{"it":{"id":"UFO-KIN1953","name":"Kinross incident (Felix Moncla)","kind":"ufo","sub":"Historical sighting","place":"Lake Superior, near Kinross AFB, Michigan, USA","lat":47.0,"lon":-84.5,"date":"1953-11-23","rep":"Scrambled from Kinross AFB after Sault Ste. Marie radar saw an unknown target.","off":"USAF: crashed while intercepting an off-course Canadian aircraft; the RCAF denied involvement.","src":[{"t":"Wikipedia: Felix Moncla","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla"}],"tags":["Sightings"],"sum":"On 23 November 1953 an F-89C was sent after an unknown target over Lake Superior. Radar blips merged at about 8,000 feet; the jet was never found.","nsrc":1,"new":1,"qs":["Two radar blips merged at 8,000 feet and the jet was never found. If the Canadians say it wasn't their plane, what was Moncla chasing?","The USAF named an RCAF aircraft; the RCAF denied it. When two allied militaries disagree on record, which one do you believe, and why?","Lake Superior is deep and cold, but not a single piece of an F-89 surfaced. Does that make the case more mysterious, or simply sadder?"],"yt":"Find the RCAF's denial and the USAF account; what would reconcile them?","rel":["UFO-MAN1948"],"hook":"Two radar returns merged over Lake Superior in 1953. One flew on. The jet and its crew were never found.","why":"Two airmen vanished during an intercept, and the parts of the file that would explain why are the parts still withheld."},"S":{},"rec":{"id":"UFO-KIN1953","sum":"On 23 November 1953 a ground radar controller watched two returns merge on his scope over Lake Superior. One of them carried on along its course. The other, an Air Force F-89C interceptor carrying First Lieutenant Felix E. Moncla Jr. and Second Lieutenant Robert L. Wilson, disappeared from the screen and from the world.\n\nThe accident report, released after a 1993 freedom-of-information request, gives the bare sequence. The jet, from the 433rd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, was airborne at 1822 Eastern time to identify an unknown target. It was taken down to 7,000 feet and told the target lay at 11 o'clock, 10 miles away. Then the returns merged. In the board's narrative a line has been cut out right after that word.\n\nThe Air Force named the unknown: a Royal Canadian Air Force Dakota, VC-912, flying from Winnipeg to Sudbury at 7,000 feet. The weather was light snow, with rime icing in the clouds. The F-89's last reported position was 48° north, 86°49' west.\n\nThe search covered 29,600 square miles and was suspended on 28 November with about 80 per cent of the area searched. Wilson's father had it reopened in May 1954. Nothing was found. The board's findings and the controllers' statements were withheld from the release.\n\nIcing and a crash into a freezing lake would account for everything except the missing pages. Why are the board's findings still held back?","qs":["The board's findings were withheld. Does secrecy here point to a cover-up or to routine caution?","A line was cut from the report right after the returns merged. What would you want it to say?","Icing explains a crash. Does it explain why nothing was ever found?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/GeneMonclaT33atTruaxField.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GeneMonclaT33atTruaxField.jpg","title":"GeneMonclaT33atTruaxField.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 3.0","by":"Gordheath at English Wikipedia","alt":"Kinross incident (Felix Moncla): Gene Moncla T33at Truax Field"}],"ms":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"src":[{"t":"Wikipedia: Felix Moncla","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla"},{"id":"VUFO-KIN1953-2","t":"NICAP: Kinross AFB F-89 accident report (1953)","u":"http://www.nicap.org/reports/Kinross_acc_rept.htm"}],"pts":[{"p":"F-89C scrambled from Kinross AFB after Sault Ste. Marie radar saw an unknown target.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Felix Moncla","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla"},{"p":"Radar showed the blips merging at about 8,000 ft; the jet was never found.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Felix Moncla","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla"},{"p":"USAF said the target was an RCAF aircraft (\"VC-912\") about 30 mi off course.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Felix Moncla","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla"},{"p":"USAF: Moncla crashed while tracking an off-course RCAF C-47.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Felix Moncla","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla"}]},"img":null,"md":null,"hh":null,"hs":{},"lh":{"s":"img/h/UFO-KIN1953.webp","w":597,"h":741,"o":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/GeneMonclaT33atTruaxField.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original"}}