Army radar at Fort Monmouth tracks fast targets after a T-33 chase
September 10, 1951 – September 11, 1951 · Fort Monmouth, New Jersey · Sighting · Original document
On 10 September 1951 an AN/MPG-1 radar at Fort Monmouth picked up a fast, low target southeast of the post that followed the coastline and moved too quickly for the set's aided tracking. Further contacts on 10 and 11 September included a target that hovered almost still over Navesink at about 6,000 feet while rapidly changing elevation. The Army's intelligence officer passed the report to the FBI with a request to coordinate it with the Air Force. In March 1952 Captain Edward J. Ruppelt described the case: pilots in a T-33 had chased a large disc they could not catch, and radar stations then clocked objects at up to 3,500 mph.
Era: Flying discs and the first inquiries · Themes: Military and police witnesses, U.S. military investigations
Why it matters (3/5)
Investigated by the Air Force at the time and singled out by Ruppelt in his 1952 briefing; still widely cited.
The other side
Ruppelt told his audience that the pilots had seen a large balloon launched from Fort Monmouth, and that the radar operators, flustered while demonstrating the set to visiting officers, had failed to lock on and assumed a very high speed. The Army report itself gives no explanation.
Sources
- FBI file 62-HQ-83894 "Flying Discs", Section 6 (1950-1951) (Federal Bureau of Investigation (released by the Department of War)), primary
- Transcript of a Presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, 1952 (DOW-UAP-D154) (U.S. Department of War), criticism