Major Edwin A. Jerome, USAF (Ret.) reported the following information to NICAP in 1961. Major Jerome was a Command Pilot, Air Provost Marshal for about 8 years, and also served as an Intelligence Officer and CID Investigator.
“My only real contact with the UFO problem was way back in the summer of 1948 while stationed at Goose Bay, Labrador. There an incident happened which is worthy of note. It seems that a high-ranking inspection team was visiting the radar facilities of this base whose mission at the time was to serve as a prime refueling and servicing air base for all military and civilian aircraft plying the north Atlantic air routes. GCA [Ground Control Approach radar] was a critical part of this picture, thus these high-ranking officers RCAF & USAF up to the rank of General as I recall.
“While inspecting the USAF radar shack, the operator noted a high-speed target on his scope going from NE to SW. Upon computation of the speed it was found to be about 9000 mph. This incident caused much consternation in the shack since obviously this was no time for levity or miscalculations in the presence of an inspecting party. The poor airman technician was brought to task for his apparent miscalculation. Again, the target appeared and this time the inspectors were actually shown the apparition on the radar screen. The only reaction to this was that obviously the American equipment was way off calibration.
“The party then proceeded to the Canadian side to inspect the RCAF GCA facility. Upon their arrival, the OIC related this most unbelievable target they had just seen. The inspecting officers were appalled that such a coincidence should happen. I was part of the meager intelligence reporting machinery at the base and I was called in to make an immediate urgent intelligence report on the incident. The prevailing theory at the time was that it was a meteor. I personally discounted this since upon interviewing the radar observers on both sides of the base they stated that it maintained an altitude of 60,000 feet and a speed of approximately 9000 mph.
To make this story more incredible the very next day both radars again reported an object hovering over the base at about 10 mph, at 45,000 feet. The “official” story on this was that they were probably some type of “high-flying sea gulls.” You must remember all these incidents happened before the days of fast, high flying, jets and missiles and the now common altitude record-breaking helicopters.”
(Maj. Jerome then added: “On my recent tour in Alaska [circa 1960], I became very familiar with the early warning and air defense systems on the DEW Line and Alaska Air Defense Sectors. Many times, high speed unknown objects were discerned which could not be explained as normal air breathing vehicles penetrating our sectors. Many of the citizens of Alaska along the Bering Sea Coast have reported seeing missile-like aircraft flying at very low altitudes at very high speeds. The AF denied the presence of Russian aircraft vehemently. When it was suggested that they might be extra-terrestrial everyone clammed up.”)
—Hall, Richard, editor, UFO Evidence, National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, Washington, D. C., 1964, page 82-83
PROJECT 1947 Comment: This incident is not to be found in the Project Blue Book archives.
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