File 38900 · July 24, 1948
Chiles-Whitted Encounter
Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Opened 9/11/2026
Sighting photograph. Image pulled from the public post. — Project Blue Book / The Black Vault
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
Pilot statements and Project Sign report.
What was claimed
Eastern Airlines pilots Clarence Chiles and John Whitted observed a bright, cigar-shaped object with windows and a fiery exhaust pass their DC-3 airliner at high speed. The object was also reportedly seen by a passenger. Investigated by Project Sign (predecessor to Blue Book).
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
At approximately 2:45 a.m. on July 24, 1948, Captain Clarence Chiles and First Officer John Whitted were piloting an Eastern Airlines DC-3 at 5,000 feet near Montgomery, Alabama. They spotted a bright light approaching head-on that resolved into a torpedo or cigar-shaped craft, about 100 feet long, with two rows of windows emitting a glow and a fiery orange exhaust. The object passed within 700 feet, rocking their plane, then pulled up into a cloud. A passenger also glimpsed the object. The case was studied under Project Sign, with pilots describing it as a mechanical device; it remains one of the early documented aviation encounters in official files.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Before Sputnik the known lights were planets, meteors, aircraft, and balloons. No station. No Starlink.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same country · 17 November 1986
Japan Air Lines 1628
Over Alaska · United States
Unidentified
A JAL cargo 747 over Alaska reported a gigantic craft. FAA radar confirmed an unknown near the aircraft. The captain drew it for investigators.
Same craft · Same country · 18 October 1973
Coyne helicopter encounter
Mansfield, Ohio · United States
Unidentified
An Army Reserve helicopter crew reported a gray craft with a green beam that seemed to lift their aircraft against the controls.
Same craft · August 2026
Glowing cigar-shaped object, Crispano
Crispano · Italy
Unidentified
A small-town report near Naples described a large glowing cigar hanging low over the rooftops.
Same craft · 23 April 2007
Alderney, Channel Islands
Alderney · United Kingdom
Unidentified
Two airline captains on separate Aurigny flights reported a large, stationary, yellow-orange object near Alderney in daylight.
Same craft · 11 December 1996
Yukon giant
Fox Lake to Carmacks, Yukon · Canada
Unidentified
Dozens of people along the Klondike Highway reported a silent, kilometers-long craft with rows of lights, low over the snow.
Same craft · 21 October 1978
Frederick Valentich, Bass Strait
Bass Strait, Victoria · Australia
Unidentified
A 20-year-old flying a Cessna 182 to King Island radioed that a long metallic object was orbiting him. Then a scraping sound. The aircraft was never found.