Case 54, CE2
Mar., 1945 Aleutian Islands. Aboard the US attack transport "Delarof," 14 sailors saw a dark sphere rise out of the ocean, follow a curved trajectory, and fly away after circling their ship. (Evidence 30)
The above entry is from the Magonia Database, compiled by scientist Dr. Jacques Vallée. One of my current acitivities is to cross check this database and get more details on its cases.
This case, two years before the press termed the expression "Flying saucer", seemed interesting and I have compiled some more information here.
Short summary by the NICAP.Case summary by the NICAP.Case in "Invisible Residents" by Yvan Sanderson.References.A radioman named Robert S. Crawford reported years later to a NICAP consultant a UFO sighting he witnessed with 14 other crewmen aboard the US Attach Transport ship Delarof, in March 1945 or summer 1945, depending on the sources. The event took place while the ship was heading back to Seattle, and was in the open sea past Adak.
An object went out of the water at about 1 mile of the ship, flew almost straight up, then made a turn and circles the ship 2 or 3 times, and flew away and disapeared. The flashes of light were seen where it disappeared.
The object was described as "dark against the sunset", and of circular shape, with a size estimated by Crawford as of 150 to 250 feet in diameter.
Gunmen were on full alert but did not shoot. The captain of the ship maintained the alert as long as the ship was in the sector, but nothing else happened.
In addition to the report files by the NICAP consultant who heard the story from Robert S. Crawford, Dr. James E. McDonald, atmospherics physicist and well known scientist involved in UFO research, interviewed him again in 1967.
Photo above: Two hundred and ninety-four Aleuts American citizen of Japanese origin were evacuated from St. Paul Island on June 15, 1942, by the USAT Delarof, to be held in camps. The photograph shows the crew on the deck. Delarof is also the name of a harbour in Alaska.
