Kingman, Arizona, USA, on July 7, 1947:
ACUFO-1947-07-07-KINGMAN-1
The primary source for this case is a sober article in the newspaper The Mohave County Miner, of Mineral Park, Arizona, USA, for July 10, 1947.
It tells that on July 7, 1947, Charles "Bill" Ely, co-owner of the Western Auto Store, and Frank Marbel, a flight instructor at the Morgan Flying Service east of Kingman, were flying his and Ed Williams's Piper Super Cruiser near Port Kingman, near the airport, at approximately 10 p.m.
Ely said that they had finished their flying and were on their base leg in preparation for landing, when two bright lights approached them from the east. The lights approached them from the same altitude, about 600 feet, from the direction of the north end of the Hualpal mountains. Ely said that he blinked his landing lights twice to notify the incoming objects that he was landing, but he received no response.
Ely blinked the lights twice again to signal them of his landing intentions, but still received no response.
By this time Ely said that both he and Markel figured the lights were only 500 or 600 feet away. The approaching lights, Ely said, looked to about 20 feet apart.
After receiving no answer to his blinking lights, he banked his aircraft to get out of their way. Markel saw the two objects separate, and in a few moments, rejoin each other over Kingman and continue their westward flight. The luminous lights looked the same going away as they did when they were approaching.
The two men proceeded to land and then asked the operations men at Morgan's if they had heard another plane besides theirs. They had not. Both men agreed that they heard no noise from the objects while in the air.
The two men did not want speculate what the lights had been; they did not want to call them saucers or discs, Ely saying when interrogated by the Mohave County Miner correspondent: "it could have been an airplane, it could have been two airplanes, it could have been anything."
The correspondent asked the men if they could describe the objects in any way. Ely answered that he could not because it was too dark. He said the lights on the approaching objects were bright but seemed to cast no beam, and the lights looked identical after they passed as they did when they were approaching.
An observer said this seems to disprove the theory that it could have been an airplane, an observer said.
The case appeared in few ufology catalogues from the 2000's and on as brief summaries.
| Date: | July 7, 1947 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 10 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | July 10, 1947 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 3 days. |
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Arizona |
| City or place: | Kingman |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 2 |
| Reporting channel: | The Press. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| UFO action: | Approached the plane, separated, joined again, went. |
| Witnesses action: | Observe, flashed landing lights. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Could have been anything. |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 2.
[ ] 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: | 2 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Possible extraterrestrial craft. |
[Ref. mcm1:] NEWSPAPER "THE MOHAVE COUNTY MINER":
|
They won't say it was a disc - or a saucer - or any other mystifying substance. All they're sur of is that some unexplained object, or rather objects, flew directly toward then last Monday night while they were flying nea Port Kingman.
Charles (Bill) Ely, co-owner of the Western Auto Store here, and Frank Marbel, an instructor at the Morgan Flying Service east of Kingman, were flying his and Ed Williams's Piper Super Cruiser near the airport at approximately ten p.m. last Monday night.
Ely said that they had finished their flying and were on their base leg in preparation for landing when two bright lights approached them from the east. The lights approached them from the same altitude, about 600 feet, from the direction of the north end of the Hualpal mountains. Ely said that he blinked his landing lights twice to notify the incoming objects that he was landing.
He received no answer.
He blinked the lights twice again to signal them of his landing intentions.
By this time Ely said that both he and Markel figured the lights were only five or six hundred feet away. The approaching lights, the flyer said, looked to about twenty feet apart.
After receiving no answer to his blinking lights, he banked his aircraft to get out of their way. Markel saw the two objects separate and in a few moments rejoin each other over Kingman and continue their westward flight. The luminous lights looked the same going away as they did when they were approaching.
The two men proceeded to land and then asked the operations men at Morgan's if they had heard another plane besides theirs. They had not. Both men agreed that they heard no noise from the objects while in the air.
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A Miner correspondent asked the men if they could describe the objects in any way. Ely answered that he could not because it was too dark. Asked if he had any idea of what it was, Ely said, "it could ahve been an airplane, it could have been two airplanes, it could have been anything".
Ely would say the lights on the approaching objects were bright but seemed to cast no beam. The lights looked identical after they passed as they did when they were approaching.
This seems to disprove the theory that it could have been an airplane, an observer said.
Well, that's that - you pay your nickel and take your chance. Your guess as to what these objects are are as good as anybody elses's.
Of course whith the rest of the country seeing and talking about flying discs and flying saucers, a lot of folks will think that these men saw a flying saucer. Ely asked us to comment that a bromo wouldn't clean up this situation because he doesn't drink.
[Ref. jah1:] JAN ALDRICH:
N - 07.07 - 2200 hours - USA, Kingman, Arizona.
Private plane, 2 pilots, Piper Super Cruiser, two lights approached the plane, parted right before a possible collusion and rejoined and disappeared. (PJ47, pp 92-93, Kingman, AZ, MOHAVE COUNTY MINER, 10 July)
"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. This case appears in the February 2001 (6th edition) of this catalog appears as:
| DATE | 47.07.07 |
|---|---|
| TIME | 22:00 |
| COUNTRY | USA |
| PLACE | Kingman, Arizona |
| P | |
| TYPE OF PLANE AND WITNESSES | One Piper Super Cruiser two pilots |
| UFO DESCRIPTION | Two lights approached the plane, parted right, and rejoined before disappearing. |
| Radar | |
| G | |
| X | |
| E | |
| SOURCES | 03/37 440 |
The sources "03/37 440" 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
The Piper PA-12 "Super Cruiser" (photo below) was a light recreational aircraft, a revised and improved version of the famous J-5 "Cub", designed by Piper Aircraft in the USA in the 1940s. It was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane capable of carrying three people, equipped with fixed landing gear. It was produced from 1946 to 1948, and many examples were still flying in 2010.
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The remark that because the lights appeared the same before and after they passed the aircraft, it was not an airplane or airplanes is justified.
Also, the men in the aircraft said they did not hear a noise; which suggested they tried to hear one when the lights were closing in. At the airport, they were told that no other plane's noise was heard either.
The lights did not respond to the aircraft pilot's flashing of landing lights, twice.
So, everything suggests that the lights were nothing ordinary.
This case of "nocturnal lights" type resemble the "Foo-fighter" cases of WWII I documented in my catalogue.
Possible extraterrestrial craft.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | June 15, 2026 | Creation, [mcm1], [jah1], [dwn1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | June 15, 2026 | First published. |
