FOIA: PBB - Capt. Mantell Accident Investigation

Mantell_Accident_Report_Jan_7_194 8.pdf
PBB - Capt. Mantell Accident Investigation
Military Accident Report on the P-51 Incident piloted by Capt. Mantell who crashed while chasing a UFO over Kentucky on 07Jan48
Document date: 1111-11-11
Department: USAF
Author: Unknown
Document type: Report
pages: 52


Archivist's Notes: A considerable amount of the file is difficult to read, the file includes an explanation on how the determination of the object Mantell was chasing was a skyhook balloon, and another report with extensive explanation on how this could have been Venus. It is interesting that the skyhook was supposedly at an altitude 40,000 ft higher than Mantell at the time. The report from ATIC ? is legible and contains the skyhook explanation. There is a crash scene diagram representing where the pieces of the plane landed on that fateful day.

Mantell Accident Report Jan 7 1948.

A 52 page compilation of various military documents.

A great proportion of this compilation is mostly illegible. Pdf Page 40 finally begins a clearly typed summary of the event.

The bulk of the illegible documents are made up of the original sighting reports, affidavits of witnesses to the aircraft crashing, certificates to support the fact that the aircraft was mechanically sound beforehand and that there was no oxygen fitted to the aircraft, a character reference stating that Mantell was of sound mind, communications tower report.

Pdf page 44 discusses the various (4) individual sightings of the object that have been labeled by the investigator as likely to be Venus and there is supplied the incident index from Project Grudge.
The investigator also had to correlate these sightings’ details with that of others, including the pilot, Mantell before he crashed which were not as consistent with the planet Venus…he therefore had to come to a conclusion of a combination of events: the planet Venus being seen by some, and a weather balloon being seen by others, all on the same day and similar timeframe. He did admit that the balloon would have to be extremely high up to be seen from the different viewpoints over the expansive area. He posed the question of whether it could have been more than one balloon.

Regarding the aircraft crash, there is a sketch of the event which shows where part of the pilot’s skull and scalp was found quite a distance behind the aircraft and notes that the body was still in the aircraft though the belt was shredded pdf pg 52 and in the affidavits of witnesses is the mention that the aircraft did not explode on impact with the earth. Pdf pg 29 and 37.

Pdf pageg 25 is the statement of Sgt Blacknell who was working in the tower and in radio contact with Mantell. It is fairly legible. Mantell says that he has “an object in sight… and it appears half my speed or approximately 180 miles an hour.” His description of the object was “It appears to be a metallic object or possibly reflection of sun from a metallic object and it is a tremendous size.”

I would like to link this document with PBB File on Capt. Mantell Case of Sighting and Crash of P-51 07JAN48

This accident report by the USAF was conducted after the fatal crash of Capt. Thomas Mantell on Jan. 7, 1948. He was flying a P-51 airplane and flew to investigate the report of an unidentified object that was seen by several witnesses at Godman Field, Kentucky. Mantell and four other planes spotted the object above them and he flew higher on his own to try to get closer to it. His last radio contact was that he was going to the altitude of 20,000 feet, which is well above the safety level without oxygen. Later witnesses saw his plane spiraling down and he crashed in a field. Some believe that the UFO could have shot his plane down, but the official conclusion was that he had blacked out due to hypoxia and the object was a large skyhook balloon. There are still several inconsistencies with the case that are being debated to this day.

In this document on Page 2 is a handwritten note titled “Description of Object – Godman Observers, with sketches of the object in question. The following page was also handwritten with Edward Ruppelt’s name, who was investigated the case. The object was described as cone shaped or triangular.

On page 15 there is a report on what was believed to have happened. It states that Mantell was rendered unconscious around 25,000 feet, but the plane probably continued to fly up to an altitude of 30,000 feet and with the decrease in oxygen the plane veered over and spiraled down. As it fell out of control, forces exceeded the capacity of the airframe and it disintegrated between 20,000 to 10,000 feet, and crashed to the ground without an explosion.

After several illegible pages, on page 25 was a description of the object by Mantell that frozen_snowman already covered.

On page 40 a clearly written document describes the event in detail stating the it was the Air Transport Accident Investigation Commission’s (ATIC) conclusion that the UFO was not directly responsible for the cause of the crash. The object was originally thought to be the planet Venus, but later determined to be a skyhook balloon.

There is a report by an astronomer showing astronomical data on the planet Venus, and concluded that the object could not have been Venus because it could not have been seen during the day.

The final page as frozen_snowman pointed out is a diagram of the crash site, and what is strange is that even though Mantell’s body was still in the cockpit, part of his skull was found about 150 yards behind the crash, with glass from the canopy another 150 yards further back. There is no mention of this in the report that I know of.

Related Thread:
The Mantell Case – Mistaken Identity

Related Links:
Wikipedia: Mantell UFO Incident
TinWiki: Mantell Incident

Fww, service ceiling for the later Mustangs was just under 42,000'.


I remember reading about Capt. Mantells crash some years back and one of the things noted was that some of the aluminum panels were "Swss-Cheesed" for want of a better word.

The holes showed evidence of high heat if I remember right.

I cannot help myself here, for me the report is obviously drawing from any possible alternative to the object being an unidentified craft of unknown origin.
I doubt very seriously that Captain Mantell with his experience would have flown as high as to to loose consciousness had it been Venus or even the other possibility of the "need to know only" Balloon that had been allegedly launched.
I for one would like to read the first 40 pages of this report, however the pages are unreadable. The original reports by civilians and Military personnel would be enlightening in my opinion.