ACUFO:

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

The ACUFO catalog 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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Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA, in 1947:

Case number:

ACUFO-1947-00-00-ARDMORE-1

Summary:

In October 1999, U.S. ufologist Jan Aldrich reported on his Project 1947 ufology Website a new case of 1947; which he found in Ideal's UFO Magazine No. 1 of March 1978.

The report said that at night, in Ardmore, Oklahoma USA, a US Air Force pilot on an AT-6 trainer plane saw a flashing red light that caught up with his aircraft, circled his aircraft, and matched its speed with that of the aircraft for 20 minutes; then it flew away to the South.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	1947
Time:	Night.
Duration:	20 minutes.
First known report date:	1978
Reporting delay:	3 decades.

Geographical data:

Country:	USA
State/Department:	Oklahoma
City or place:	Ardmore

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	UFO magazine.
Visibility conditions:	Night.
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	Yes.
UFO action:	Approached, circled, followed, went.
Witnesses action:	?
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: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	NL
Armed / unarmed:	Unarmed.
Reliability 1-3:	1
Strangeness 1-3:	2
ACUFO:	Unknown credibility.

Sources:

[Ref. jah1:] JAN ALDRICH:

N - 1947 --- Night, USA, Ardmore, Oklahoma.

AT-6 Trainer, USAF pilot, flashing red light caught up with aircraft, circled aircraft, and matched speed with plane for 20 minutes then flew away to S. (PJ47 122, (Ideal UFO Magazine #1, March 1978))

"N" means this is a new case not in November 1997 ACUFOE Catalogue.

[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalog of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft ([dwn1]). The first case in February 2001 (6th edition) catalog appears as:

DATE	47.00.00
TIME	night
COUNTRY	USA
PLACE	Ardmore, Oklahoma
	M
TYPE OF PLANE AND WITNESSES	One AT-6 trainer pilot
UFO DESCRIPTION	one flashing red light caught up with aircraft, circled, and matched speed with it.
Radar
G
X
E
SOURCES	03/37 440

The sources "03", "37" and "440" are referenced at the end of the catalog as:

Project 1947 Reports, newsclippings and documents (cases from Jan Aldrich and Barry Greenwood)

List of ACUFOE cases prior to 1947, Jan Aldrich, Project 1947

Project 1947 A Preliminary report on the 1947 UFO sightings wave, Jan L. Aldrich, 1997, UFORC

[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

1947

USA, Ardmore, Oklahoma

At night, the pilot of an AT-6 training aircraft saw a flashing red light climb along with the aircraft, circle around it, and maintain the same speed. (Project ACUFOE, 1999 catalog, Dominique Weinstein)

Aircraft information:

AT-6 was the name given by the US Army Air Corps to the North American T-6 "Texan" (photo above), the standard training aircraft for fighter pilots of the Allied nations during the Second World War. A total of 15,495 units of all versions were produced, and it was used by many countries long after the end of the war.

Its maximum speed was 335 km/h.

Discussion:

Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the indicated first source, Ideal's UFO Magazine No. 1 of March 1978; I only have a copy of the cover (below).

The magazine was not a magazine or bulletin of a ufology group or ufologist, but more a sensation magazine.

Hence the credibility of the report is unknown.

Evaluation:

Unknown credibility.

Sources references:

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

[iuf1] ? Ideal's UFO Magazine, USA, No. 1, March 1978.
[jah1] * "ACUFOE in 1947", catalogue by Jan Aldrich, on his Project 1947 website, USA, October 1999, at https://www.project1947.com/47cats/acupdt.htm
[dwn1] * "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - Eighty years of pilot sightings - Catalog of Military, Airliner, Private Pilots' Sightings from 1916 to 2000", catalog compiled by Dominique F. Weinstein, NARCAP International Technical Advisor, France, 6th edition, February 2001.
[gvo1] * "Chronologie OVNI", electronic catalogue compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 2002.

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	May 26, 2026	Creation, [jah1], [dwn1], [gvo1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	May 26, 2026	First published.

This page was last updated on May 26, 2026.