RB-47 radar/ELINT-visual incident (17 Jul 1957).
documentedclose_encounterLandmark High-Strangeness Cases
[DOCUMENTED] 17 Jul 1957: USAF RB-47H ELINT aircraft (6 crew incl. pilot Maj. Lewis D. Chase, Capt. James McCoid, ELINT monitor Capt. Frank McClure) tracked an object for >600 mi and >1 hr from near Gulfport MS through Louisiana and Texas into southern Oklahoma. The object was seen visually (intense white/red light), tracked on ground radar, and detected on the aircraft's 2.8 GHz ELINT gear simultaneously across all three channels, with coordinated appearances/disappearances.
Scientifically notable because three physically distinct detection channels coincided. McClure's #2 ELINT monitor picked up a 2.8 GHz signal (a frequency normally from ground radar) that moved around the 500-mph aircraft, implying an airborne source. Pilot Chase reported simultaneity between sensing he was closing on the target and ground radar showing the target had stopped; the object then vanished off scopes and ELINT at once. Analyzed in depth by atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald ('Twenty-Two Years of Inadequate UFO Investigations,' AAAS 134th meeting, Dec 1968/1969) from direct crew interviews. Reviewed by the Condon Report (investigator Roy Craig). Classified for years. Competing [COMPETING-DOCUMENTED]: conventional radar/ELINT artifacts and misidentification, contested given the cross-channel coherence.