Clarence Chiles was an experienced Eastern Air Lines pilot and former Air Transport Command flier who, on July 24, 1948, served as chief pilot on a DC-3 passenger flight from Houston to Atlanta while flying near Montgomery, Alabama. At approximately 2:45 AM on that date, he observed a torpedo-shaped object with glowing windows that was approximately 100 feet long and wingless. The craft passed their DC-3 at high speed, trailing a blue-orange exhaust flame.
Co-pilot John Whitted confirmed the sighting, and both pilots drew remarkably similar sketches of the object. A passenger, C. L. McKelvie, also reported seeing a bright flash of light.
The encounter was investigated by Project Sign, the first Air Force research group assigned to investigate UFO sightings. The case became one of the key cases in early UFO research and contributed to the classified Estimate of the Situation. The sighting remains a landmark case of credible, professional eyewitnesses reporting a structured object, helping to legitimize UFO study in aviation circles.