 |
Home |
File a UFO Report |
View UFO Reports |
 |
Date: 1957
Location: Janesville
County: Rock
Source: Wisconsin UFO Sighting Report submission via mail from David
Unknown aerial phenomena that I saw
UFO's have been an interest of mine since I was a kid. I read a number of books on the subject and was
receptive to the idea of UFO's.
In the early to mid 50's, on three occasions, I saw things
I can't explain. For one of them I have no memory of any
details and so there is nothing to describe. The other two
I have good memory of. They happened in Janesville WI. The
time was the 50's.
The first one was during winter Nov,1957. I was outside in my front yard on Milton Ave. There had been
a report on the news that you could see one of the new satellites as it went overhead on a clear
night. The sky was clear and many stars were visible. I saw one exceptionally bright light to the
west. Then I noticed it was moving east. It could have been landing lights on an airplane but there
was no sound and it appeared to be at high altitude. I watched it several minutes until it was far
enough east that tree's obscured my view. It could have been the satellite. Where it appeared and the
direction it traveled was not consistent with what the news report had said. The speed seemed too high
also.
The second and much stranger incident was in summer. Probably the summer of 56 or 57. I know generally
where I was but not exactly. I was on a road near the northern outskirts of Janesville. It was not a
good road. It could have been dirt at that time. I was with a couple other kids one of whom might have
been my brother I'm not sure why we were there, maybe just exploring or maybe trying to get close to
the Janesville Airport. The airport was near there and there was some kind of air show going on. I'm
fairly sure the road ran north/south. I'm going to assume that to be correct in what I write next. I
noticed the object when looking west. It seemed low on the horizon. I felt it was not very far away.
In profile the shape looked like that of a Grumman Cougar, a Navy jet in service at the time. It
appeared to be all black, including the area that would have been the canopy bubble. It had no
markings or insignia. There was ABSOLUTELY no Sound coming from it. We watched it as it proceeded
north until we couldn't see it any more. During that time our view changed from profile to a three
quarter view.
At no time did it look like it had wings. Its shape never really changed no matter what the angle of
view was. Trying to visualize something I saw that long ago is difficult. I found some pictures and
drew a profile silhouette of a Cougar. {the Cougar shape was how I described it when sighted}. In my
memory the object is slimmer and the trailing edge of the vertical "tail" slopes back at about the
same angle as the leading edge. Because the shape never changed no matter the angle of view, I think
it could have been round or "disc" shaped. It could have been a Navy aircraft in the area for the air
show. Not likely, a front line combat plane sent out to a tiny air show thousands of miles from its
base in the middle of the Cold War, I don't think so. I'm not even sure if the grass runway at this
tiny airport was long enough for a plane of that type. Was one just passing through? Not likely. This
was a carrier-based aircraft with no business out in the middle of the heartland.
Over the years I have told these stories to usually skeptical listeners. They happened, now they're on
paper so when I'm gone the record will still exist.
David
Grumman F9F Cougar
Profile Silhouette