Waco, TX: F-89J pilots encounter stationary light

Military Encounter with Unidentified Aerial Object

Early 1960, at night, during a USAF exercise led by Gen. Curtis LeMay testing bomber penetration of US airspace, an F-89J Scorpion jet instructor pilot and radar observer 1Lt. Joe Meyer had intercepted a B-47 and were descending to land at James Connally AFB near Waco, Texas. They detected a pinpoint light at their altitude, 12 miles distant over Waco, and approached on a simulated attack course.

Object Description and Behavior As they closed in, the object revealed four bright blue-white lights and remained stationary. Witnesses estimated its diameter at 25-30 feet. Before reaching collision range, it ascended vertically at tremendous velocity. Observed from below, it glowed bright blue-white on the underside and disappeared around 90,000 feet altitude. No transponder signal or conventional identification was noted.

Context and Significance This occurred amid transponder advancements reducing radar clutter from non-intrusive phenomena, per aviation history. James Connally AFB hosted F-89J training units into the early 1960s . The encounter, reported decades later by Joe Meyer, underscores military aviation interactions with unexplained radar-visual targets during Cold War air defense drills. No physical evidence or official investigation records are cited.