Lockbourne AFB object and Kecksburg
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 10
| Witness | An unnamed former U.S. Air Force serviceman (described as an officer) at Lockbourne Air Force Base, near Columbus, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Date | Early hours of 10 December 1965 |
| Claim | Guarded a flatbed truck carrying a large, tarpaulin-covered conical object bound for Wright-Patterson AFB; told to shoot anyone who came too close |
| Came forward | After Unsolved Mysteries featured Kecksburg in 1990 |
| Linked event | The Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, fireball and reported crash, 9 December 1965 |
| Corroboration | None |
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Bases & Area 51 (topic) |
| People | Leslie Kean |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 67 |
| Year | 1965 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1965 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
A former U.S. Air Force serviceman stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base, near Columbus, Ohio, has said that in the early hours of 10 December 1965 he guarded a flatbed truck. It carried a large, tarpaulin-covered conical object said to be bound for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.[1] His account is linked to the Kecksburg incident in Pennsylvania the previous afternoon, when a fireball was widely seen and residents reported soldiers removing something from the woods.[1][2] The witness is not named in published accounts, and his story has not been corroborated.[1]
The Lockbourne account
The man came forward after the television series Unsolved Mysteries featured Kecksburg in 1990. The researcher Jenny Randles described him as a USAF officer at Lockbourne.[1] His account:[1]
- The truck. In the early hours of 10 December a flatbed truck arrived at the base's little-used back gate, and he was ordered to patrol around it.
- The load. A large tarpaulin covered a conical object.
- His orders. He was told to shoot anyone who tried to get too close.
- Its destination. He was told the truck was bound for Wright-Patterson.
Another summary describes the 1990 witness as part of the military team sent to retrieve the object.[1] Lockbourne later became Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, near the village of Lockbourne in southern Franklin County.[10] The earlier citation, to Majic Eyes Only by Ryan Wood (page 160), could not be checked.
Wright-Patterson stories
Two other stories place the object at Wright-Patterson:
- The building contractor. He said that two days later he was asked to take a load of 6,500 special bricks to a hangar there. Inside he glimpsed a bell-shaped device about 4 metres high, inspected by men in white suits. He was told he had seen "an object that will be common knowledge in 20 years time".[1]
- Michael Rambacher. The paranormal investigator served in Air Force security at Wright-Patterson from 1966. He said personnel "talked about the item that was brought there on a flat-bed truck and was said to be from Pennsylvania".[8]
The Kecksburg incident
At about 4:44 p.m. EST on 9 December 1965 a brilliant fireball was seen over the Detroit–Windsor area. It was reported from several states and Canada, and 23 pilots reported it to the Federal Aviation Administration.[2] In Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh:[1][2]
- The crash. Residents reported blue smoke, vibrations, a "thump", and something crashing in the woods.
- The cordon. The local Tribune-Review reported the area sealed off by Army and state police officials to await Army engineers. A later edition was headed "Searchers Fail to Find Object".
- Firefighters. Firemen later told researchers they came within about 200 feet of an object that had smashed through the trees. Fire chief Robert Bitner put it at about 1.8 metres high and 5 metres long.
- The acorn. Witnesses described an acorn-shaped object with a "bumper" ring bearing hieroglyph-like symbols, taken away under a tarpaulin on a flatbed truck.
The local researcher Stan Gordon, who heard the first radio reports as a 16-year-old, has investigated the case ever since.[9]
Official explanations
- A meteor. Astronomers at the time judged the fireball a meteor. Sky & Telescope placed its path ending "in or near the western part of Lake Erie", and a seismograph near Detroit recorded its shock waves.[2][7]
- Blue Book. Its file recorded that "a three man team has been dispatched to investigate and pick up an object that started a fire". The team has since been linked to the space-debris recovery program Project Moon Dust. The file concluded the object was a meteor.[1]
- Kosmos 96. The Soviet probe has been proposed, but it re-entered at about 3:15 a.m. that day, some 13 hours earlier. Tracking data are held to rule it out.[1][7]
- NASA. In 2005 NASA said experts had examined fragments from the area and found them Soviet, but that the records had been lost in 1987.[2]
- Kean's lawsuit. The journalist Leslie Kean, backed by the Sci Fi Channel, sought NASA's records under FOIA from 2002 and sued in 2003. An October 2007 settlement required a court-monitored search, completed in August 2009. It produced "no smoking gun", but showed that many files were missing or destroyed. Kean concluded it was "either a UFO or a secret American device".[3][7]
Legacy
Kecksburg, in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, displays a replica "acorn" built for Unsolved Mysteries and holds an annual UFO festival.[4][8] The case is often called "Pennsylvania's Roswell".[2] Leonard Stringfield's crash-retrieval research of the late 1970s helped revive interest in such recovery stories.[5][6]
Assessment
The Lockbourne story rests on one anonymous witness who came forward 25 years later, after the case had been dramatized on national television.[1] No base record of the truck has been produced. The fireball's documented track ended over Lake Erie rather than Pennsylvania, which bears on whether anything was recovered at all.[2][7]
People and topics
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
- Kecksburg incident — The December 1965 fall of an object near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania.
- Kecksburg — The Pennsylvania village where an object was said to fall in 1965.
- NASA — The U.S. civilian space agency, created in 1958.
- Leslie Kean — Journalist who co-wrote the 2017 New York Times story on AATIP.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- F.E. Warren missile site sightings (1965) (31 July 1965-2 August 1965) — An Air Force memo logs 148 objects reported by 143 personnel at F.E. Warren missile sites.
- China Lake surveyors' sighting (1966) (18 January 1966) — Two surveyors at China Lake see a UAP pass low overhead and maneuver.
See every 1965 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Hangar 18 (the legend and 1980 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Kecksburg UFO incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- John Podesta — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- Patrick Gross, "Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1965", UFOs at close sight · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Kecksburg UFO incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Is case finally closed on '65 UFO mystery?", Fox News · foxnews.com · archived copy
- Kecksburg, Pennsylvania — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Leonard H. Stringfield — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Stringfield's 1978 report — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Kecksburg UFO case file — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Kecksburg UFO continues to draw interest — TribLive · archive.triblive.com · archived copy
- The mystery in Kecksburg: what fell from the sky 60 years ago? — Daily Courier · dailycourier.com · archived copy
- Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Kecksburg UFO incident”, “Kecksburg, Pennsylvania”, “Leonard H. Stringfield”, “Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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