When time came do that this report should enter public domain, it was simply stamped and filed. It was there for anybody who asked . . .but most likely no one ever did. The report contains an accurate chain of events, set in place by the affidavits of eyewitnesses. As an incidental, it also shamelessly relegates to the scat heap the Air Force’s public opinion on the incident at the time.
written affidavits from Lt. Clements and Lt. Hendricks, affidavits from eye witnesses who saw the crash, and from Sgt. Blackwell, the operator at Godman. From all of these this article is based.
Ruppelt said that Mantell’s line about “it’s metallic and tremendous in size” stems from saucer buffs. It is in fact right in the affidavit of Sgt. Blackwell that this was clearly heard in the tower. Ruppelt apparently didn’t find too many key witnesses to interview.
In the long run, one must reserve judgment on Ruppelt’s evidence this was a Skyhook balloon, taking into account other inaccurate things he said and the poverty of his method of research.***
Next, a man on the ground, Glenn T. Mayes, was drawn to his window by the strange alternating revs of an airplane motor. Mantell’s plane was but a speck high up where it was flying level; it did 3 lazy circles, then went into a “power dive, slowly rotating.” It blew up half way to the ground. This was also confirmed by Mrs. Carey Phillips, who looked out her window and watched it crash 250 yards from her farmhouse. This was near Franklin, a few miles out to the southwest.
Captain Richard Tyler and a crew of trained mechanics and specialists left Standiford at 5:30 p.m. en route to Franklin in a C-47.
Meanwhile the police had cordoned off the area, and the county coronor, Harry Booker, examined the dead body of Mantell. He noted that Mantell’s wrist watch had shattered at 3:18 p.m. and fixed this as the time of death.
The pictures below, contained in the official report, were taken that night and the next morning and give you an idea of what the accident scene looked like.
The Air Force was able to do a fairly good examination. The report is pretty straight forward.
One, his aircraft was found trimmed for maximum climb. His cockpit lock was still in place, so he never tried to get out. The chief investigator, Captain Tyler (also Mantell’s best friend), summed it up in a preliminary report. “My personal opinion of the accident is that Mantell, an aggressive pilot, attempted to pursue the object as long as possible, even though he realized his danger from lack of oxygen. At about 25,000 feet I believe he passed out from anoxia and the plane continued climbing to about 30,000 feet where it did three lazy circles and went into a power dive, slowly
personnel who said it was parachute-like or like an ice cream cone, the latter a very good description of a Skyhook balloon!
The Air Force, of course, could not admit to a balloon of that type existing. They, rather blithely, blamed Venus. They stuck to this seemingly ridiculous excuse because so much of the facts were publicly jumbled they could get away with it. Venus was visible that day in the southern sky, about six times brighter than the surrounding sky– which is very meager. To the naked eye this would barely be visible. Because the object went to the south of Godman, it was easy to say Mantell chased Venus. However, the affidavit of Lt. Clements, now public domain, confirms
“Roger, I’ll give you a call when I identify it,” Mantell replied.
Bob Hendricks was in a hurry to get to Standiford, so he requested Mantell to let him go, which Mantell granted. The time was 2:40 p.m.* Hendricks broke off. (*This is Hendrick’s time; but it seems too early. The tower operator, Sgt. Blackwell, thought he called Mantell at 2:30 p.m. Lt. Clements, the element leader, says this was 2:55 p.m.)
Mantell spiraled up to his right in a high power climb at 180 ISP, backtracking over his route. Lt. Al Clements and his wingman Lt. Hammond had to thrust into 2700 RPM just to keep up, though they didn’t know what it was all about. Hot on his tail, they reached 14,000 feet where Mantell came out of his spiral and took a southwesterly heading of 220o, maintaining full climb power. (Godman must have been telling him at this point that the object was at a high elevation.)
Mantell signaled Godman: “I am at 15,000 feet. I have the object in sight above and ahead of me, and it appears to be moving at about half my speed or approximately 180 miles per hour. I am going up to 20,000.”
“Can you, uh, give us a description of the object? Over.”
Mantell’s wingman, Lt. Bob Hendricks, noticed that Mantell was talking, so he switched from channel “C” (which the squadron had been on) to channel “B” and overheard the tower say “Come over the field on a heading of 330o and we will try to guide you.”
The sequence of events are simple. On January 7, 1948, Captain Thomas Mantell was in charge of a ferry flight of 4 P-51D Mustangs from Marietta, Georgia, to Standiford AFB, Kentucky. At about 2:50 to 2:55 p.m., Mantell’s flight was off course to the left. While nearing Godman Field in Kentucky (by Fort Knox), Mantell switched to channel “B” to contact Standiford AFB, but was picked up by nearby Godman Tower.
“Godman Tower Calling the flight of 4 ships northbound over Godman Field. Do you read? Over. [Pause] Godman Tower Calling the flight of 4 ships northbound over Godman Field. Do you read? Over.”
