Captain Vinther and his Unidentified 'Aircraft.'

Greetings. An unidentified aircraft. 

On the night of January 20th of 1951, multiple individuals reported an unidentified cigar-shaped straight-winged aircraft over Sioux City, Iowa. By the 22nd of January, newspapers nationwide had publicized the reports. The incident, which remains unexplained, continues to be controversial to this day. 

Shortly after 8:30pm local time, the control tower in Sioux City made visual contact with an unidentified red light and estimated its altitude as approximately 8,000 feet. Captain Larry W. Vinther, piloting a Mid-Continent Airlines DC-3 bound for Omaha, took off and climbed to 4,000 feet in an effort to identify the mystery object/aircraft/unknown. After witnessing the unknown blink its lights, Capt. Vinther spoke into the radio, asking the pilot of the unidentified 'aircraft' to again blink its lights, with Vinther subsequently reporting that the lights blinked for a second time.

Capt. Vinther could see that the 'aircraft' had a "fuselage like a B-29" but estimated the it was "as large or half-again as large" as a B-29. Vinther reported observing the 'aircraft's' silhouette against the moonlit sky, but he could not make out details but could tell that the leading edge of its wings was "absolutely straight." Vinther stated, and I quote: "We've always thought a swept-back wing was necessary but it appears somebody has come up with something new." Jim Bachmeier, Vinther's co-pilot, corroborated the sighting. The unidentified 'aircraft' reportedly passed under Vinther's DC-3 and continued traveling until it was beyond visual sight. At no point during the event in question did the men observe the 'aircraft' travelling at "super speeds."

Vinter told reporters that "Just after I had turned my head to watch him pass, there he was again flying some 200 feet by our side, and going in the same direction as we were. You can't turn ordinary planes that fast!"

The Associated Press and the United Press International News Service both covered the story in newspapers nationwide on the 22nd of January. Reporters learned that Col. Matthew Thompson of Offutt Air Force Base had been a passenger aboard the flight. Although Col. Thompson declined to comment about the event, and was reportedly sleeping at the time, his aide reported seeing the mystery 'aircraft.' Thompson was, ironically, involved in the Air Force's ongoing investigation into "flying saucers," and took full advantage of the opportunity to interview the crew of Capt. Vinther's flight. The local Sioux City press corps argued that the sighting was likely an optical illusion.

In June of 1951, Flying magazine published a first-hand account of the sighting authored by Capt. Vinther himself, with Aviation Week likewise reporting on the sighting. The following year, the incident was covered in Life magazine, which was then the most widely-circulated magazine in the United States. 

The Air Force's response to the Sioux City incident was detailed in the 1956 classic "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects" by former Project Blue Book chief Edward J. Ruppelt. Ruppelt recalled that an Air Force investigator ultimately attributed the sighting to a B-36 that was in the area of Sioux City at the time, though Ruppelt expressed skepticism, saying, "it didn't take an expert to see that a B-36, even one piloted by an experienced idiot, could not do what the UFO had done, buzz a DC-3 that was in an airport traffic pattern." 

In 1968, atmospheric physicist and UFO researcher Dr. James E. McDonald's testimony before Congress included lengthy discussion of the Sioux City incident of 1951, concluding, and I quote: "Co-pilot Bachmeier stated to me that, at the time, he felt it had to be some kind of secret device, but, in the ensuing seventeen years, we have not heard of any aircraft that can execute instantaneous course-reversal." The local press in Sioux City revisited the incident in 1965 and 1969.

Thank you for your time and consideration.