| ID | #1604254065 |
| Added | Sun, 01/11/2020 |
| Author | July N. |
| Sources | Eyewitness account, John Falkenhagen
The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning, by Jerome Clark (1998)
Allan Hendry “Navy Radar-Visual in Florida,” International UFO Reporter 3 (6), June 1978: 4-5
“A Second Look at the Ocala Sighting,” Second Look 1 (7), May 1979: 29-31
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| Phenomena | |
| Status | Research
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Initial data
Pinecastle electronic warfare tracking station, a closed facility operated by the U.S. Navy, 32 miles East-Southeast of Ocala, Florida (in the North-Central part of the state), was the site of a mysterious, still unexplained UFO incident on Sunday, may 14, 1978.
The incident started with a phone call from a civilian. At approximately 22: 05, she called from nearby silver Glen springs to ask if the installation was firing flares. She just saw what looked like a flash.
The duty officer, SK-1 Robert Clark, assured her that no such operation was being performed at the moment. A few minutes later, the second bell rang.
The man, later identified as rocky Morgan, said he and seven other people traveling on highway 19 near silver Glen springs had just seen an oblong-shaped flying object, about 50 to 60 feet (15-18 m) in diameter and "almost the color of the moon." It had a flashing light that was very bright in the center.
Clark contacted the Jacksonville air traffic control center, which informed him that there were no planes in the area. He and base air traffic controller Gary Collison went up to the observation tower next to the van that contained the base's radar equipment.
Clark contacted external security and ordered them to contact TD-2 Timothy Collins, a radar technician. Collins rushed to the tower. Staff who were already there watched the cluster of glowing lights in the West-Northwest.
They were at eye level and appeared to be just above the old civil defense tower three miles away. Although it was a clear, quiet night, witnesses did not hear any noise coming from light sources that appeared to be attached to a single object.
Watching them through binoculars, Collins went down to warm up the tracking radar, which took five minutes, and the detection radar, which took 20 minutes. While he waited, he searched for the object with the periscope on the van and saw it again.
At approximately 11:20, the radar picked up the target.
The object was located at an altitude of 0.2 degrees, or about a hundred feet from the ground, at an estimated distance of: "at treetop level," as Collins would say. Its image on the radar was "as strong [as] or stronger than" the image of the tower. The object was the size of a liner.
Ten or fifteen minutes later, it suddenly disappeared from view and radar. But around 11: 40, the same or similar object appeared 15 degrees North. Collins detected it visually, but the second computer-controlled radar didn't track it for some reason.
He saw it through the periscope, too. After a few minutes, it suddenly disappeared from both instrumental and visual observations.
Around midnight, he or another object was seen three miles to the Northwest. For five seconds, it moved on a course at more than 500 knots, then accelerated for two seconds and made a sharp turn in one second.
When it made this turn, it was 15 miles South of the base, which meant it covered 15 miles in seven seconds; most of this distance was covered in the last two seconds (it takes a speed of 7700 mph to cover this distance in that time).
The turn was a radical change of direction; now the UFO was shooting North and toward the observers at the base. Its speed dropped almost instantly to two knots. It was at this point that Collins ' radar picked it up. After a little more than a minute, the object disappeared. Surveillance is over.
About a dozen employees saw the object or objects. One of them, TD-AA Carol Snyder, told a newspaper reporter:
"We saw three very blurry lights: red, white and green. We watched them for 30 minutes. We couldn't see how fast they were moving. We held binoculars, and the light seemed to jump»
The Navy conducted an investigation in downtown Jacksonville, but did not come to conclusions. Allan Hendry of the UFO research Center interviewed several witnesses and collected radar, meteorological, and astronomical data. He considered and then rejected various prosaic alternatives before declaring it a CUFOS affair of "high merit".
This report was taken from the book Jerome Clark's encyclopedia of UFOs: a phenomenon from the beginning (1998), Omnigraphics. Further details can be found in Allan Hendry's articles "Navy Radar-Visual in Florida", International UFO Reporter 3 (6), June 1978: 4-5 and" Second look at Ocala observation", Second Look 1 (7), May 1979: 29-31.
On January 5, 2009, Falkenhagen contacted the UFO case log with the following details.
I just wanted to thank you for publishing an article about this UFO sighting. I was a watchman on the watchtower that night, and there are some facts that were not mentioned. For example, Jacksonville NAS launched 2 aircraft to intercept. As soon as they were on our radar, the UFO disappeared.
They also blocked it on their radars. Our radar picked up one of the UFOs. I've never seen that radar was acting so crazy. Spin around and around, up and down.
I just wanted to add my 2 cents because I was the first to see a UFO from the tower. Me and the KC pilot woke up the petty officer of the day and pumped him up to the tower to see what we saw. (before receiving calls).
