nother second the three deltas made a slight left bank and shot
by the B-25 at terrific speed. The colonels estimated that the speed
was at least three times that of an F-86. They got a good look at the
three deltas as the unusual craft passed within 400 to 800 yards of
the B-25.
When they landed at Colorado Springs, the two colonels called the
intelligence people at Air Defense Command Headquarters to make a UFO
report. The suggestion was offered that they might have seen three F-
86's. The colonels promptly replied that if the objects had been F-
86's they would have easily been recognized as such. The colonels
knew what F-86's looked like.
Air Defense Command relayed the report to Project Blue Book. An
investigation was started at once.
Flight Service, which clears all military aircraft flights, was
contacted and asked about the location of aircraft near the Carson
Sink area at 3:40P.M. They had no record of the presence of aircraft
in that area.
Since the colonels had mentioned delta wing aircraft, and both the
Air Force and the Navy had a few of this type, we double-checked. The
Navy's deltas were all on the east coast, at least all of the silver
ones were. A few deltas painted the traditional navy blue were on the
west coast, but not near Carson Sink. The Air Force's one delta was
temporarily grounded.
Since balloons once in a while can appear to have an odd shape, all
balloon flights were checked for both standard weather balloons and
the big 100-foot-diameter research balloons. Nothing was found.
A quick check on the two colonels revealed that both of them were
command pilots and that each had several thousand hours of flying
time. They were stationed at the Pentagon. Their highly classified
assignments were such that they would be in a position to recognize
_anything_ that the United States knows to be flying anywhere in the
world.
Both men had friends who had "seen flying saucers" at some time, but
both had openly voiced their skepticism. Now, from what the colonels
said when they were interviewed after landing at Colorado Springs,
they had changed their opinions.
Nobody knows what the two colonels saw over Carson Sink. However, it
is always possible to speculate. Maybe they just thought they were
close enough to the three objects to see them plainly. The objects
might have been three F-86's: maybe Flight Service lost the records.
It could be that the three F-86's had taken off to fly in the
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