“Roger, Godman Tower. This is National Guard 869, Flight Leader of the formation. Over.”
“National Guard 869 from Godman Tower. We have an object out south of Godman here that we are unable to identify, and we would like to know if you have gas enough; and if so could you take a look for us if you will.”
A squadron of 4 P-51 Mustangs. Positions are: Flight Leader, his wingman, Element Leader and his wingman. The P-51 was the top fighter at the end of World War II. Mantell and his flight were all in the Kentucky National Guard. Mantell became a pilot in 1943 and worked his way up to Captain. He was 25 when he died. His wingman was Lt. Bob Hendricks that day. Element Leader was Lt. Al Clements; his wigman: Lt. Hammond.
“Roger, I have the gas and I will take a look for you if you give me the correct heading
and any information you have on locating the object.”
“It appears to be a metallic object or possibly reflection of sun from a metallic object, and it is of tremendous size.”
At 16,000 feet Clements, the only man with any oxygen, put his mask on since he began to feel the effects of anoxia (lack of oxygen) associated with too high an altitude. He saw that Mantell was continuing his steep climb despite the fact he had no oxygen aboard. At 18,000 feet Clements tried to overtake Mantell. When finally he came abreast him, he motioned to turn to “B” channel.
“We are considerably past our ETA at Standiford. I think we should contact Godman to relay our position to Flight Service.”
“Roger.”
However, Clements never heard Mantell do this. A few minutes later Mantell said, “Look, there’s a town down there with an airport beside it.”
“I can tell that’s Bowling Green. Do you know we are at 20,000 feet?”
Although in his affidavit Lt. Clements stated he asked Mantell at this point what they were looking for, one might imagine this to be a decorous translation from a pilot’s usual vernacular. “What the hell are we looking
The flight is going northward, off course. Clements remembers using the Ohio River as a landmark. Just south of the Ohio is Godman. It was at this moment that Godman called Mantell. Mantell detached Hendricks and spiraled up to the right, crossed his path and roared across the whole state of Kentucky, crashing near Franklin, near the Tennessee border 100 miles from Godman. At near full throttle a Mustang could easily do it in 20 minutes.
for?” (which indeed some tower personnel claim they heard)
To this Mantell replied: “Look, there it is out there at 12 o’clock.”
Clements saw “a bright appearing object, very small, and so far away as to be unable to identify it as to size, shape, color, but it was definitely something which could be seen. Its position was slightly lower and to the left of the sun.”
“Roger, I see it. We don’t seem to be gaining on it. Maybe it would be better if we level off and pick up some speed and get under it.”
Mantell responded: “We will go up to 25,000, level off and fly 10 minutes, and if if we can’t get any closer then we’ll go down.”
At 22,500 feet Clements told Mantell they were too high. His wingman was already getting dizzy. At 23,000 feet Clements called up Mantell and told him that he and Hammond were breaking off. Mantell’s reply was garbled. Clements last saw Mantell climbing at high power directly into the sun.
Godman Tower picked up this last communication, clocked at 3:15 p.m. : “Directly ahead of me and slightly above, and is now moving at about my speed or better. I am trying to close in for a better look.”
Central part of the wreckage. One blade from the prop sticks up. The right wing collapsed upon impact. The fuselage is half buried in mud from impact.
Right side of engine and propellor
Close up of engine
Fuselage, including area of cockpit.
rotating to the left with the engine torque. I believe he reached compressablilty at about 15,000 feet and the left wing blew off, parts started coming off and raining down for nearly a mile in a north to south direction, scattering the lightest parts the furthest away. I think the pilot was dead of anoxia when he started down. When the left wing came off the right wing acted as a fin or rudder for the fuselage and guided the fuselage straight down, parelell to the ground.
. . .I was Mantell’s closest friend . . .His interest in flying could not be excelled. He loved the P-51, felt he was the master of it and flew . . .not carelessly but like an agressive fighter pilot. I firmly believe that if he thought he had a chance of catching this object he would have pursued it knowlingly to his death. I think that he saw something more than a star or balloon . . .and he was above average intelligence. He did respect the airplane and the dangers of anoxia. If some outside force did not cause his death, I think that he passed out too quickly to change his line of flight.”
The last sentence, ‘If some outside force did not cause his death. . . .’ is loaded. It reflects the mania in the late ‘40s that UFOs were spaceships from another planet,
complete with nifty Flash Gordon rays and devices. This low key hysteria may have contributed to Mantell racing off, near half cocked, to chase the object. Pilots are notorious for talking about mysteries and UFOs. Since the July 1947 “Roswell Incident” and the “flap” of UFOs afterward, UFO interest had reached a fever pitch.
Saucer mania quickly gave its own rendition to the Mantell loss, saying that the plane was probably zapped by some ray, a la Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. Mantell’s body and the plane wreckage were disintegrated, full of little holes, and no piece bigger than a can lid was found. You can see that this is nonsense. Regardless, many still tout this as indisputable fact.
Nevertheless, Mantell’s death was not caused by being zapped by a ray or anything like it. Some of Tyler’s praise of Mantell can be excused, since he did not wish his friend incriminated for what could be called foolhardy flying. Also, Tyler’s deduction that Mantell could not have seen a balloon was based only on conventional balloons both he and Mantell had seen.
Skyhook was a top secret project going on, and no pilot knew what a 100 foot diameter Skyhook balloon even looked like. Later investigations by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, head of Project Blue Book in the early ‘50s, met a dead end with trying to tie
down the Air Force or Navy to admit a Skyhook was launched that day from Clinton County AFB in Ohio. With the winds prevailing, it would have floated right to where Godman Tower saw it. At least Ruppelt was able to get a description from Tower
“Left wing section, located 100 feet west of central wreckage”
Mantell and he were, toward the end of their flight, approaching the object from the East, as they were heading straight west into the setting sun. Venus would have been a faint dot on their left wing, not before them by the sun. And it certainly would have been impossible for Venus to stand out near the sun!
Investigation of the incident seems easier today than 50 years ago. Capt. Ruppelt’s account of it in his popular 1955 book, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, is so notably devoid of basic knowledge it reveals the amount of information the Air Force did not let Project Blue Book have. Ruppelt was not covering anything up when he wrote his book. He was retired by this time, and his book asked some hard questions on the possibilty of UFOs.
However, he may simply have been a poor investigator. He claims to have received the accident report. (I assume this is the same one I have.) Yet he still seems to have had little knowledge of what
“Close-up of left wing 100 feet from central wreckage”
“View of Horizontal Stabilizer 6\10 mile north of central wreckage.”
Ruppelt even went so far as to write: “My next step was to try to find out what Mantell’s wing men had seen or thought but this was a blind alley. All of this evidence was in the ruined portion of the
“View of right wing inner section and fuselage tank”
There seems to be no doubt that anoxia killed Mantell. But in the long run, there is still no solid explanation for the object both he and his wingman saw.
As to this, it is worthy to note that Clements had refueled at Standiford and was back up in the vicinity by 4:30. He .
“Photo of tail section–estimated 1\4 mile north of central wreckage.”
it to base, or even shoot it down. For this reason, no doubt, he did not change his radio frequency to inform his squadron what he was doing. Instead he kept in touch with Godman and tore off after the “UFO.” Whatever it was, he died bravely for what he believed was for the defense of his country and for the knowledge of mankind– It does seem sad if this turns out to be only a Skyhook balloon after all. . .but it still could have been.
happened. He didn’t even think that Mantell made it to 20,000 feet! More remarkable, he was also told and believed that all the papers on the incident were microfilmed in 1949 but that something was spilled on the microfilm which ruined a lot of it.
His personal investigation was inspired by typical Air Force omniscience. In 1952 the Pentagon phoned him at Blue Book HQ and asked him what the incident was all about, for they had been receiving many calls about it and wanted to know. (Only a few years after-the-fact, the Air Force was already ignorant of one of the most famous incidents of its time.) Hampered by the destroyed microfilm, he set out to interview those whom he could find.
microfilm, even their names were missing. The only reference I could find to them was a vague passage indicating they hadn’t seen anything.”
That ruined microfilm was apparently only ruined when Ruppelt asked about it. The Accident Report at Maxwell contains not only the names of all of the wingmen, but
Debunkers often rely on Ruppelt’s account, citing his position with the Air Force and his open minded attitude towards UFOs. They follow the same accounts to this day which speak of Mantell racing off on his own, with no wingman to confirm the UFO. They believe he blacked out long before 20,000 feet.
went as high as 33,000 feet (he now had oxygen) but reported seeing nothing.
Whether it was a Skyhook balloon or a “flying saucer,” Mantell’s death was ultimately caused by the hype over UFOs which no doubt caused him to chase after it at all costs. Here he had a chance to finally find out what they really were. Perhaps he thought he could relate
*** When Project Blue Book files were released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act in the 1970s, Brad Steiger edited a book Project Blue Book in 1976. The book’s great weakness is not Steiger but the fact it’s an editing of what were inaccurate files to begin with. The Mantell case is worthless. All is based on Ruppelt’s belated research, except pilot names were now known. The testimony of Sgt. Quinton Blackwell is notable for not containing the controversial lines spoken by Mantell– “metallic and tremendous in size”– which were, however, kept in the Accident Report affidavit he signed.
Also, the papers show that Clinton County AFB also had reported the object. It is unlikely that they would report their own balloon as unidentified if they had just launched it.
Today, it is claimed that the “skyhook” in question was actually launched from Camp Ripley, Minnesota, at 8 a.m. on January 6. If that is the case, it seems strange that it would still be visible 32 hours later over Kentucky so that tower controllers could see it-- but then in the span of an hour it should speed over the state. From the map above, note how far Mantell chased it in that brief time-- almost to the Tennessee border. Winds were supposedly not heading in that direction.
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