(22) Mon 17 Nov 97 1:36 By: Fred Austin To: All Re: Old Stories [1/2] St: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @EID:8658 23710c80 @PID: BWMAX2 3.20 [Reg] @MSGID: 1:167/133.0 34705d5b >>> Part 1 of 2... A couple of interesting stories from way back, add em to your collection, :), with full credit to Mr. Ray Fowler....... ------------------- The Disappearance Of Military Aircraft. [An account by Master Sergeant retired, Clarence O. Dargie, concerning the disappearance of a jet fighter and its radar officer during a UFO intercept mission originating from Otis Air Force Base in June 1953.] This is an account of the disappearance of an F-94C jet fighter interceptor which has puzzled me for many years. I have personal knowledge of the circumstances because I was directly involved in the resultant investigation....This happened at Otis Air Force base...on Cape Cod about 12 miles east of Buzzards Bay at the edge of old Camp Edwards. Just after dark an F-94C with classified electronic gear aboard took off in a westerly direction. The crew consisted of the pilot,Captain Suggs, and the radar officer [R/O] Lt. Barkoff. According to the pilot's sworn testimony, shortly after breaking ground- at an altitude of 1500 feet over the Base Rifle Range- the engine quit functioning and the entire electrical system failed. As the aircraft's nose dropped towards the ground at an ever-increasing angle, the pilot stopcocked the throttle and yelled to the [R/O] to bail out. The normal bail-out sequence in this particular type of aircraft calls for the R/O to jettison the canopy by pulling a lever which activates explosive bolts, the pulling a second handle which ejects him from the aircraft by means of an explosive device under the seat. The pilot, upon hearing the second explosion, which tells him the R/O is clear of the aircraft, is then free to eject. In this case, however, the pilot ejected immediately after the R/O jettisoned the canopy because the aircraft had now descended to about 600 feet at a steep angle and was about 3 seconds from impact. The parachute opened and acted as an airbrake to slow the pilot down and stopped his forward motion just as his feet hit the ground. He landed in the backyard of a house near the base, and his first indication that the owner had, that there was something amiss, was when he heard Captain Suggs calling out to his R/O, "Bob, where are you?" The R/O could not be found and the pilot had a difficult time convincing the owner that his aircraft had crashed because the man had been sitting near an open screened window and had heard nothing. The crippled plane should have crashed near where Suggs landed but it wasn't there. This caused on of the most extensive and intensive searches I have ever seen...The Cape was literally combed, both on foot and from the air for three months without turning up a thing. The aircraft and the R/O were never found. There are all sorts of points to ponder in this case. For example, if the aircraft did not impact on land, then it must have somehow reached Buzzards Bay some 12 miles away and crashed in the water. If this happened then someone would most certainly have seen or heard it because the bay is crowded with pleasure and commercial watercraft at this time of year. No one saw or heard it. In addition, the aircraft had a full fuel supply aboard and if it did not explode in flames on impact, it would have left a large fuel slick on the surface. There was no fuel slick. The Navy dragged the bay from end to end but no wreckage was found. In view of the fact that the pilot stopcocked the throttle and the aircraft was descending at a steep angle only 600 feet from the ground when the pilot ejected, we can discount the possibility that the crash occurred in the water. This leaves us with the only other alternative and that is the fact that the aircraft, in all logic impacted on the ground. This whole event took place in a well populated area at the height of the tourist season. If it did not crash in that area, it would have created a detonation heard for miles; yet no explosion was heard, no flames were seen and no wreckage was found. What caused the complete and simultaneous failure of all engine and electrical systems? Aircraft systems have their own separate power sources so if one power source fails, the others are not affected; yet the pilot swears that, without warning, the cockpit lights, navigation lights, instruments, radio and engine simply went dead. In the final analysis, it would seem that the aircraft and the R/O literally vanished into some form of oblivion in the 3 seconds between the time that Captain Suggs left the aircraft at 600 feet and the time it should have crashed to earth. As far as I know, the aircraft and the R/O were never found. At least it hadn't been located as of December 1954, when I was reassigned to an overseas station. Where are they?.... Some of the circumstances involved in this case were classified and I have had to frame my story around them. Jets of this nature were dispatched to intercept aerial objects that failed to respond to radar identification. It was on just this type of mission that this aircraft vanished. Further information was requested from Mr. Dargie, and he responded in the following letter: 18 March 1973 Dear Ray, Walt Andrus asked me to write to you about the Otis AFB case of the lost F-94C. I started this letter last week and am just getting around to finishing it now. I have