"The Columbus man said he was too startled and the object moved too
quickly for him to adjust his eyes to it."

In Washington, Air Force officials insisted they could shed no light
on the mystery. Out in Santa Monica, General George C. Kenney, then
chief of the Strategic Air Command, declared the Air Force had nothing
remotely like the ship described.

"I wish we did," General Kenney told reporters. "I'd sure like to see
that."

The publicized story of this "space ship" set off another scare--also
the usual cracks about screwball pilots. But Chiles and Whitted were
not screwballs; they were highly respected pilots. The passenger's
confirmation added weight. But even if all three had been considered
deluded, the Air Force investigators could not get around the reports
from Robbins Air Force Base.

Just about one hour before the DC-3 incident, a strange flaming object
came racing southward through the night skies over Robbins Field, at
Macon, Georgia. Observers at the air base were astounded to see what
appeared to be a huge, wingless craft streak overhead, trailing a
varicolored exhaust. (The witnesses' description tallied with those of
Chiles and Whitted.) The mystery ship vanished swiftly; all observers
agreed that it disappeared from the line of sight just like a normal
aircraft.

While I was working on this case, a contact in Washington gave me an
interesting tip.