Air Force Pilot Had Close Encounter With UFO

Private Al Caldwell, an Airborn Radar Observer at Ladd Air Force Base in Fairbanks Alaska was called to rescue an aircraft that had gone down. The 22-year-old took off at around 9:30 p.m. that particular night. Now 75, he recalled what happened.

"We were all sitting around our table playing cards. We took turns every night: one flight crew would have to stay at the hangar in our quarters there all night long for any type of emergency. And this one December night that I was on duty there, the guard outside the hangar called upstairs and said, 'Please come down. There is something out here you need to see.' So, the five of us in the flight crew ran down the stairs of the hangar and across the road. Our hangar was isolated across to one end of the base. Across the road about fifty feet from us was an anti-aircraft battalion. And directly above it was this object! As we watched, the object went straight up so fast, in a fast jerky motion. Then, it stopped and came directly over us. It was as large as our hangar (at least 100 feet in diameter). It was right above us. So, I picked up the phone that was on the side of the hangar and called radar across the base and asked them if they saw this object. They said, 'Yes, it's over your hangar.'"

The next day, USAF investigators interrogated the men and attempted to force them to say they'd only seen the aurora borealis Northern Lights or just ice fog, etc. However, they would not give in to their demands, so the investigators told them they'd better not talk about it, or else! Even the radar evidence was totally ignored Mr. Caldwell said. The really strange part is that the men were sworn to secrecy for eight years.

Mr. Caldwell was in active duty with the U.S.A.F for 20 years. Then from 1959 to 1967 he took part in the Astronaut recovery Program pulling astronauts out of the water after their return to Earth. He later became a computer specialist in the private sector.