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Martin's report is a model of how retrospective 'cold case' investigation should be conducted and how, in some cases this can lead some hitherto unexplained UFOs to become IFOs....  read more 

High altitude balloons of that day were not of the size and volume of those sent aloft in the present. The envelopes of the helium filled "Skyhook" type balloons were not as strong back then. The seams of the mylar could not be bonded as well as they are now so to get the volume of helium needed to get these balloons to a level where they would expand to hundreds of feet in diameter at altitudes of 75,000 to 100,000 feet while supporting heavy payloads. In 1954 it was more likely that the balloons would get to about 100 feet in diameter at 75,000 feet and certainly well below that expansion at 14,000 to 19,000 feet.

Since this subject came up in another case some years ago I had discovered specs for the helium balloons [the US military WS-119L (128TT)] of that period (1953-54-55) and that these balloons did not exceed 128 feet in diameter at 100,000 feet. Assuming a size of perhaps 70-80 feet across at 19,000 feet the distance now becomes a factor where acuity is concerned and hardly the arresting phenomenon the flight crew observed.

Don LEDGER
Nova Scotia, Canada

[Don LEDGER is a pilot and a well-known UFO researcher. He authored two books on UFOs and one on the investigation of a 1998 airliner crash off the coast of Novia Scotia that killed 229 people.]

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This is indeed a splendid case history and exactly the way forward for future research into specific high strangeness cases.....  read more 

An intriguing report, but what I found really astonishing is that apparently not one of the fifty-odd people and crew on board had a camera with them!?.....  read more 

I actually addressed this point in Something in the Air as it was one of the things we asked the air crew about when we did our interviews in the mid 90s because it occurred to me as a worthy question.....  read more 

For what it's worth, Charles BOWEN's account of the case in The Unexplained had it that there was only one passenger on board with a camera handy.....  read more 

Brilliant, brilliant work on the case! I can't tell you how much I admire that kind of research thoroughness.....  read more