Person
Lewis D. Chase
Also known as Lewis Chase, Major Chase
- Major, U.S. Air Force; RB-47H aircraft commander, 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (1957)
Lewis D. Chase was a U.S. Air Force major and the aircraft commander of the RB-47H of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing that, before dawn on 17 July 1957, chased a light northwest of Dallas–Fort Worth while its electronic-intelligence operators tracked a radar signal that seemed to move with it. Air Defense Command's ground radar reported a target in the same place. His Airborne Observer's Data Sheet is in the Project Blue Book file.
The Condon study's Case 5, which describes the same kind of encounter from interviews with an unnamed B-47 pilot and two crewmates ten years later, records the pilot's recollection of a glowing body "as big as a barn". In late 1971, shown Philip Klass's draft explanation (ground radars, a meteor and other air traffic), Chase wrote that he did not believe any UFO had emitted the signals.
Sources: Project Blue Book case file, Forbes AFB, July 1957 (NARA ID 28970538) · Condon Report, Case 5
Facts and claims
- documented Air Defense Command identified him as the officer who made a UFOB sighting over Fort Worth, Texas, on 17 July 1957, and asked his squadron at Forbes AFB to have him complete an Airborne Observer's Data Sheet. Source: doc-bluebook-rb47-1957.pdf
Connected files
Incidents
- RB-47 shadowed by a light and a radar source over the southern U.S. (17 July 1957) (witness) — The aircraft commander; ADC asked him to complete an Airborne Observer's Data Sheet