RB-47H from Mississippi to Oklahoma

RB-47H from Mississippi to Oklahoma

Early on 17 July 1957 an RB-47H electronic reconnaissance aircraft of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, callsign Lacy 17, was flying over the southern United States. Near Meridian, Mississippi, its ECM operator No. 2 picked up a signal of “2995 MC TO 3000 MC” that moved up his direction-finding scope, which the wing read as “AN AIRBORNE SOURCE”. From 1010Z the aircraft commander and co-pilot saw a bright light; for the next 90 minutes, as far as Oklahoma City, the wing’s message follows the signal’s bearings and the crew’s sightings, and its intelligence officer had “NO DOUBT” that they coincided. By the same message the air defence site “Utah” confirmed the object on its scopes; the same day the radar squadron at Duncanville, Texas, wrote of “NEGATIVE CONTACT WITH OBJECT”, and the commander called the attempt to find it on the aircraft’s own radar “UNSUCCESSFUL”. Project Blue Book’s record card concludes “Was Aircraft”, with the comment “Identified as american Airlines flight 655.” (NAID 28970538, image 1). The Air Technical Intelligence Center had written: “it is impossible to make any determination from the information submitted. On the other hand, it is difficult to conclude that nothing was present, in the face of the visual and other data presented.” (image 7)

Source document: Original public reference