a private plane. When they reached the Pentagon they found themselves participating in a very intense briefing with not just Cabell, but other top Pentagon Intelligence officials.

By the start of the meeting it is apparent that Rosengarten and Cummings had not only become impressed with the reports, but decided to take it upon themselves to put an end to Colonel Watson and his anti-UFO policy. We now know that during the meeting Cummings (with approval from Rosengarten) told Cabell all he knew about the behind-the-scenes influences on Project Grudge.

Cabell thus came to the realization that Watson had been deceiving him. He learned that since Watson took charge at ATIC in July of 1949, he had been intentionally downplaying sightings. Watson, he discovered, had been persistently debunking UFOs—even going out of his way to grab publicity to do so. He had even talked with reporters and columnist Bob Considine and branded all those who saw UFOs as “nuts,” or “fatigued airline pilots.” This greatly insulted U.S. service personnel who had filed many UFO reports themselves. Yet not until this meeting did Cabell fully realize that Watson, along with his confidant and former Grudge project leader James Rodgers, had run Grudge into the ground.

Cabell replaced Watson with Colonel Frank Dunn that very month. Other heads rolled too. Soon anti-UFO men in the Pentagon like Major Jerry Boggs were also out. Cabell then ordered ATIC to reactivate or create a new Project Grudge—hereafter referred to as New Grudge. But as urgent as the orders appeared, no one really seemed to want the added duty. Dunn proceeded to put all the responsibility on Rosengarten who then put it on Cummings, but Cummings soon left the Air Force for an assignment at the California Institute of Technology. So, the task went back up to Rosengarten. On September 16th he passed it on to Lieutenant Edward Ruppelt and Lieutenant Henry Metscher who had worked with Cummings on cases like the famous Lubbock Lights Incidents in Texas.

Link

Regarding weak elements in the Monmouth case, if I was pushed I'd say the relative inexperience of the radar operator may have been a factor although its worth pointing out that the conditions were said to be perfect and the confirmation was closely examined as it occurred in front of visiting military brass.

Just as a footnote its interesting that this wasn't the first time a UFO had been tracked on radar screens in front of visiting military officials - the Goose bay Labrador incident of 1948 is also a very intriguing one and can be found at the bottom of this page.

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Good read karl, thanks for sharing.

I know I've said this before but the era of Project Bluebook is a favourite of mine and this case is another example of exactly why.

They just don't investigate UFO cases like they used to.


Jocko Flocko, I'm trying to make sense of your post, you're calling out sceptics because they're not here commenting on the case?

I also think your rant is totally uncalled for and frankly speaking, quite pointless.

I guess some people can't be pleased no matter what!

[edit on 27/2/10 by Chadwickus]

Originally posted by Jocko Flocko
Incidents like this are KEY in understanding what is taking place in our skies. Trained observers, radar reports, investigations and documentation, all the essential ingredients for a solid case.

Jocko Flocko - thanks for the reply and I do agree that there are quite a number of very interesting UFO threads which appear to have been overlooked down the years ( the
RB-47 thread by Internos and the Portage County incident thread by Easynow to name but two).

I also most definitely agree with your comments about radar reports, trained observers, government documentation etc..
John Greenewald Junior makes some very important points in this presentation and I think the NICAP evidence report should be read by just about everyone.

NICAP - UFO Evidence


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f14d1ad21bed.jpg[/atsimg]

A synthesis is presented of data concerning Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) reported during the past 20 years through governmental, press and private channels. The serious evidence is clarified and analyzed. The data are reported by categories of specially trained observers and studied by patterns of appearance, performance and periodic recurrence.

The UFO Evidence - published by NICAP

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Originally posted by Chadwickus
Good read karl, thanks for sharing.

I know I've said this before but the era of Project Bluebook is a favourite of mine and this case is another example of exactly why.

They just don't investigate UFO cases like they used to.

Chadwickus, thanks for the reply and I certainly agree that the Grudge/Bluebook transition era was a very interesting one - Dr James Mcdonald did a great job of examining some of these old cases from a scientific viewpoint and its revealing that many still remain completely unexplained.

Theres a pretty awesome NICAP link below dealing with the many strange UFO incidents of 1952 - Richard Hall makes some intriguing comments here:

The 1952 Sighting Wave

The summer 1952 UFO sighting wave was one of the largest of all time, and arguably the most significant of all time in terms of the credible reports and hardcore scientific data obtained. Electromagnetic (EM) effects and physical trace evidence were more prominent in other waves, but 1952 (and 1953) featured recurring radar detection of UFOs, often from both ground and airborne radar, visual sightings by jet interceptor pilots sent up to pursue the mysterious objects, and cat-and-mouse chases in which the UFOs seemed to toy with the interceptors. Further, Air Force investigators who plotted the sightings noticed that they were concentrated around strategic military bases, and this clearly posed a threat to national security since their origin was unknown. Senior generals in the Air Force concluded that UFOs were interplanetary in origin, and broadly hinted this belief in LIFE magazine for April 1952.

