The article below was published in the daily newspaper Hawaii Advertiser, Honolulu, USA, on September 29, 1961.
Honolulu. -- At least three airplane pilots spotted a donut-shaped unknown flying object high in the sky between Japan and Midway last week. The Federal Aviation Agendcy said Pan American Airways and British Overseas Airwaya Corporation reported the sighting. B.O.A.C said that five minutes before its pilot saw the object, he talked with an Air Force pilot who has seen it. B.O.A.C. Capt. R. F. Griffin reported to the line's operations center here that he spotted the object "in appearance like a large smoke ring" at 3 a.m. September 22 Tokyo time when he was about 1100 miles out of Tokyo bound for Honolulu. Griffin reported the ring was "not unlike aurora in texture and color." Griffin's plane, was headed east and the object, about 50 degrees up, moved rapidly east-southeast, disappearing over the horizon at 3:06 a.m., B.O.A.C said. Griffin's altitude was 37.000 feet, and the pilot made no estimate of the "doughnut's" altitude, the line said. "The center of the ring was clear sky," and stars were visible though it, Griffin reported. At 3:16 a.m., after the phenomenon had disappeared, Griffin saw a satellite traveling in the opposite direction, B.O.A.C. said.
