FOR MORE than two weeks, I checked on the Godman Field tragedy. One
fact stood out at the start: The death of Mantell had had a profound
effect on many in the Air Force. A dozen times I was told:

"I thought the saucers were a joke-until Mantell was killed chasing
that thing at Fort Knox."

Many ranking officers who had laughed at the saucer scare stopped
scoffing. One of these was General Sory Smith, now Deputy Director of
Air Force Public Relations. Later in my investigation, General Smith
told me:

"It was the Mantell case that got me. I knew Tommy Mantell. very
well--also Colonel Hix, the C.O. at Godman. I knew they were both
intelligent men--not the kind to be imagining things."

For fifteen months, the Air Force kept a tight-lipped silence.
Meantime, rumors began to spread. One report said that Mantell had
been shot, his body riddled with bullets; his P-51, also riddled, had
simply disintegrated. Another rumor reported Mantell as having been
killed by some mysterious force; this same force had also destroyed
his fighter. The Air Force, the rumors said, had covered up the truth
by telling Mantell's family he had blacked out from lack of oxygen.

Checking the last angle, I found that this was the explanation given
to Mantell's mother, just after his death, she was told by Standiford
Field officers that he had flown too high in chasing the strange
object.