The Gorman Incident
One of the more interesting aerial encounters with a UFO occurred on October 1rst, 1948. It took place over Fargo, North Dakota, and lasted for approximately 27 minutes. Lt. George F. Gorman was returning from a cross country flight with his squadron, but decided to clock some extra night-flying time by himself. He was about to land at about 9:00 pm and radioed the control tower for his landing instructions. The control tower told him there was only on other plane in the sky, a Piper Cub. Lt. Gorman could make out the lights from the plane almost directly below him, but then what he believed to be the tail light of another plane shot past him at what seemed a very close distance. He immedietely contacted the control tower again, but they insisted that there was no other traffic in the area. He then decided to investigate the mystery for himself, and steered his F-51 in the direction he had seen the light go.
He flew towards the light and estimated he was within 1,000 feet of the object when he noticed he could make out " the fuzzy outline " of it. The object appeared to veer for him and the two were on a collision course when Lt. Gorman pulled out and the light flashed over his canopy at what he estimated to be 500 feet. He cut sharply to the right and again found himself on a direct collision course with the UFO. He tried to avoid the object, but it followed his movements, and just when it seemed inevitable that the two would collide, the object shot straight vertically up and disappeared. The entire incident was confirmed by two air traffic controllers who watched the entire episode from the ground. Both testified to the whole thing, including the UFO's startling speed. They were certain it was not the Piper Cub, as it was also plainly visible to them.
Gorman later stated that the UFO demonstrated "thought" in it's maneuvers. Yet the Air Farce (no typo) Investigation concluded that Lt. Gorman had had an encounter with a wayward weather balloon. I cannot imagine Gormans frustration at such a conclusion, and how foolish he was made to appear. However it has become public knowledge since then that at the time there was an official policy to debunk as many UFO cases as possible at all costs. The incident echoes many of the aspects of the Captain Mantell incident.
