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| A veteran airline pilot said today he saw a huge "mystery plane" with no visible means of propulsion in flight above Sioux City, Ia. | By The Charleston Daily Mail 1-22-1951 |
Pilot Larry W. Vinther, 32, said he flew his Mid-Continent Airlines DC-3 passenger plane up to 4000 feet in an effort to get a good look at the huge plane.
The plane was silhouetted in a moonlit sky. Vinther said, "by all we could actually see was its shape and nothing of the detail of its construction except that the leading edge of its wing was absolutely straight."
Vinther said he saw "no visible means of powering the aircraft such as engine nacelles or pods.
"I'd like to know what we saw," he said, "and so would the control tower at Sioux City."
The mystery visitor appeared shortly after 8:30 p.m., Saturday as Vinther prepared to depart with Flight 9 for Omaha, Neb.
"The tower saw it first," he said, "when a red light somewhere on it began to show at what the tower thought was 8000 feet."
Vinther turned inside the mammoth plane as both aircraft circled Sioux City, "but we could see no lights aboard and I can't even describe the tail assembly–if it had one."
Vinther remained in radio contact with the tower throughout the strange episode. His co-pilot, Jim Bachmeier, also of Kansas City, joined him in observing the plane.
The cigar-shaped aircraft disappeared finally after rushing almost straight at Vinther's DC-3. It went under the passenger plane's fuselage and continued northwestward until it was lost from view.
