HISTORICAL

Mantell UFO incident — Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell died chasing a UFO in his F-51 Mustang. Officially explained as a Skyhook balloon, but became the first fatal UFO chase.

On the afternoon of January 7, 1948, Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Captain Thomas Mantell pursued a large unidentified object visible from Godman Field near Fort Knox and was killed when his F-51 Mustang fighter crashed near Franklin, Kentucky. Mantell was the first US military pilot to die in connection with an active UFO chase. 【Background】 Mantell, 25, was a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot and decorated World War II Distinguished Flying Cross recipient. On January 7, multiple civilians and the Godman Field tower observed a slow-moving, very bright, conical object high in the southwestern sky. Kentucky State Police and the Godman tower phoned several reports up the chain. 【The Encounter】 Four P-51 Mustangs of a Kentucky Air National Guard flight, returning to base, were vectored toward the object. Three turned back at altitude due to low fuel; Mantell continued the pursuit, climbing to over 20,000 feet without supplemental oxygen. His final radio transmission described the object as "metallic and of tremendous size" before contact was lost. His aircraft was found crashed in a field outside Franklin. 【Investigation】 The US Air Force initially proposed that Mantell had been chasing the planet Venus. This explanation was widely ridiculed even at the time because Venus was barely visible above the horizon in mid-afternoon. The Air Force subsequently revised the explanation to a Skyhook research balloon — at that time a still-classified high-altitude research program. The Skyhook hypothesis remains the most widely accepted modern explanation, although the specific Skyhook launch records that would corroborate it have never been satisfactorily produced. 【Modern Assessment】 The Mantell case dramatically intensified popular interest in flying saucers in 1948 and contributed directly to the formal establishment of Project Sign — the first US Air Force UFO investigation programme. Mantell's death, regardless of the cause, marked the moment when the "flying saucer" phenomenon transitioned in public perception from curiosity to potential aviation hazard. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantell_UFO_incident

37.6800°, -85.8800°

Source: Wikipedia