Tour / 8 stops
Stop 1: A National Guard pilot dies chasing an object over Kentucky.
Kentucky Air National Guard Capt. Thomas Mantell died when his F-51 crashed while climbing after an object reported by the Godman Field tower near Fort Knox. Investigators concluded he likely lost consciousness from lack of oxygen; a Navy Skyhook balloon is widely cited as the object.
Stop 2: Radar over the capital tracks unexplained targets two weekends running, and jets scramble.
On two weekends in July 1952, radar at Washington National Airport and Andrews AFB tracked unexplained targets, some matched by pilot sightings, and jets were sent to intercept. The Air Force publicly suggested temperature inversions as a likely cause.
Stop 3: A flight of Minuteman missiles goes offline at a Montana base; witnesses later tie it to lights in the sky.
All ten Minuteman missiles of Malmstrom's Echo Flight went offline within about half a minute, an event recorded in declassified unit histories. Former launch officer Robert Salas and others later said guards reported glowing objects at the time; their decades-later accounts are disputed.
Stop 4: Iranian F-4 crews report losing instruments as they close on a bright light over Tehran.
Iranian Air Force F-4 jets were sent after a bright light over Tehran overnight, and crews reported losing instruments and communications as they closed in. A U.S. Defense Attache report on the incident, circulated by the DIA, was later released under FOIA.
Stop 5: U.S. airmen at an English base report lights and an object in the forest outside the gate.
U.S. Air Force personnel at RAF Woodbridge reported unexplained lights in Rendlesham Forest on two nights, including an object seen near the base's back gate. Deputy base commander Lt. Col. Charles Halt reported the events to the UK Ministry of Defence in a January 1981 memo.
Stop 6: Navy fighter crews off California report a smooth white object they could not match.
Navy F/A-18F crews from the USS Nimitz strike group, cued by the cruiser USS Princeton's radar, reported intercepting a smooth white object they could not identify. Another crew recorded the infrared video the Pentagon later released as FLIR1.
Stop 7: East Coast training flights capture the infrared videos later known as Gimbal and GoFast.
Navy F/A-18 crews training off the U.S. East Coast recorded the infrared videos later known as Gimbal and GoFast. Pilots in the squadron, including Ryan Graves, have said they saw unidentified objects repeatedly in 2014 and 2015.
Stop 8: U.S. fighters shoot down three unidentified objects in three days.
Days after downing a Chinese balloon, U.S. fighters shot down unidentified objects off northern Alaska (Feb. 10), over Canada's Yukon (Feb. 11) and over Lake Huron (Feb. 12). President Biden later said they were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research.
