Thread by @mrjeffknox

#ufotwitter #ufohistory
Today in UFO History - The Selfridge AFB Incident
March 9, 1950 — Selfridge AFB, Michigan
1/7:45 p.m. A crew of three radar controllers at Selfridge Air Force Base [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base] near Mount Clemens, Michigan, is busy monitoring the

2/ night flying units of the 56th Fighter-Interceptor Group. 1st Lt. Francis E. Parker, 1st Lt. Frank K. Mattson, Sgt. McCarthy, and Cpl. Melton observe an intermittent target on the height range indicator (HRI) scope of the CPS-4 radar at 47,000 feet altitude and higher. Further

3/ indications of what Parker describes as a well-defined, clear target like an aircraft are picked up with increasing regularity over the next 45–60 minutes. During this time, the target seems to stay in the area where the F-80s are flying, but 20,000 feet above them. The radar

4/operators are monitoring two different systems—a CPS-5 radar operating on long-wave frequencies at 40,000 feet, and a CPS-4 radar operating on short-wave frequencies—and the target appears on both scopes simultaneously without fade. The speed varies from a hover in low-density

5/air to nearly 1,500 mph, well in excess of the fastest operational jet at the time, and a climb rate of up to 7,000 feet per minute. [Eberhart]

Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknown File, Case 341, p. 84;

Hynek UFO Report, pp. 123–126;

Hynek UFO Report, pp. 295–297;

Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., pg.1047–1049;

NICAP, “The Selfridge AFB Incident”;
nicap.org/500309selfridg…

Read the full coverage of this case in NARCAP's Radar Catalog (RADCAT) by Martin Shough. Pages 12-20.
static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf80ff…