The Kinross Incident---Alienmojo

First Lieutenant Felix Eugene Moncla, Jr. (October 21, 1926 – presumably died November 23, 1953) was a United States Air Force pilot who mysteriously disappeared while pursuing an unidentified flying object over Lake Superior in 1953. This is sometimes known as The Kinross Incident, after Kinross Air Force Base, where Moncla was on temporary assignment when he disappeared.

The U.S. Air Force reported that Moncla had crashed and that the "unknown" object was a misidentified Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft.

On multiple occasions, the RCAF refuted their involvement in the intercept, in correspondence with members of the public asking for further details on the intercept.

On the evening of November 23, 1953, Air Defense Command Ground Intercept radar operators at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan identified an unusual target near the Soo Locks. An F-89C Scorpion jet from Kinross Air Force Base was scrambled to investigate the radar return; the Scorpion was piloted by First Lieutenant Moncla with Second Lieutenant Robert L. Wilson acting as the Scorpion's radar operator.

Wilson had problems tracking the object on the Scorpion's radar, so ground radar operators gave Moncla directions towards the object as he flew. Flying at some 500 miles per hour, Moncla eventually closed in on the object at about 8000 feet in altitude.

Ground Control tracked the Scorpion and the unidentified object as two "blips" on the radar screen. The two blips on the radar screen grew closer and closer, until they seemed to merge as one return. Assuming that Moncla had flown either under or over the target, Ground Control thought that moments later, the Scorpion and the object would again appear as two separate blips. Donald Keyhoe reported that there was a fear that the two objects had struck one another "as if in a smashing collision."

Rather, the single blip disappeared from the radar screen, then there was no return at all.

Attempts were made to contact Moncla via radio, but this was unsuccessful. A search and rescue operation was quickly mounted, but found not a trace of the plane or the pilots.

The official USAF Accident Investigation Report states the F-89 was sent to investigate an RCAF C-47 Skytrain which was travelling off course.

The F-89 was flying at an elevation of 8000 feet when it merged with the other mystery radar return. Its IFF signal also disappeared after the two returns merged on the radar scope. Although efforts to contact the crew on radio were unsuccessful, the pilot of another F-89 sent on the search stated in testimony to the accident board that he believed that he had heard a brief radio transmission from the pilot about forty minutes after the plane disappeared.

Air Force investigators reported that Moncla may have experienced vertigo and crashed into the lake. The Air Force said that Moncla had been known to experience vertigo from time to time: "Additional leads uncovered during this later course of the investigation indicated that there might be a possibility that Lt. Moncla was subjective to attacks of vertigo in a little more than the normal degree. Upon pursuing these leads, it was discovered that statements had been made by former members of Lt. Moncla's organization but were not first hand evidence and were regarded as hearsay." Pilot vertigo is not listed as a cause or possible cause in any of the USAF Accident Investigation Board's findings and conclusions.

The official accident report states that when the unknown was first picked up on radar, it was believed to be RCAF aircraft “VC-912” but it was classified as “UNKNOWN” because it was off its flight plan course by about 30 miles. This assertion was emphatically refuted by the pilot of this RCAF flight, Gerald Fosberg, when he was interviewed for the David Cherniack documentary "The Moncla Memories" produced for Vision TV’s Enigma series.

The USAF also provided an alternative explanation to noted UFO investigator, Donald Keyhoe. His 1955 book, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy provides detailed information of his investigation of the F-89’s disappearance which began the night of the incident when he received a phone call telling him of “a rumor out at Selfridge Field that an F-89 from Kimross was hit by a flying saucer”. A follow-up telephone call to Public Information Officer Lt. Robert C. White revealed that “the unknown in that case was a Canadian DC-3. It was over the locks by mistake”. The “locks” refers to the restricted air space over the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, on the US Canadian border at the southeast end of Lake Superior.

It is possible that aircraft parts found near the eastern shore of Lake Superior in late October 1968 were from the missing F-89. A U.S. Air Force officer confirmed the parts were from a military jet aircraft and the news report speculated these might be from the F-89 missing from Kinross AFB in 1953. The identity of the parts was never published and the Canadian government says they have no record of the find.

I believe that he probably did crash, but there is much speculation as to why. Was it pilot error? Or did he crash into a UFO? I liked this story mostly because I had not heard about it before and thought it would be interesting to share. I hope you liked it too.