Alien Base: The Evidence for Extraterrestrial Colonization of Earth – NORTH ATLANTIC ENCOUNTER
In his book Flying Saucers: Top Secret, Major Donald Keyhoe described an important sighting made ‘in 1956’ by the crew of a US Navy aircraft enroute from Iceland to Newfoundland. Keyhoe’s source for the report was Captain James Taylor, a retired US Navy officer, whose name had been given to him by Admiral Delmer S. Fahrney, a friend of the Major. Taylor learned of the incident from a Navy pilot who was one of the primary witnesses, a lieutenant at the time, identified in the book by the pseudonym, George Benton.
Years later, members of Keyhoe’s National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) conducted an interview with Commander ‘Benton’ to glean further details. It was the first time he had confided his experience to anyone other than military intelligence people and to his friends.
The incident actually occurred in the early morning of 8 February 1951 (Keyhoe gave the date in his book as 1956 perhaps to protect identities, perhaps by mistake). Lieutenant Benton was piloting a Lockheed R5D four-engine transport aircraft — a Navy version of the famous Constellation airliner — on a flight from England to the United States, via Iceland and Newfoundland. The weather was excellent, the visibility good. Seated next to Benton in the co-pilot’s seat was the plane’s commander, Lieutenant Commander F.K. (identified as Peter Mooney in Keyhoe’s book). Back in the cabin, asleep, were two extra crews, one a relief crew for Benton’s men and the other on board as passengers. The aircraft was flying at over 200 knots ground speed at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
About three and a half hours out of Iceland, the plane, on automatic pilot, passed over a weather ship off the coast of Greenland. The ship reported conditions normal.
Then it happened. Benton’s report follows: Lt. Cmdr. F.K. and myself were on constant watch for other aircraft. I observed a yellow glow in the distance about 30 to 35 miles away, at about the 1 o’clock position and below the horizon. My impression was that there was a small city ahead, because it was the same glow you get from a group of lights on the surface before you get close enough to pick them out individually.
Knowing that we had passed the tip of Greenland, my first thought was that we were behind schedule and had drifted north, but remembering that we had passed over the weather ship, I knew this was not the case. I called F.K.’s attention to the glow and asked him what he thought it was. He said that it looked like we were approaching land. I asked our navigator to check his navigation. He did, and replied that we were on flight plan and course.
The lights were farther away than we thought because it took us from 8 to 10 minutes to get close enough to where the lights had a pattern . . . about 15 or 18 miles away. At that time, due to the circular pattern of lights, I got the impression that possibly two ships were tied up together and that lights were strung between them for either transferring cargo from one to the other, or that one was in some kind of trouble. I asked the navigator to check his ship plot.
He replied that there were no ships plotted in this area and that we were not close to the shipping lanes anyway. The radioman also went on the air to the weather ship, which verified that there were no ships in the area.
Since it was time for Lt. J.’s crew to relieve us, I had the plane captain awaken them. When Lt. J. and Lt. M. came up forward, I pointed the lights out to them. Their only comment was that it had to be a ship because it was on the water and we were overtaking it fast. At this time, we were 5 to 7 miles away; it was about 30 degrees to our right, and we had to look down at about a 45- degree angle. The lights had a definite circular pattern and were bright white.