The 1952 Sighting Wave - Radar/Visual Sightings Establish UFOs As A Serious Mystery

Cheers.

""Jocko Flocko, I'm trying to make sense of your post, you're calling out sceptics because they're not here commenting on the case?""

This is exactly what I'm doing as the so called skeptics on this forum never tackle the real incidents such as this one, they would rather debunk the obviously explainable ones to support some ignorant sweeping generalization about the UFO phenomenon overall.

I don't see what is hard to grasp about my complaint as I'm not going to sit here and clutter this thread any longer with this subject as Karl's thread deserves more than that. If you can't see the obvious lack of attention to threads like this by the pseudo-skeptics on this forum, then I don't know what to tell you.

reply to post by karl 12


G'day karl 12

Thanks for your detailed & informative reply.

I look forward to further "karl 12" reading

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by Jocko Flocko


Maybe because there is nothing outwardly obvious to debunk or be sceptical about?

Yet you see this as a reason to attack sceptics?

Oh and for the record, I am hugely sceptical of most UFO cases but I enjoy well put together reports.

And here I am saying it's a good case.

So please, get off your high horse.

**EDIT: I just re-read your post and I get the gist of it now, the above stands but I would like to point out the contradiction of your statements.

You're calling out sceptics, or more specifically pseudo-sceptics for not getting involved in threads like this.

Wouldn't a pseudo-sceptic be all over threads like these trying to find every little inconsistency in the story to discredit it?

The fact that isn't happening should be pleasing to most sound minded people.

I guess you like to be different.



[edit on 27/2/10 by Chadwickus]

reply to post by Jocko Flocko


Is it the skeptics or rather the lack of evidence your anger is directed upon? Because any even minded person will acknowledge the UFO phenomena, the point is to find out what they are.

Awesome topic man! That's a great read There's too many Watson's in this world.

I understand where Jocko Flocko is coming from. It's not so easy to disprove when it's there in black and white

reply to post by -Sho-


Sho, thanks for the reply - theres some very interesting reading in the official government documents about the incident - apparently the pilots reported the object making right angle turns.

UFO Observed By Pilots Making 90 Degree Turn ~ September 10, 1951


Document One

Document Two

Lt. Rogers followed the object in a diving turn to the left descending to an altitude of about 16,000 feet with the object about 8,000 feet below and to the right of the aircraft. Thereafter he tried to keep a course paralleling, but above, that of the object.

As soon as Major Ballard completed his radio report he was notified of the strange object.Both watched it make a 90 degree turn to the left and kept it under observation together while it covered approximately 20 miles before it disappeared out to sea.

On the same date a radar station at Ft. Monmouth reported two targets that were unidentified, traveling over 700 mph, and giving returns that could not be explained as being equipment malfunction, anomalous propagation, or anything but an actual target as described in the attached report.

Link

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Dr James Mcdonald on the USAF's 'weather balloon' explanation for this incident:

..The airmen said that, as they tried to turn on the object, it appeared to execute a 120-degree turn over Freehold, N.J., before speeding out over the Atlantic. But from the upper winds for that day, it is clear that the Ft. Monmouth balloon trajectory would have taken it to the northeast, and by 1135, it would have been about over the coast in the vicinity of Sea Bright. Hence, at no time in the interval involved could the line of sight from T-33 to balloon have intersected Freehold, which lies about 15 miles WSW of the balloon release- point. Instead, had the airmen some how seen the radiosonde balloon from Pt. Pleasant, it would have lain to about their N or NNE and would have stayed in about that sector until they passed it. Furthermore, the size of the balloon poses a serious difficulty for the official analysis. Assuming that it had expanded to a diameter of about 15 feet as it ascended to about the 18,000-ft level, it would have subtended an arc of only 0.6 min, as seen from the T-33 when the latter passed over Pt. Pleasant. This angular size is, for an unaided eye, much too small to fit the airmen's descriptions of what they tried to intercept. In a press interview (Ref. 40), the pilot, Wilbert S. Rogers of Columbia, Pa., said the object was "perfectly round and flat" and that the center of the disc was raised "about six feet" and that it appeared to be moving at an airspeed of the order of 900 mph.The entire reasoning on which the balloon evaluation is elaborated fails to fit readily established points in the official case-summary.

Link