Capt. Thomas Mantell killed in F-51 crash while pursuing an unidentified object
Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Capt. Thomas Mantell is killed when his P-51 Mustang crashes during the pursuit of a large, slow-moving object reported above Godman Field. The Air Force eventually attributes the object to a Skyhook research balloon.
- Record type
- Sighting
- Primary source
- linked
- Named witnesses
- 0
- Media
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On 7 January 1948, control tower personnel at Godman Field, Kentucky, observed a large, bright, circular object hovering at high altitude. Four Kentucky Air National Guard P-51 Mustangs were vectored to intercept; their flight leader, Capt. Thomas F. Mantell Jr., continued the climb after the other aircraft turned back, and was killed when his Mustang broke apart and crashed near Franklin, Kentucky.
The Mantell case became one of the earliest high-profile incidents investigated by the Air Force's UAP studies (Project Sign, then Grudge, then Blue Book). Initial press coverage speculated about extraterrestrial origin; subsequent Air Force analysis attributed the object to a Skyhook research balloon — at the time itself a classified program — and concluded that Mantell had become hypoxic during an unauthorized climb above his oxygen ceiling.
- The UFO Experience: Evidence Behind Close Encounters, Project Blue Book, and the Search for Hidden TruthsJ. Allen Hynek
- The Hynek UFO Report: The Authoritative Account of the Project Blue Book Cover-UpJ. Allen Hynek
- Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military BaseAnnie Jacobsen
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