A US pilot chased a mysterious UFO for 27 minutes in 1948. Here’s what happened next

Between the years 1947 and 1969, the U.S. Air Force quietly studied many reports of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. The goal at the time was to learn whether they posed a threat to national security. Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who investigated UFO reports for the Air Force in the early 1950s and also ran Project Blue Book, described one such incident from 1948. 

It’s now known as the Gorman dogfight and is called one of the most famous early UFO encounters in American history. Here’s what happened.

It all started on October 1, 1948, with George F. Gorman, who was a 25-year-old second lieutenant in the North Dakota Air National Guard at that time. He was flying a P-51 Mustang. He was a veteran World War II fighter pilot, and he was on a cross-country trip with other Guard pilots. 

When the others landed at Fargo's Hector Airport, he stayed up to log more night-flying time. After circling over a lighted football stadium, he was preparing to land at about 9 p.m.

The control tower told Gorman the only other aircraft nearby was a Piper Cub (a civilian plane). But he could see one about 500 feet below him. He noticed a mysterious light that made it look like another plane's taillight was passing on his right. Strangely enough, the tower had no other object on radar. 

To see what’s going on, Gorman pulled up and closed to within about 1,000 yards. In his report, he explained, "It was blinking on and off. As I approached, however, the light suddenly became steady and pulled into a sharp left bank. I thought it was making a pass at the tower."

After trying in vain to catch up, Gorman reported that he finally got behind the light at around 7,000 feet. There, it turned sharply and headed straight for his plane. He dove, and it passed over his canopy at about 500 feet before cutting back toward him. Then it shot straight up in a steep climb, and his P-51 stalled at about 14,000 feet when he tried to follow. 

Even at speeds up to 400 mph, he couldn't keep up with the object. He also reported blacking out briefly from the speed he reached trying to turn with it.
(Image: Lt. George Gorman’s drawing of the events of October 1, 1948.)

It’s not just him who spotted the object. In fact, air-traffic controllers Lloyd D. Jensen and H.E. Johnson were in Hector Airport's tower at that time. Johnson saw both the Piper Cub and the light, and he described it as "only a round light, perfectly formed, with no fuzzy edges or rays leaving its body." 

Dr. A. E. Cannon, the Cub's pilot, and his passenger saw it too. Cannon said it moved "very swiftly, much faster than the 51[Gorman's P-51]." Two Civil Aeronautics Authority employees on the ground reported it as well.

The government officials shared that Gorman met a lighted weather balloon or was fooled by an unusually bright Jupiter. Gorman reportedly told friends he was "never convinced that he had been duelling with a lighted balloon for 27 minutes." 

Shaken afterward, he said the object made no sound and left no exhaust trail or odor. He wrote, "I am convinced that there was definite thought behind its maneuvers." The Gorman Dogfight now remains a standout case in the Air Force’s Project Blue Book. The project kept official records of UFO sightings but also denied that they pointed to anything extraordinary. However, not everyone agrees.