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we i a ee ae 2 et A en ant are ie mame ately aR cab ae oe mk ek. Nl ntl iN i ya Tc 20 Ne ea f, — 6 CI JET "EXPLODES" CHASING UFO NEAR UTICA, N.Y¥.: The gamy but sauce phobic press tried pitting wits with its readership. They handed the unsus- pecting reader a front page story without the facts, then ( see July 3 New Y: Times) presented the facts in a separate story buried in the back pagés. Rea ey feared public reaction to saucer tragedy, viz: Capt. Mantell. But, wit ' didn't pit right with ed Bloecher and others suchas Lester §. Parker of Top ' Kansas. They correlated the loose ends: « ire. . 4 Let's review one "end" -- the front page story: A jet fighter returning from "scramble" to investigate an “unidentified aircraft", plunged into tiny Wales eleven miles southwest of Utica, about 12:30 P.M., July 2,1954. The plane crashed into an auto and two buildings killing four persons. The Air Force in Washington announced the F-94-C Starfire had been sent u on “an active alr defense intercept mission." According to the U.P. releas of July 3, "Air Force spokesmen said the cockpit of the plane ... became ur bearably hot during the flight and that the pilot ordered his radar observer t a a care Qenel aela bail out... then bailed out himeelf at 7000 ft." ne According to the A. P. release in New York Times July 3, “The air base (Gi AFB) said, ‘that fuel in the burning plane apparently had exploded when the , crashed.‘ They said it had not been determined whether an explosion oceurr while the jet was in the air.” cepted plane was one that had failed to file a flight plan with C, A.A. or, one that drifted off its announced flight path." The U.P. and A.P. stories of disaster were essentially true, but because o! "disaster" angle they designated the pursued object as ‘a "plane" rather than : : YFO. Ted Bloecher, who did some checking, told me that his friend, Ed Wilkenson, listened to a broadcast which described the incident, thus: "The jet had successfully contacted the UFO but still could not identify it." But Ted Bloecher's real find was in the small itern buried in the New York 7 (July 3) back pages. It reads: ‘A silvery, balloon-like object floating high over the Utica area sent resident rushing to their telephones to make inquiries of newspapers, police and radi stations. UPThe Utica Press eetimated that more than 1906 ce lis about the object jamm its switchboard between 6 and 10:00 P.M. It was reported sighted by reside in a twenty-five mile radius extending from Rome on the west to Frankfort, east of Utica. as "Gol. Milton F. Summerfelt commandant of the Air Force Depot at Rome sa : "= the object appeared to be a plastic balloon about 40 ft. long and partially deflate Pat ‘* He theorized that it was making a gradual descent and said that if it still wer i | 3 ad , & the area tomorrow morning a plane would be sent to investigate. mA Mohawk Airlines pilot estimated the altitude of the object at about 20, 000 | He said he saw a light epparently shining from. it. "' ~s,- > (Ref. Case File - 21) ’ “Later," accerding to A. P.., "an AF spokesman in Washington said the inte: