sighting, these incidents all had taken place earlier.

When the estimate was completed, typed, and approved, it started up
through channels to higher-command echelons. It drew considerable
comment but no one stopped it on its way up.

A matter of days after the Estimate of the Situation was signed,
sealed, and sent on its way, the third big sighting of 1948, Volume
III of "The Classics," took place. The date was October 1, and the
place was Fargo, North Dakota; it was the famous Gorman Incident, in
which a pilot fought a "duel of death" with a UFO.

The pilot was George F. Gorman, a twenty-five-year-old second
lieutenant in the North Dakota Air National Guard.

It was eight-thirty in the evening and Gorman was coming into Fargo
from a cross-country flight. He flew around Fargo for a while and
about nine o'clock decided to land. He called the control tower for
landing instructions and was told that a Piper Cub was in the area.
He saw the Cub below him. All of a sudden what appeared to be the
taillight of another airplane passed him on his right. He called the
tower and complained but they assured him that no other aircraft
except the Cub were in the area. Gorman could still see the light so
he decided to find out what it was. He pushed the F-51 over into a
turn and cut in toward the light. He could plainly see the Cub
outlined against the city lights below, but he could see no outline
of a body near the mysterious light. He gave the '51 more power and
closed to within a 1,000 yards, close enough to estimate that the
light was 6 to 8 inches in diameter, was sharply outlined, and was
blinking on and off. Suddenly the light became steady as it