ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalogue of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are “explained” or “unexplained”.

The ACUFO catalogue is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file.

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Van Buren, Missouri, USA, in 1937:

Case number:

ACUFO-1937-00-00-VANBUREN-1

Summary:

The U.S. scientist and ufologist Harley D. Rutledge, PhD, in his ufology book “Project Identification”, in 1981, wrote that during a telephone inquiry he made for permission to use of the Forestry Service fire survey towers for his UFO observation stations, a high official in a Missouri state agency told him that he had chased a flying disc while flying his private aircraft near Van Buren in 1937.

Nothing more seems to be known about this case.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	January 1937
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	1981
Reporting delay:	4 or 5 decades.

Geographical data:

Country:	USA
State/Department:	Missouri
City or place:	Van Buren

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Ufology book by Harley D. Rutledge.
Visibility conditions:	?
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
UFO action:	?
Witnesses action:	Approach.
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Sensors:	[X] Visual: 1. [ ] Airborne radar: N/A. [ ] Directional ground radar: N/A. [ ] Height finder ground radar: N/A. [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	?
Armed / unarmed:	Unarmed.
Reliability 1-3:	1
Strangeness 1-3:	1
ACUFO:	Totally insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. hre1:] HARLEY D. RUTLEDGE:

The primary source appears to be what was noted by scientist and ufologist Harley D. Rutledge, PhD, in his book "Project Identification" in 1981:

[...] Apparently UFOs were seen in the region prior to World War Il. During a telephone inquiry I made concerning the use of the Forestry Service fire towers, a high official in a Missouri state agency volunteered the information that he had chased a flying disc while flying his private aircraft near Van Buren in 1937.

[Ref. jah1:] JAN ALDRICH:

1937 Jan, Van Buren, Missouri, A local pilot chased a flying disk. The pilot would later became a state government official.

Source: PROJECT IDENTIFICATION by H. D. Rutledge, page 213 Hatch, Larry, *U* database.

[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

1937, January

USA, Van Buren, Missouri,

A local pilot chases a flying disc. This pilot would later become an official figure in the US government. (PROJECT IDENTIFICATION by H. D. Rutledge, page 213; Hatch, Larry, *U* database)

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:

424: 1937/01/00 00:00 3 91:00:00 W 37:00:00 N 3111 NAM USA MSO 6:6
nr VAN BUREN,MO:PRIVATE PLANE CHASES FLYING DISK:PILOT NOW STATE GOVT OFFICIAL
Ref# 31 RUTLEDGE,H.D.:PROJECT IDENTIFICATION Page No. 213:IN-FLIGHT

[Ref. prt1:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":

Sometime around 2000, the ufology website Project 1947 ([prt1]) listed it in an aircraft - UFO encounter catalogue as:

1937: January, Van Buren, Missouri

A local pilot chased a flying disk. The pilot would later become a state government official.

A/C Code: P GXE codes: _ __

Sources:

PROJECT IDENTIFICATION
by H. D. Rutledge, page 213.
Hatch, Larry, *U* UFO database

Aircraft information:

The only information about the plane is that it was a private plane.

Discussion:

Unless some late miracle occurs, I do not see how anything more could surface about this story.

Evaluation:

Totally insufficient information.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

[hre1] * "Project Identification - The first scientific field study of UFO phenomena", book by Harley Rutledge, Prentice-Hall publishers, USA, page 213, 1981.
[jah1] * "Re: Aircraft/UFO Encounter Prior to 1942", message by Jan Aldrich, on the ufology mailing list UFO Updates, USA, September 5, 1997.
[gvo1] * "Chronologie OVNI", electronic catalogue compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 1999.
[lhh1] * "*U* Computer Database", ufology database by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
[prt1] * "Aircraft/UFO Encounters Prior to 1942", catalogue compiled by Jan Aldrich, on the Project 1947 ufology website, USA, not dated, as of 2021, at http://www.project1947.com/47cats/jan42.htm

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	September 24, 2023	Creation, [hre1], [lhh1], [prt1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	September 24, 2023	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	November 9, 2023	Additions [jah1], [gvo1].

This page was last updated on November 9, 2023.