The Redmond Oregon UFO Incident

Date & time:
59.09.24 - 05h00


Country/Location:
USA Redmond, Oregon


Type of plane & witnesses:
6 USAF F-102 + 1 USAF B-47 + 1 USAF F-89 / pilots + ground observer


UFO description:
A huge disc hovered over the city.


Radar Codes:
GR



Incident

Shortly before dawn on September 24th,1959,Police Officer Robert Dickerson was driving through the streets of Redmond,Oregon when he saw a large,bright object descend over the city,stop abruptly,and hover at two hundred feet. The object was low enough that nearby treetops glowed. Minutes later,Dickerson drove to the Federal Aviation Administration Office at the Redmond Airport.
Meanwhile,the object rapidly moved to an area northeast of the airport and once again hovered. Its colour changed from bright white to reddish orange. Through binoculars,Dickerson and others perceived it as flat and round;tongues of "flame" occasionaly extended from its edge. At 5:10,the F.A.A. reported the object to Seattle Air Route Control Centre,which relayed the message to Hamilton Air Force Base in California.
At 5 :18 A.M.,six F-102 jet fighters were scrambled from Portland to intercept. Witnesses were still watching the hovering object when the jets roared over Redmond. As the aircraft approached,the object squelched its "tongues of flame",emitted a fiery exhaust,shot up into the air at an incredible speed,and disappeared into the clouds at fourteen thousand feet.
It was so close to the path of the jets that one of the pilots swerved to avoid hitting it. Another jet,caught in the turbulence of the tremendous exhaust,nearly lost control.One pilot,using gunsight radar,continued the chase,but the object abruptly changed course-an event that was tracked on radar at Klamath Falls Ground Control Intercept -and the pilot gave up.
For two hours afterward,the unknown object continued to register on radar,performing high-speed maneuvers at altitudes between six thousand and fifty-four thousand feet.


Highly Dubious USAF Explanation:


The pilots immediatley received an intelligence debriefing and were ordered not to discuss the matter,even among themselves.But hundreds of Redmond citizens had heard the jets,some had seen the interceptors,and a few had made reports about the unknown object.
Forced into an explanation,the air force said the flight was a routine investigation caused by false radar returns.Excitable witnesses probably imagined the glow. Word soon leaked out,however,that the F.A.A. was checking for abnormal radioactivity where witnesses saw the object hover and "blast off".
This made it difficult for people to swallow the air force explanation. Why would the F.A.A. check for abnormal radiation if the whole event was illusionary? As a result the air force changed its solution: the object everyone had seen was probably a weather balloon.It did not bother to explain how weather balloon could outdistance jets flying 600 mph.
When offering this explanation,the air force did not know that the nation´s leading civilian UFO group -the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena -had obtained certified copies of F.A.A. logs.
This was an unexpected coup,as the F.A.A. logs described the UFO and its maneuvers in great detail,including its evasion from the interceptors.The logs also included air force confirmations of radar tracking,scrambling of Portland jets,and a report from Klamth Falls. When this information became public,the air force promptly denounced the F.A.A. for issuing false information and maintained its balloon answer.

After more pressure from NICAP and several legislators, however, the airforce finally announced the "true" explanation: the witnessess had seen planet Venus. 


 At the FAA office, Flight Service Specialist Laverne Wertz had just completed making weather observations minutes before, and had seen nothing unusual. Now Patrolman Dickerson, Wertz, and others studied the hovering object through binoculars. The UFO was round and flat, with tongues of "flame" periodically extending from the rim.

At 1310Z (5:10 am. PST) official logs show, the UFO was reported to Seattle Air Route Control Center. Logs of the Seattle center show that the report was relayed to Hamilton AFB. The Seattle log continues:


"UFO also seen on the radar at Klamath Falls GCI [Ground Control Intercept] site. F-102's scrambled from Portland."


Six F-102 fighters were scrambled from Portland. As they took off, the Air Force radioed the pilots of a B-47 bomber and a F-89 fighter on routine flights nearby, ordering them to join the chase.

As the Redmond Observers studied the UFO, they noticed a high speed aircraft approaching from the southwest. The Redmond log continues:


"As aircraft approached, UFO took shape of mushroom, observed long yellow and red flame from lower side as UFO rose rapidly and disappeared above-clouds."


The UFO was seen again briefly, hovering about 25 miles south of the airport. Radar continued to show the UFO south of Redmond for about two hours, at various altitude changing from 5.000 feet to 52.000 feet.