January 7, 1948 - Pilot
Thomas Mantell UFO Encounter
& Crash
A P-51 Army fighter plane
exploded in mid-air and
crashed on the farm of Joe
Phillips about 5 miles south
of Franklin yesterday (i.e.
January 7, 1948--J.T.)
afternoon about 3:30 p.m.,
killing the pilot wearing
identification tag of Thomas
F. Mantell (Jr.), 3533 River
Park Drive, Louisville. The
wrecked plane bore the
(tail) No. Ky. NG 869. Mrs.
Joe Phillips said she was
sitting by her fire when she
heard the plane, with the
engine apparently in
trouble, flying near her
house. Almost immediately
there was a large explosion.
Startled, she glanced out
the window and saw the
disintegrating plane hit the
ground in a woodslot about
200 yards away from the
house. Pieces of wreckage
were seen a quarter of a
mile from the point of the
crash. Several people in
Franklin reported they heard
the explosion.
A vapor trail still floated
in the sky an hour after the
crash. Another eyewitness,
Barbara Mayes, a student in
the Franklin Grade School
said she saw the plane
explode while high in
mid-air. She was waiting at
the Lake Springs School for
her bus to take her home
when she witnessed the
explosion. The plane crash
marked the second in the
past few months. The point
of the explosion was perhaps
three miles as the crow
flies from the spot of the
crash which took the lives
of Ed Snow and Richard M.
Thomason on April 29, 1947.
Mrs. Joe Phillips said she
called the telephone
operator and asked that an
ambulance and aid be called
to the scene. The remains of
the dead flyer were removed
from the scene by ambulance
and carried to the Booker
Funeral Home to await
instructions from the next
of kin, who were to be
notified of the tragedy by
Fort Knox officials. A
veteran of World War II,
Captain Mantell participated
in the (June 6, 1944)
Normandy invasion, winning
the Distinguished Flying
Cross among other
decorations. He was
discharged from the Army a
year ago (1946). His wife
and two children survive. He
left Louisville yesterday
morning for Atlanta and was
enroute to Louisville on the
return portion of the
training flight when the
accident occurred.
Authorities at Fort Knox
reported he left Atlanta at
2 p.m. yesterday. Reed
Shoulders, assistantchief of
police, said Bill Horn,
local constable, was
standing guard last night
over the wreckage, pending
arrival of proper
authorities to assume
custody of the wrecked
plane. The plane was
operated by the Kentucky
National Guards. (Many
thanks to local researcher
Lee Trail and Lou Farish of
UFO Newsclipping Service for
making this article
available to UFO ROUNDUP.)
---
DAYTON, Ohio - The only
airman who ever got near a
flying saucer crashed and
died before he could
describe it, the Dayton
Journal-Herald said today.
The newspaper printed a
lengthy dispatch on the
mysterious flying discs,
based it said, on hitherto
unpublished reports
assembled at the
Wright-Patterson Air Force
base. The Air Force
investigation has proved
that the flying saucers "are
not a joke." Neither are
they a cause for alarm to
the population" the
newspaper said.
The closest any airman to
the mystery discs was on
Jan. 7th, 1948, when one was
sighted over Fort Knox,
Kentucky the dispatch said.
Four fighterplanes were sent
aloft to intercept it, but
only Capt. Thomas F. Mantell
was able to get close.
"I'm closing in to take a
good look," the newspaper
quoted him as reporting by
radio. "It looks metallic
and of tremendous size. It's
going up now as fast as I
am. That's 350 miles an
hour. I'm going up after it.
At 20,000 ft., if I'm no
closer I'll abandon chase."
Mantell's plane crashed a
few minutes later and he was
killed.
The paper said a report on
now file at Wright-Patterson
Airforce Base lists 240
domestic and 30 foreign
accounts of flying discs as
having been investigated. Of
these 30 per cent seem to
have been weather balloons
and the like and 30 per cent
more are perhaps explainable
conventionally-leaving 40
per cent unexplained.
The Air Force recently said
there was no evidence that
the discs were guided
missiles fired from some
other country, but that on
the other hand it was not
impossible that they were.
Later the Air Force
announced it was not making
any further comments on the
discs. (Sources:
http://www.rense.com/general10/captmantell.htm
)
