In the first week of July, 1947, just days before the 509th Bomb Group issued a press release reporting that they had recovered a crashed "flying disk" from a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, North America was experiencing a inexplicable UFO wave and the State of New Hampshire was host to a number of UFO sightings.
On July 5th Thomas Dale, the son of NH Governor Charles M. Dale, and a experienced pilot with over eight years flying experience was flying a plane from Laconia to Portsmouth in the company of his friend Jere Stetson. At 4:26pm as they were flying southwestward over Alton, Dale and his companion spotted a strange object that was approximately two miles east of the plane, and approximately 1500ft. below their plane. It approached the plane at a great speed and then veered north over Alton Bay and Lake Winnipesaukee were they lost view of it.
Dale later told reporters "I’m not saying it was a flying saucer or disc,but whatever it was, it wasn’t a conventional plane." Dale was a ATC pilot during World War II and was very familiar with all types of conventional aircraft. They observers described the object as metal in construction, around twenty feet long, and not totally round in shape. Both witnesses said they had never seen anything like it in the air before and were completely blown away.
Two days later on July 7th, another pilot flying over Alton Bay spotted a long, thin, solid metal object at approximately one thousand feet and traveling about seven hundred miles an hour.
In West Rindge that same day retired New England Telephone Vice President Charles N. Tasker reported that him and several people sitting on a porch observed plumes of smoke, and upon investigation they discovered small burnt spots on the lawn, and In the dry grass on both sides of the road they observed a two hundred foot diameter circle with several little fires. The fires seemed to be caused by metal fragments that apparently fell from the sky.
The metallic fragments recovered were turned over to Professor Renteges of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent a memo to the Air Force regarding the incident, and was of interest to Project Sign, the first official study of UFO's by the Air Force, which was one the precursors to Project Bluebook.The document was classified until it was later released as part of the Freedom of Information Act.
That same evening at 9:00pm in Manchester, two men made very similar reports of three disc like UFO's flying in a V formation northwest of the city at a high rate of speed.Both witnesses agreed that the objects were high in the sky, very bright, and appeared to be egg shaped.
On July 9th, Mrs. Earl O.Anderson of Manchester was awakened at 3:50am by the barking dogs in her neighborhood. Looking out her bedroom window to investigate she spotted a saucer shaped light, just north of the Derryfield Resevoir. The object was "whirling" at a fast pace and continued this motion for several minutes until passed beyond the view of her window.
The following day a witness reported a sighting of three flying discs over Lake Winnnipesauke, heading in the direction of Alton. He was able to take pictures of the objects that were at a height of about five thousand feet.
July,1947 was inundated with UFO sightings from all over North America,including reports from Maine,Idaho,Oregon,Washington,Florida,Arizona,Virginia,
New Mexico,Alaska,and Canada.
© 2011 New Hampshire UFO Research All Rights Reserved
The contents of this article cannot be reproduced without prior permission of the author.Sources:
www.nhufo.org Archives: 1900-1949
http://www.nhufo.org/Archives/archives%201900_1949.htm
NICAP Chronology 1947
http://www.nicap.org/waves/1947fullrep.htm
Project Blue Book Archive,USAF-SIGN7-4599
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=USAF-SIGN7-459
Manchester Union Leader, July 7, 1947
Manchester Morning Union, July 8, 1947
Manchester Morning Union, July 9, 1947
Boston Globe, July 9, 1947
Manchester Morning Union, July 10, 1947
The Laconia Evening Citizen Newspaper, July 10, 1947
