The 1953 Disappearance of an F-89C Military Jet over Lake Superior

This year marks the 50th anniversary of a tragic UFO incident. On the evening of November 23, 1953, Lt. Felix E. Moncla. Jr., described as a veteran at age 26, was the pilot of a Northrup F-89C “Scorpion” jet interceptor ordered into the air after a report from Kinross Air Force Base near Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, alerted the 433rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin, about the urgent need to investigate a mysterious radar “blip.” 2nd Lt. Robert L. Wilson, 22, flew with Moncla, acting as the radar observer. The “unknown” was flying over restricted airspace at a location known as Soo Locks, and it had to be identified immediately. Within less than two minutes, Moncla and Wilson were in the air. The personnel at Ground Control Intercept (GCI) guided them toward their target. As the jet closed in on the “blip” being tracked by GCI, the “unknown” changed course. GCI notified Moncla of the new bearing and the pursuit took the two Air Force men out over Lake Superior. The pursuit had lasted for about 30 minutes, the jet had been flying at about 500 miles per hour, had reached about 30,000 feet, traveling in a westerly direction, when Moncla was instructed to descend to 7000 feet, turning east-northeast. The controller was reportedly trying to establish whether the men had a “visual” on their “target” when the two “blips” unexpectedly merged as one. It was as though Moncla had put the jet into a greater acceleration or else the “unknown” had suddenly slowed down. Either way, the ground crew feared the worst and immediately ordered Search and Rescue planes to the scene. The mystery “blip” headed north and soon disappeared from radar.

Despite an intensive search by both planes and boats over a hundred mile area of Lake Superior, not a single trace of the plane or the bodies of Moncla and Wilson ever turned up. Today you can visit Lt. Moncla’s memorial headstone at a cemetery in Moreauville, Louisiana, which reads: “In Loving Memory of Gene Felix Eugene Moncla, Jr. 1st Lt. United States Air Force. Born October 21, 1926. Disappeared November 23, 1953 Intercepting an UFO Over Canadian Border as Pilot of a F 89 Jet Plane.”

The Air Force never labeled this a UFO case. It was instead investigated by air-safety experts. Furthermore, the U.S. Air Force eventually claimed that they had established that the “unknown” had been a Royal Canadian Air Force C-47 on a flight from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. However, RCAF spokesmen later denied that the phantom “blip” had been one of their aircraft.

Harvard astronomer and noted UFO debunker Dr. Donald H. Menzel sided with another USAF version of the incident that stated that the “pilot probably suffered vertigo and crashed,” adding that the radar operators probably picked up a “phantom echo” caused by atmospheric conditions that caused the “echo” to merge with the jet’s radar returns which disappeared upon impact with the water.

But why did the “unknown” reportedly head north before disappearing from the radar, if it was in fact a combined “phantom echo” effect? Why did the U.S. Air Force blame initial false radar images on a Canadian C-47 that RCAF officials later stated was not in that particular location at the time? Unfortunately, no official transcript has ever surfaced showing exactly what was said in the radio communications between Moncla and radar controllers on the ground.

Recommended sources:

The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, by USCM Major (ret.) Donald E. Keyhoe, 1955, Henry Holt& Co.

Http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/kinrossdir.htm.

Http://www.ufocenter.com

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