File 090 · 24 July 1948
Chiles–Whitted, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Opened 9/4/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. Southern night country under an airway. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
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.
What was claimed
Two Eastern Air Lines pilots reported a B-29-sized craft with two rows of windows that shot a flame and climbed past their DC-3.
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.
Capt. Clarence Chiles and John Whitted, flying Eastern Flight 576 from Houston to Atlanta at about 2:45 a.m., saw a lighted object close on their DC-3, pass to starboard, and pull up into cloud. Both described a double deck of windows and a blue flame from the tail. A passenger, C.L. McKelvie, saw the light. Ground witnesses in Alabama reported a similar object that night.
Project Sign took the report as one of the cases that argued for a real unknown. Blue Book later preferred a meteor. The pilots never accepted that. Ruppelt listed it with Mantell as a case that changed the Air Force’s mood.
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.