r/UFOs
/u/PunchbowlPorkSoda
The only pilot fatality from a UFO intercept attempt in the FBI's archive. Captain Thomas Mantell, January 7 1948. His last radio transmission is preserved verbatim in the file the Pentagon just released.
Witnesses
Unknown
Duration
Unknown
Source material
2
Timeline
3
Source context
Limited context
Interesting, but still missing stronger corroboration or harder source material.
Source provenance
r/UFOs
Live sighting record a480ac8a-0de0-4bbd-8c5f-eba7fec76e20.
Using the selected case's real source, media, and context throughout the workspace.
Correlations
Field Intelligence
Moon phase
22% illumination
Waning crescent — moderate moon brightness
Solar window
Weather
Open-MeteoArea activity
Extracted details
Observed facts
Occurred
Jan 7, 1948, 12:00 AM
Timezone
Eastern Time
Location
Dayton, Ohio
Witness account
Narrative
PURSUE Release 01 dropped 162 files. Most of the coverage went to the orb videos and the Apollo 17 photo. Buried in Section 4 of FBI case file 62-HQ-83894 (serial 62-83894-169) is a Dayton Journal-Herald clipping from April 27, 1948, preserved by the Bureau as an enclosure to a civilian letter forwarded to Hoover. It contains Captain Thomas F. Mantell's last radio transmission verbatim: "I'm closing in to take a good look. It looks metallic and of tremendous size. It's going up now as fast as...
Case progression
Timeline
Witnesses place the encounter near Dayton, Ohio.
r/UFOs carried the report into the source network.
Grouped into the PURSUE Release incident dossier.
Ledger
Source material
source
Original report
Direct source material from r/UFOs.
telemetry
Environmental pass
Historical atmosphere, astronomy, and nearby infrastructure were resolved for this case.