That night, the commander told us not to tell anyone about it. I told this story to many of my friends, and they all thought I was crazy! I'm sure you can check the Navy records to make sure I was actually there!
Original news
Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range Tracking Station, a restricted facility operated by the U.S. Navy 32 miles east-southeast of Ocala, Florida (in the north central part of the state) was the site of a puzzling, still-unexplained UFO incident late on the evening of Sunday, May 14, 1978.
The incident began with a phone call from a civilian. At about 10:05 PM, she called from nearby Silver Glen Springs to ask if the installation was shooting off flares. She had just seen something that looked like a flare. The duty officer, SK-1 Robert Clark, assured her no such operation was going on at that moment. A second call came a few minutes later.
A man, later identified as Rocky Morgan, said that he and seven other persons traveling on Highway 19 near Silver Glen Springs had just seen an oblong-shaped flying object, some 50 to 60 feet in diameter and “almost the color of the moon,” pass over the top of his car. It had a flashing light which was intensely bright at its center.
Clark checked with the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, which told him no aircraft were in the area. He and the base air controller, Gary Collison, climbed up an observation tower next to a van containing the base’s radar equipment.
Clark contacted external security and directed them to contact TD-2 Timothy Collins, a radar technician. Collins rushed to the tower. The personnel already there were watching a cluster of glowing lights off to the west-northwest.
They were at eye-level and seemed to be just above an old Civil Defense tower three miles away. Even though it was a clear, quiet night, the witnesses heard no noise emanating from the lights, which apparently were attached to a single object.
After watching them through binoculars, Collins went down to warm up the track radar, which took five minutes, and the acquisition radar, which took 20 minutes. As he waited, he looked for the object with a periscope on the van and saw it again.
At around 11:20 radar locked on to the target.
The object was located at 0.2 degrees elevation, or just a hundred or so feet off the ground, at the assumed distance: “treetop level,” Collins would say. Its image on radar was “as strong [as] or stronger than” the image of the tower. The object seemed to be the size of a jetliner.
Ten to 15 minutes later it abruptly vanished from both sight and radar. But at around 11:40, the same or a similar object appeared 15 degrees to the north. Collins located it visually, but the second, computer-assisted radar did not track it for some reason.
He also saw it through the periscope. A few minutes later it disappeared suddenly from both instrumented and visual observation.
Around midnight it, or another object, was seen three miles to the northwest. For five seconds it moved at more than 500 knots on a course, then accelerated for two seconds, and executed a hairpin turn in one second.
When it made that turn, it was 15 miles south of the base, which meant it had covered 15 miles in seven seconds; most of that distance was covered in the last two seconds (a speed of 7,700 mph is required to cover this distance in that time).
The turn was a radical reversal of direction; now the UFO was shooting northward and toward the observers at the base. Its speed had slowed almost instantaneously to a mere two knots. It was at this point that Collins’ radar locked on to it. After a little more than a minute, the object vanished. The sighting was over.
A dozen or so personnel had seen the object or objects. One of them, TD-AA Carol Snyder, told a newspaper reporter, “We saw three very blurry lights: red, white, and green. We watched them for about 30 minutes. We couldn’t see how fast they were traveling. We were holding the binoculars, and the lights appeared to be bouncing,”
The Navy conducted an investigation out of the Jacksonville center but came to no conclusions. Allan Hendry of the Center for UFO Studies interviewed several of the witnesses and gathered radar, meteorological, and astronomical data. He considered, then rejected, various prosaic alternatives before declaring this a CUFOS case of “high merit.”
This account has been adopted from the book The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning, by Jerome Clark (1998), Omnigraphics. Further details can be found in the articles by Allan Hendry “Navy Radar-Visual in Florida,” International UFO Reporter 3 (6), June 1978: 4-5 and “A Second Look at the Ocala Sighting,” Second Look 1 (7), May 1979: 29-31.
Case Updated by Watch Tower Guard/Eyewitness to UFO
On January 5, 2009, the UFO Casebook was contacted by Mr. Falkenhagen with the following details.
I just wanted to thank you for the article posted about this UFO sighting. I was the watch tower guard that night, and there are some facts that were not mentioned. Such as that Jacksonville NAS launched 2 aircraft to intercept. Once they were on our radar, the UFO vanished.
They had it locked into their radar as well. Our radar locked onto one of the UFOs. I have never seen a radar act so crazy. Spinning around and around, up and down.
I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth due to the fact that I saw the UFO first from the tower. I and airman K.C. woke the Petty Officer of the day, and drug him up the tower to see what we saw. (before any calls were received).
That night we were told not to talk to anyone about this by the commanding officer. I have told this story to many of my friends and they all thought I was crazy! I am sure you can check Navy records to confirm I truly was there!
Thank you
John Falkenhagen
source: www.ufoskeptic.org | www.ufocasebook.com | Eyewitness account, John Falkenhagen
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