Saturday, February 15, 2014

Eglin AFB - October 1973 - A Blast from the Past


A correspondent provides new details of an object that was seen over Eglin AFB in 1973, investigated by the Air Force, and was most definitely not Venus:
I was one of the technicians that observed the UFO on the referenced night. This is the first public reference I have seen since that night. I would like to know how I might be able to obtain further information or the file the USAF created that night if possible. I was interviewed by an officer following the incident. And far more than four of us were involved including the military police. Thanks for any assistance you may be able to provide.
My Reply:
The source traces back to a UFO researcher Robert D Boyd, page 237 of a book or journal titled 'A Comparative Unit' published in 1985. However I can find no trace of such a book on the web and I suppose the title is truncated. Do you have any detail about the sighting you can add?
His report:
Here is a description as best as I can recall from this incident. My intent here is to provide this for documentation however I know that the Air Force knew far more than I that night. I would hope to get a chance to have them tell me face to face what they knew before I get to old. I still maintain contact with the co-worker. 
Eglin AFB October 17, 1973, approximately 0415 hrs
It was around 0415 hrs and myself, and others were on duty at Eglin AFB Hospital. The night was clear and no clouds were present. A co-worker received a call and I heard him say, “Really, OK, We will be right down”. The co-worker asked me to follow him and we took off running down the steps then the first floor hall way to the emergency room. I am thinking we are going to come in on an emergency. Instead I continue to follow my co-worker out the ER doors to the outside parking lot on the North Side of the hospital grounds. 
Before us was, a security police truck and several people identified as two security police and other hospital personnel. One of the security police was on the radio speaking to someone, unknown, and asking if, “they had seen it or picked it up”. At that time one of the hospital staff told my co-worker to look at a bright light in the night sky to the east. I recall looking at the light and thinking it was a bright star. The person who spoke with my co-worker commented that it was a UFO that had been over the hospital before they called us and had moved to the spot we were now looking at. 

Eglin Night Sky to the East, 17 October 1973, 04:15 - Moon is up and Jupiter - Venus not involved!
After what seemed like several minutes we returned to the second floor and informed our other co-worker of what we had witnessed and took her to a second floor window where we all could still plainly see the bright object. Within a minute of looking out the window the bright light suddenly moved to a position about 200 – 300 feet east of us or directly out the window. What we witnessed can only be described as unfathomable to any one who has never witnessed an event such as this. The object can be described as approximately two or three stories in height and approximately 200 to 300 feet in length. A building was present just below the object which allowed a scale for comparison. 
It appeared to be metallic because of the luster like surface and a dark silver color. Lights appeared to be around it but not like lights I had ever seen, i.e., more of a translucent light. I can almost say a window like panel was in place but again not like anything we would see here on earth. I had a certain feeling that whatever was in the object could see us as well. There was no noise and it floated with ease and unwavering. 
In the distance was a C-130 with a search light scanning the land in front and below. As it was night it was easy to see the light. Parking lot lights also accentuated the object. The C-130 approached from the east and as it got closer to the object the object shifted left (north) approximately 200 feet. Again no noise and the speed, was instant. The shift from one position to the other was immeasurable. No disturbance occurred, around the object, i.e., no wind, no noise, shaking, etc. I recall the C-130 turning as if it knew where the object was and continue on its approach. As the C-130 search light came closer and almost on the object the object went up at an angle to the southeast and disappeared outside our vision into space. The time it took to go from that point to out of sight was possibly a second or less.
The whole event from the call my co-worker took to the moment the object left our vision was possibly 20 minutes. The time of the event from going to the window and seeing the object leave was approximately 5 minutes. We were stunned at what had happened.
We reported the event to others shortly after the occurrence. As our shift ended that morning around 0700 hrs I was interviewed by a couple of officers who took the information. I do not recall the names of those officers.


2 comments:

  1. Your stellarium image is wrong. You have the time zone wrong somehow. It appears to be the sky for 8:15 PM CST (2:15UTC) and not 4:15 AM CST. The object near the moon was not Jupiter but Saturn.

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  2. Mea Culpa. I had the wrong location in my settings. It shows the skies for 4:15UTC, which was 10:15 local time. So, you need to either convert your time zone to 4:15 AM CST or use at time of 10:15UTC for a true representation of the night sky. Venus still was not visible but a very bright Mars (mag. -2.2) was in the western sky.

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