|
03-??-1945
Date from correspondence by Richard Hall
and a letter by an acquaintance of the witness.
For more details see Bruce Maccabee’s: http://ufologie.net/htm/delarof45.htm
-CF-
Most Detailed Case
The most detailed of these cases involved a large UFO seen in 1945 by
crew members of the U.S. Army Transport Delarof
which had been hauling munitions and supplies to Alaska. The reporting
witness, recently interviewed, was Robert S. Crawford, now a consulting
geologist with the Indiana Soil Testing Laboratory, Griffith, Ind. Crawford
is a graduate of the University of North Dakota and while at the college, he
reported the sighting to Prof. N. N. Kohanowski, Dept. of Geology, who is a
NICAP adviser. In 1967, Mr. Crawford was interviewed by Dr. James E.
McDonald, a scientist at the University of Arizona, who under a university
grant has personally investigated numerous UFO reports.
The Delarof incident occurred in the summer of 1945 while Crawford
was serving as one of the Army radiomen aboard. The ship, heading back to
Seattle, was in the open sea past Adak. It was about sunset, and Crawford was
on the port side near the radio room when he heard shouts from some of the
crew. He turned and saw
a large, round object which had just emerged from the sea. (Several crewmen
saw the UFO actually appear from underwater, an estimated mile or so from the
Delarof.)
The unknown craft, showing darkly
against the setting sun, climbed almost straight up for a few moments, then
it arced into level flight, and began to circle the ship. All the observers
were convinced it was a large object. Comparing it with the width of a finger
held out at arm's length, Crawford estimated the UFO to be 150 to 250 feet in
diameter.
As it circled the Delarof, the flying object was in easy range of the ship's guns.
But the gun crews held their fire, though on the alert for any sign of
hostility.
The UFO circled the vessel two or
three times, moving smoothly and with no audible sound. All the witnesses
felt it was self-propelled; otherwise, the strong winds would have visibly
affected its movements.
After several minutes, the flying
object disappeared to the south or south-southwest. Suddenly the crew saw
three flashes of light from the area where it had vanished. The Delarof captain posted an extra watch
as the ship moved through that sector later, but nothing was seen.
At Seattle, 14 crewmen signed a
summary of the sighting. Attempts are being made to locate the report,
mainly so as to interrogate other witnesses and perhaps learn more details.
This reference: UFO
Investigator, a NICAP publication, Vol. 4, No. 5, p. 4, (March 1968), and
various letters sent to governmental departments in reference to the case.
With thanks to the Donald E. Keyhoe Archives for this material.
UFOCAT
PRN – 11307 [DOS: MM-??-1945]
UFOCAT URN - 131940 The Field Guide to UFO’s by Dennis
Stacy, p. 28, © 2000
UFOCAT
PRN – 11307 [DOS: 03-??-1945]
UFOCAT URN – 011307 The UFO Evidence by Richard Hall, p.
105, © 1964
UFOCAT URN – 087685 Piece for a Jigsaw by Leonard G.
Cramp, p. 128, © 1966
UFOCAT URN – 079744 Mysteries of the Skies: UFOs in
Perspective by Gordon Lore, Jr. p. 131,
© 1968
UFOCAT URN – 069645 UFO Investigator, a NICAP
publication, Vol. 4, No. 5, p. 4, March 1968
UFOCAT URN – 011308 A Century of Landings (N=923),
#0054, Jacques Vallee, ©1969
UFOCAT URN – 011308 Passport to Magonia by Jacques
Vallee, p. 190, ©1969
UFOCAT URN – 073283 Invisible Residents by Ivan T.
Sanderson, pp. 35-36, © 1970
UFOCAT URN – NONE
No Earthly Explanation by John Wallace Spencer, pp. 95-96, © 1974
UFOCAT URN – NONE
Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century by J. & C. Bord, p. 169,
© 1989
UFOCAT URN – 136572 UFO’s and the National Security
State by Richard M. Dolan, p. 492-012,
© 2000
UFOCAT URN – 068751 World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports
by Peter Rogerson, #0153, no
date of publication.
UFOCAT URN - 146189 From Airships to Arnold (Catalog) by
Richard H. Hall, # 025, © 2000.
UFOCAT URN - 011306 Catalog through 1950 by H. Edward
Hill, #105, no date of publication.
UFOCAT URN - 011313 Computerized Catalog (N=3173) by
Luis Schoenherr, #0002, no date
of publication
UFOCAT URN – 181929 UFOs and the National Security State
by Richard Dolan, 396-012, © 2002
UFOCAT PRN – 119966 [DOS: 03-??-1945]
UFOCAT URN –
119966 A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies by George Eberhart, #0006, © 1980
Bering Sea – Aleutian Islands
Adak Island: Latitude 51-49 N, Longitude 176-40 W (D-M)
This reference: The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the
World, published by Columbia University Press, 1952, 1962.
Note: Of interest from this reference –
Sweeper Cove (E) is main harbor. U.S. Army, Navy and air bases, established here
(1942) in World War 2, were important in Aleutian campaign, whose mission was
to monitor Russian submarines; closed 1995.-CF-
Reference: http://reference.allrefer.com/gazetteer/A/A00743-adak-island.html
|