Mysterious Orb UFO Engaged California Pilot In ‘Dogfight’
A private pilot from San Bernardino, California, claims to have engaged an orb-shaped metallic UFO in an aerial “dogfight.”
According to the unnamed witness in a testimony filed as Case 76954 in the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) reporting database, he encountered a mysterious orb-shaped UFO while flying a private aircraft over San Bernardino on June 5.
The encounter occurred at an altitude of about 1,000 feet AGL, soon after the pilot took off from the ground. The aerial “dog-fight” commenced after the alleged UFO approached the pilot’s plane within 300 feet.
The witness told MUFON the orb-shaped UFO was flying in the opposite direction when he first sighted it. It approached his aircraft and passed his left wing at a distance of about 300 feet.
He described the UFO as a “metallic orb,” about the size of a basketball. It reportedly had a strongly reflective surface.
“I encountered an unidentified object at 1,000 feet AGL… Object passed within 300 feet off my left wing.”
“It was a metallic orb that reflected light brilliantly and was approximately the size of a basketball,” he added.
According to the pilot, when the mysterious object passed his plane, he banked steeply in an attempt to give chase.
The mysterious orb UFO reacted immediately, doing a left turn of its own and accelerating as it maneuvered to a position next to the pilot’s left wing. It was during the counter-maneuver that the UFO came within 150 feet of the pilot’s plane.
The pilot banked left again, and soon the two crafts were locked in a two-turn “dogfight” as each struggled to gain an advantageous position on the other’s tail.
But, after a number of turns, the UFO broke away suddenly and sped in a southerly direction. It broke away unexpectedly and accelerated so rapidly that before the pilot could react he had lost sight of it.
“Almost immediately the object did a hard left turn accelerating to a position opposite my left wing and within 150 feet,” he wrote in his report. “I banked hard left again and became engaged in a two-turn ‘Dogfight’ with the object as we both tried to get on each other’s tail.”
“After the second turn the object broke away in a southern direction. I lost sight after that,” he added.
“It was a metallic orb that reflected light brilliantly and was approximately the size of a basketball.”
The pilot said that was not the first time that he had encountered a mysterious orb UFO while flying. He claimed to have encountered a similar aerial object in 1978.
MUFON said its representative in California was investigating the alleged sighting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VrafIOhaCk
There have been previous reports of a pilot engaging an orb UFO in aerial dogfight.
Probably the best-known case of a dogfight between a human pilot and a UFO was the so-called Gorman UFO dogfight incident that occurred on October 1, 1948, over Fargo in North Dakota.
According to Captain E.J. Ruppelt, in his book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, George Gorman, a veteran Second World War fighter pilot, was flying over Fargo while participating in a cross-country flight. At about 9:00 p.m., he noticed a strange object with blinking lights to the west.
The flying object looked unusual; it did not appear to have a wing or fuselage. Puzzled, Gorman contacted the air traffic controller at Fargo’s Hector Airport, asking whether there was any other aircraft in the air besides his P-51 Mustang and a Piper Cub plane he had encountered earlier.
The control tower had not detected any other aircraft. The pilot of the Piper Cub, and his passenger, confirmed they could see a flying object with blinking lights to the west.
Gorman’s fighter pilot instincts kicked in. He pursued the object to identify it. Flying his Mustang at full-speed, about 400 mph, he tried in vain to catch up with the fast-moving UFO.
He then attempted a dogfight maneuver to cut it off. Making a right turn, he approached the UFO at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, but it outmaneuvered him and flew overhead.
He lost sight of the object momentarily. He saw it again as it made a turn and came straight at him.
But, as it approached, it changed direction abruptly, executing a steep climb. Gorman gave chase until he was forced to stop at an altitude of about 14,000 feet. He watched the UFO flying about 2,000 feet above his plane.
According to Gorman, the UFO had no wings or fuselage; it was simply a “ball of light” with a diameter of about 8 inches.
The UFO approached his plane once again, but broke off as it did previously. When he made visual contact once again, he saw the object below him at about 11,000 feet. Gorman dived towards the UFO from 14,000 feet. The UFO responded with a steep climb and Gorman lost sight of it again.
He finally gave up the chase when he realized he was pitted against a superior flying machine.
The encounter lasted about 25 minutes.
Gorman’s description of the incident appeared to refute the conclusion by investigators that he had mistaken a light weather balloon and the planet Jupiter for a UFO.
He insisted that he observed the object accelerate rapidly, but not in a manner inconsistent with the laws of inertia. It was able to accelerate and turn at a speed greater than most fit pilots can withstand. Gorman said that while attempting to make a sharp during the encounter, he blacked out temporarily. But the object was able to make steeper turns at faster speeds than his aircraft could.
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