What happened
On the evening of October 1, 1948, Lieutenant George Gorman of the North Dakota Air National Guard was returning in a P-51 fighter from a training flight. At around 9:00 p.m. over Fargo he noticed a small, white, blinking light and decided to catch up with it. For 27 minutes the object made sharp turns, climbed, and dove, and at one point seemed to fly straight at the fighter, forcing the pilot to take evasive action. The light was also seen by two controllers in the airport tower and by the pilot and passenger of a small plane. Finally the object climbed steeply and disappeared. Project Sign investigated the case, and journalists dubbed it the “Gorman dogfight.”
Witnesses
Lieutenant George Gorman, two air traffic controllers at the Fargo airport, the pilot and passenger of a civilian plane.
Explanations and hypotheses
Air Force investigators established that a lighted weather balloon had been released in the area shortly before and concluded that this was what Gorman had been chasing, with the impression of maneuvers resulting from the movements of his own plane. Some researchers also pointed to the planet Jupiter. The balloon explanation is widely accepted today.
Explained The phenomenon has a widely accepted, down-to-earth explanation.
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