{"it":{"id":"UFO-GOR1948","name":"Gorman dogfight","kind":"ufo","sub":"Historical sighting","place":"Fargo, North Dakota, USA","lat":46.877,"lon":-96.79,"date":"1948-10-01","rep":"His P-51 stalled at 14,000 ft with the object still 2,000 ft above.","off":"The Air Force (1949): a lighted balloon.","src":[{"t":"Wikipedia: Gorman dogfight","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfight"}],"tags":["Sightings"],"sum":"On 1 October 1948 over Fargo, pilot George Gorman chased a light for twenty minutes; by his account it out-turned and out-climbed his P-51.","nsrc":1,"new":1,"qs":["Gorman said the light climbed past his stalled P-51 at 14,000 feet. Could a drifting balloon really outfly a fighter pilot for twenty minutes?","Three 'classic' 1948 cases, three official explanations: Venus, a meteor, a balloon. Were the answers found, or chosen?","Put yourself in that cockpit at night, chasing a light that turns when you turn. Would you trust your own eyes afterward?"],"yt":"Could a balloon out-climb a P-51? Work the numbers.","rel":["UFO-MAN1948"],"hook":"Over Fargo in 1948, pilot George Gorman dogfought a blinking light. Blue Book's chief said it was a balloon.","why":"A named Guard pilot, ground witnesses, a radioactivity scare and the Air Force's balloon answer."},"S":{},"rec":{"id":"UFO-GOR1948","sum":"\"I had the distinct impression that its maneuvers were controlled by thought or reason,\" George F. Gorman said. He was a twenty-five-year-old second lieutenant in the North Dakota Air National Guard, flying an F-51 near Fargo on the evening of 1 October 1948.\n\nAbout nine o'clock, as he got ready to land, a light passed him. The tower said only a Piper Cub was in the area. The light was 6 to 8 inches across and blinking. Gorman gave chase. At 7,000 feet, by his account, it turned and came at him head-on more than once, then climbed and disappeared.\n\nEdward Ruppelt, later head of Project Blue Book, records that others saw a light that night, including an oculist, Dr. A. D. Cannon, and the Cub's passenger, Einar Neilson. Investigators found Gorman's plane more radioactive than one that had stayed on the ground, but a Wright Field memo said cosmic rays at 20,000 to 30,000 feet raise readings.\n\nRuppelt's verdict was blunt: \"Gorman fought a lighted balloon too.\" He cited an Air Weather Service analysis dated January 24, 1949. Donald Keyhoe, who believed flying saucers were real craft, kept needling the Air Force over the case.\n\nA balloon drifts with the wind, yet a trained pilot swore it attacked him. What does a dogfight look like from inside the cockpit, at night, with nothing to judge distance by?","qs":["What does a dogfight look like from the cockpit at night, with nothing to judge distance by?","Why did the radioactivity reading matter so much?","How could a balloon seem to turn?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/F-51Ds_165th_FS_Kantucky_ANG_in_flight.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-51Ds_165th_FS_Kantucky_ANG_in_flight.jpg","title":"F-51Ds 165th FS Kantucky ANG in flight.jpg","lic":"Public domain","by":"USAF","alt":"Gorman dogfight: F-51Ds 165th FS Kantucky ANG in flight"}],"ms":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"src":[{"t":"Wikipedia: Gorman dogfight","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfight"},{"id":"VUFO-GOR1948-2","t":"Ruppelt 1956, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (Project Gutenberg text)","u":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17346/pg17346.txt"}],"pts":[{"p":"ANG pilot George Gorman in a P-51 engaged a light at about 9:07 pm; last seen 9:27 pm.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Gorman dogfight","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfight"},{"p":"Gorman said he stalled at 14,000 ft while chasing it.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Gorman dogfight","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfight"},{"p":"Project Sign/Grudge (1949) concluded it was a lighted weather balloon.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Gorman dogfight","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfight"},{"p":"Ruppelt listed it among three 1948 \"classic\" cases with Mantell and Chiles–Whitted.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Gorman dogfight","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfight"}]},"img":null,"md":null,"hh":null,"hs":{},"lh":{"s":"img/h/UFO-GOR1948.webp","w":1147,"h":703,"o":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/F-51Ds_165th_FS_Kantucky_ANG_in_flight.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original"}}