NUFORC Sighting 126545

Occurred: 1987-09-03 19:30 Local
Reported: 2016-03-25 21:20 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Bartlesville, OK, USA

Shape: Circle

Flying Saucer Sighting
Date: Thursday, September 3, 1987
Time: Between 7:30 and 8:00 PM
Location: Outside a mobile home residence located at ((address deleted))Nebraska St. in Bartlesville, OK.
Weather Conditions: Temperature was 85-90F, no clouds, somewhat hazy.

The sun had set at ground level but the sky was quite well illuminated.

Sighting: I was in the company of a man whom I did not know. I had been inquiring about an automobile he had listed in the newspaper for sale for my daughter who would 16 that following December.

This guy kept mentioning that he saw something up in the sky and would say, "What is it? What is that?" He was looking to the S-SE while I was standing (talking to him) peering to the East and saw nothing. Apparently, he thought it might have been a bird perhaps as it appeared in as a dark blob on its approach.

Then I looked straight up, right overhead and there it was! A perfectly round, flat shaped object moving directly over our heads.

Shape: The object was perfectly circular, at least from my perspective being directly underneath it. Its bottom side appeared to be of a dark colored material, nearly black. However, later I noted that the underside of silvery (colored) aircraft wings appeared similarly dark when viewed against a brightly lit sky. As this object passed on over; then past us a short distance, I noticed the sun glinted off its westward side. This revealed what appeared to be burnt, scorched surfaces on the side of the saucer. Otherwise it did look to be constructed of some sort of grayish metal. The small outter areas connecting its upper and lower surfaces appeared to have been a bit convex and not absolutely flat as I remember.

As the craft flew further past us, we were able to see over its upper deck surface which appeared flat like that of its lower surface. However structure on its top surface quickly became visible. This included one or perhaps two vertical beams (about 3 to 4 feet high) capped by one horizontal beam which was a bit shorter in length than its overall diameter. No cupola nor cockpit of any kind was seen by either of us. By the time the craft was far off in the distance (to our N-NW), it looked not unlike that of a biplane due to its bottom deck and horizontal beam capping the vertical beam(s). But we knew for sure it was no biplane! Size: The object was much smaller than that of a full moon at its zenith. Because it presented such sharp definition, it was obvious the craft was quite low in altitude as it was a bit hazy that evening. I would guess it flew over us at form 500 to 700 feet altitude. During the following weekend while attending a 'fly-in' at our airport here, I took the time to guess the size of this object by looking at aircraft of known wingspan flying at approximately the same altitude. The one aircraft which appeared to have a similar wingspan was a Pitts S-2. Its wingspan is around 18 feet whch most resembled the disc’s diameter. WWII trainer aircraft present at the fly-in appeared to have wings longer than the object's diameter at 20 feet.

My Qualification as a Spotter, along with a brief history: My experience as a spotter/observer of aircraft began at the tender age of of 7 in El Paso, TX. El Paso was at that time THE "southern flyway" for many military aircraft often being ferried from factories on the East coast. Also, due to the climate of the Southwest which is CAVU most of the year, it was ideal for training pilots and crews of military aircraft. Therefore I had the opportunity to witness a steady progression of increasing aircraft technology over the years I lived in El Paso, from....... WWII on through the Korean Conflict and beyond.

As the weather was usually nice (i.e., clear, warm and such), I spent much of my youth outside. Many of my school friends enjoyed the 'display' of military aircraft during WWII as did I. They flew over night and day, many were practicing close formation flying, some flew at differing elevations and so on. We witnessed everything from smaller trainer aircraft to the large, slow moving Navy blimps being ferried from their factory near Akron, OH to the West Coast. I continued my interest in aircraft through the cold war of the 1950s. During these years I saw most navy and Air Force military aircraft in production at the time, including an occasional 'one of a kind' like the XC-99. It was a cargo version of the B-36 bomber.

During those years I never saw anything resembling a UFO. All sightings could be explained (by myself). The strangest were weather balloons, usually launched by the Air Force at Biggs AFB.

I did however have an acquaintance from college who after his graduation & time in the military, worked for our government on downrange tracking stations in Southern NM. He let me know that they had seen 'strange blips" appearing on radar screens from time to time in those days (late 50s through the '60s). Charles H. Leigh

Posted 2016-04-01