Editor’s Note: Here’s a more than interesting update on this case that we had reported in an earlier Classic UFO feature. It is courtesy of retired Major George Filer, of Filer’s Files #37 (09-13-06), director of MUFON East Coast. Visit his website: http://www.nationalufocenter.com

Lake Superior UFO Found Near F-89 Jet

Divers from the Great Lakes Dive company claim to have located a U.S. Air Force F-89 Scorpion jet fighter 500 feet deep in Lake Superior. Two hundred feet away is a strange metallic disc shaped object almost buried in the sand.

Several years ago, I had interviewed a radar operator from the 665th Radar Squadron, whose GCI call sign was Pillow. It was located at Calumet Air Force Station on Keweenaw Peninsula, that juts out into Lake Superior.

He was assigned there at the time of the crash and claimed UFOs were frequently seen on radar coming in and out of the Lake. He personally had received calls from the Upper Michigan Police claiming they were observing UFOs flying over them at low level.

Two F 89 aircraft from the 433 Fighter Interceptor Squadron were lost the same day on 23 November of 1953. Shortly after noon an F-89 Scorpion, from Truax Air Base in Madison, Wisconsin with Lt. John Schmidt and Capt. Glenn Collins aboard, took off to test newly installed engines. Witnesses below reported hearing an explosion, and then the jet crashed into a marsh in the Arboretum, killing the crew. F-89 aircraft were assigned to the 433rd Fighter-interceptor Squadron, at Truax AFB, Wisconsin but several were moved north on temporary duty at Kinross AFB, Michigan. It was less than six hours after the crash that radar operators on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, spotted a UFO in restricted air space over the Soo Locks at Sault Ste-Maria.

An F-89 operating from Kinross AFB was scrambled to intercept a large unidentified flying object that radar had spotted over the Soo Locks. 1st Lt. Felix Moncla was the pilot and 2nd Lt. Robert Wilson was the Radar Intercept Officer chasing the Unidentified Flying Object that headed west over Lake Superior. Lt. Moncla’s last words from the cockpit were, “I’m going in for another look.” The radar operator claims, “The F-89 jet was followed on the radar screen at Pillow until its image merged with the blip. Then it was lost.” That odd radar image, of the mystery craft seeming to swallow the F-89, then both disappeared from the screen, has fueled theories that the F-89 was destroyed by the UFO.

The Air Force Accident report reads as follows:

Summary: Aircraft took off at 2322 Zebra (6:22 PM local time) on 23 Nov 53 on an active Air Defense Mission to intercept an unknown aircraft approximately 160 miles northwest of Kinross Air Force Base. The aircraft was under radar control throughout the interception. At approximately 2352 Zebra the last radio contact was made by the radar station controlling the interception. At approximately 2355 Zebra, the unknown aircraft and the F-89 merged together on the radarscope. Shortly thereafter, the IFF signal disappeared from the radarscope. No further contact was established with the F-89. [Approximately 100 characters are excised from report] an extensive aerial search has revealed no trace of the aircraft. The aircraft and its crew are still missing.

On 23 November 1953, F-89c, Serial No. 51-5853A, was scrambled by “Naples” GCI from Kinross Air Force Base, Michigan, at 1822 EST to intercept and identify an unknown aircraft flying over Lake Superior. The interceptor became airborne. Original radar control of the aircraft was maintained by “Naples” GCI and at 1841 EST control was transferred to “Pillow. The aircraft descended to 7,000 feet to begin the interception. Location of the aircraft was then approximately 150 miles northeast from Kinross AFB and over Northern Lake Superior. At 1851 EST, the interceptor pilot was requested to turn to a heading of 20 degrees to the cut-off vector. After the turn was completed, the pilot was advised the unidentified aircraft was at 1l o’clock, 10 miles distant. Radar returns from both aircraft were then seen to merge on “Pillow’s” radarscope. The two blips unexpectedly merged into one. The radar return from the other aircraft indicated it was continuing on its original flight path, while the return from the F-89 disappeared from the GCI station’s radarscope.

The Chicago Tribune reported eleven aircraft and numerous boats were searching for the F-89. A spokesperson at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin gave the Associated Press this official release. The Tribune headline read:

JET, TWO ABOARD VANISHES OVER LAKE SUPERIOR

“The plane was followed by radar until it merged with an object 70 miles off Keweenaw Point in Upper Michigan.”

Later the US Air Force denied the F-89 had merged with anything and claimed the unknown aircraft being intercepted was a Royal Canadian Air Force Dakota (C-47), Serial #VC-912, flying from Winnipeg to Sudbury, Canada. The Canadian Government claimed their aircraft was never over water and could not have been involved. Search for the missing aircraft was conducted by both USAF and RCAF aircraft without success.

You can visit Lt. Moncla’s memorial headstone at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Moreauville, Louisiana, which reads:

In Loving Memory of Gene Felix 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 F89 Jet Plane.