The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, pages 1 and 2, on July 6, 1947.
See the case file.
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"White, Whirling Objects" Seen by Pilot and Flight Engineer.
"A white, whirling object" which may or may not correspond to the description of the flying discs re-
(Continued on page 2.4.)
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(Continued from Page 1A.)
ported from various places in the United States was seen about 7 o'clock last night by a T. W. A. pilot and flight engineer twenty miles east of Archbold, O.
The T. W. A. men, Capt. John L. Dobberteen and Frank Corwin, both of Washington, saw the object below them while they were flying at 4,000 feet altitude.
They said the object had the appearance of a whirling exhaust fan blade about the size of a cub plane, with no sign of a body, fuselage or motor apparatus. Just a propeller-like whatsit - wings without a bird, so to speak.
Captain Dobberteen and Corwin said the revolving "thing" was moving at an estimated speed of 200 miles an hour, which would make it considerably slower than most of the flying discs thus far reported.
The two men, ferrying an empty DC-4 from the East coast to Chicago, flew slightly off course in an effort to see where the object was going. They watched it make two complete circles below them before it disappeared.
Captain Dobberteen said he was certain it could not have been an autogyro or similar aircraft. He added that it probably had the appearance of a disc-like contraption when viewed from the ground.
"We thought it was a souped-up Fourth of July spinwheel when we first saw it," Dobberteen said. "But we know it could not have been fireworks."
The T. W. A. men continued to Chicago and reported the whirling object to the air traffic control authorities because it was on the air-ways and therefore was considered a hazard to other planes.