been busy with quarter finals at school. I am going to school full-time at Southern Illinois University and, believe me, I really have to hump in order to keep up with these kids today. I really don't have much more to add to what was written in the Skylook account. To the best of my knowledge, the aircraft was never found. As I recall, the canopy was found on the rifle range, which would indicate that whatever happened took place in close proximity to the airfield proper. I have since lost track of the people who worked on this case. The NCO in charge at that time was a Master Sergeant George Kimmel. I have no idea where he is now. I believe that the Operations Officer was a Major Ralph Nelson. The missing R/O was a Lieutenant Robert Barkoff. I believe he was from Detroit. His mother was either a widow or divorced. At least, there was no mention of his having a father. She arrived on the Cape shortly after the incident and stayed there until the search was called off in September. I would appreciate it if you would pass on to me any further information you may discover. This has been puzzling me for over twenty years. Sincerely, Clarence O. Dargie _______________________________________________________________________ The Kinross Case On the night of November 23, 1953, an unidentified flying object was detected over Lake Superior by Air defense Command radar. An F- 89C all-weather interceptor was scrambled from Kinross AFB, near the Soo Locks in northern Michigan. Guided by radar, the jet sped northeast across the lake on an intercept course. On the radar screen, ground controllers saw the F-89 close in on the UFO blip, and then the two blips merged and faded from the screen. From all appearances, the aircraft and the UFO had collided. No trace of the jet has ever been found. The last radar contact with the F-89 showed it to be at 8,000 feet, 70 miles off Keeweenaw Point, and about 160 miles northwest of Soo Locks. Later, the Air Force reported that the "UFO" was identified by the F-89 as a Royal Canadian Air Force C-47. After identifying the friendly plane, the AIr Force states, the F-89 turned back to base. From that time, "nothing of what happened is definitely known." (Air Force information sheet; copy on file at NICAP). The C- 47 was "on a flight plan from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada." (Air Force letter to NICAP....) The original report released by the Air Force PIO at Truax AFB, Wisconsin, stated that contact was lost with the F-89 when it appeared to merge with the UFO. There is no mention of tracking the jet after that. NICAP investigation indicated that the Royal Canadian Air Force had no record of one of its aircraft being in the Lake Superior area on the date of the incident. On letter from Flight Lt. C. F. Page, for the Chief of Staff, Royal Canadian Air Force stated: A double check with Canadian authorities by NICAP produced the same information. A letter from the Dept of National Defense, Royal Canadian Air Force from W.B. Totman, Squadron Leader,Acting Director of Public Relations, stated: "We have been unable to come up with any information regarding an intercept of a RCAF C-47 by a USAF F-89 on November 23, 1953." NICAP would have never known about the Kinross event if the Public Information Officer at Truax Air Force Base had not let the proverbial cat out of the bag. The Pentagon completely denied the incident until it learned of the PIO's statement to the Associated Press. The AP wire at Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan read: "The plane was followed by radar until it merged with an object 70 miles of Keeweenaw Point in upper Michigan." The release, however was short-lived. Other than a short story in the early edition of the Chicago Tribune headline, "Jet, Two aboard, Vanishes Over Lake Superior," it was deleted from all other editions. The Air Force information sheet on this case explains the bizarre incident away as follows: "It is presumed by the officials at Norton AFB (Flying Safety Division) that the pilot probably suffered from vertigo and crashed into the lake." The weather reports for that day and time indicate the pilot would have been flying on instruments. Vertigo (dizziness resulting from visual observation) would be very unlikely. There is also no explanation as to why radar tracked the aircraft perfectly for 160 miles and only lost contact when the blips of the aircraft and UFO merged. An intensive search failed to find any trace of the aircraft or its crew. ____________________________________________________________________ >>> Continued to next message... --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 * Origin: Juxtaposition BBS. Lasalle, Quebec, Canada (1:167/133) SEEN-BY: 12/12 218/103 890 1001 270/101 353/250 396/1 3615/50 51 3804/180 @PATH: 167/133 320 166 396/1 3615/50 218/1001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (23) Mon 17 Nov 97 1:36 By: Fred Austin To: All Re: Old Stories [2/2] St: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @EID:c258 23710c80 @PID: BWMAX2 3.20 [Reg] @MSGID: 1:167/133.0 34705d5c >>> Part 2 of 2... Internet: Fred.Austin@juxta.mn.pubnix.net Fred.Austin@sphinx.hugestech.com ... Coming Soon: Mouse Support for Edlin! --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 * Origin: Juxtaposition BBS. Lasalle, Quebec, Canada (1:167/133) SEEN-BY: 12/12 218/103 890 1001 270/101 353/250 396/1 3615/50 51 3804/180 @PATH: 167/133 320 166 396/1 3615/50 218/1001