Person
Graham Bethune
Also known as Cmdr. Graham Bethune, Bethune
- Commander, U.S. Navy (ret.), pilot with a top secret clearance
Graham Bethune was a retired U.S. Navy commander and pilot who held a top-secret clearance. On the night of 10 February 1951, flying a Navy aircraft from Keflavik, Iceland, to Argentia, Newfoundland, he says his crew saw a huge circle of white lights on the sea about 300 miles out. When the lights went out, a glowing object rose from the sea, climbed towards their altitude, and flew alongside the aircraft, showing a dome.
At the Disclosure Project's 2001 press conference he said crew members ducking in alarm collided and were injured, the cockpit compass and direction finders failed, and the object was tracked on radar at more than 1,800 miles per hour. He also said 31 passengers saw it, that the Air Force interrogated the crew at Argentia and Navy intelligence took individual reports, and that he holds an 18-page Navy and Air Force report from the National Archives. He said he would testify to it under oath.
That report is not in this archive, so his account rests on his own testimony.
Sources: Disclosure Project press conference (2001)
Facts and claims
- claimed Said that on the night of February 10, 1951, flying from Keflavik, Iceland, to Argentia, Newfoundland, his crew saw a circle of lights on the sea and then a glowing object that climbed to their altitude and flew alongside the aircraft. — Graham Bethune Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 30:28
- claimed He said a glowing object launched from a circle of lights on the sea, climbed towards their altitude and flew alongside, showing a dome; crew members ducking collided and were injured, the compass and direction finders failed, and the craft was tracked on radar at over 1,800 mph. — Graham Bethune Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 30:28
- claimed He said the 31 passengers and crew saw it, that the crew were interrogated by the Air Force on landing at Argentia and made individual reports for Navy intelligence at Patuxent River, and that he holds an 18-page official Navy and Air Force report from the National Archives. — Graham Bethune Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 30:28
Connected files
Events
Incidents
- Gander Navy R5D encounter (witness)