from Sunday Dispatch, 25th February, 1951.
secondary source Waveney Girvan Flying Saucers And Common Sense
Nine
men and two women who saw a mystery object flying near Mount Kilimanjaro,
Tanganyika, last week have signed an affidavit giving the most authentic Flying
Saucer report so far. They saw the mystery object clearly for seventeen minutes
from their plane, and describe it as bullet-shaped and metallic.
They refuse to accept the explanation of Dr. U. Liddel, U.S. research chief,
who says Flying Saucers are "Sky-hook" experimental balloons. Here
is a detailed account of what they saw.
The object was first seen by Radio Operator Dennis W. Merrifield, 34, in the
East African airways plane Lodestar, en route to Mombasa from Nairobi.
"Have a look at a
Flying Saucer," he said to captain J. Bicknell, 30, an ex-B.O.A.C. pilot.
The object was absolutely motionless 10,000 feet above Kilimanjaro. Merrifield,
ex-R.A.F., radioed Nairobi that the object was a "bright gleaming spot."
Nairobi reported that there were no other planes in a wide arc and said: "Take
more water with it."
Captain Bicknell told me: "The morning was clear and cloudless, visibility
was good and the weather perfect. I timed the Saucer for seventeen minutes
while the Lodestar kept to its course. Twice it rose vertically to
a final height of 40,000 feet, then it moved east towards the coast at a terrific
speed.
"There was a large fin-like object attached to the rear, although it
wasn't clearly defined. There was no apparent propelling power when the Saucer
moved. There were definitely no vapour trails."
Captain Bicknell immediately after landing at Mombasa prepared an affidavit,
which Merrifield and his seven men and two women passengers signed.
One passenger, Captain H. B. Fussell, a Newport, Monmouthshire, sports dealer,
who had a pair of powerful binoculars said: "Through the glasses the
object appeared bullet-shaped. Its colour was whitish-silver with three vertical
black bands down the side. For ten minutes it remained stationary, then it
suddenly rose vertically by 5,000 feet.
Again it became stationary, and then a minute later it rose again and moved
laterally away at a great speed, probably 400 m.p.h."
Captain Fussell said that Dr. Urner Lidell's balloon theory did not fit what
he saw. "Suppose it was a balloon - how could a balloon both hover motionless
and move at 400 m.p.h. in the same weather conditions?" he asked.
"I emphatically reject the theory. The object was definitely metallic."
A radio officer named Overstreet from the American freighter Robin Mowbray,
who was another passenger said: "I wouldn't swear but through the binoculars
I thought I could identify a row of circular windows."
Charles J. Vernon, also American, and purser of the Robin Mowbray,
said: "The object must have been immense, two or three times the size
of the largest passenger plane."
Three separate attempts to photograph the object were made from the plane.
Captain Fussell snapped it with his miniature camera. Mr.Overstreet shot 30
feet of colour film with a telescopic lens on his cine camera, and Mr. Vernon
also tried to snap it.
After landing, Captain Fussell developed his film in the presence of a newspaper
reporter and a commercial photographer, who certify that the film was not
faked or retouched.
Three exposures were blank, but the fourth showed a small black object.
Mr. Vernon's film showed nothing, and Mr. Overstreet's colour-film has not
been developed.
During the night after the Saucer was reported, two unexplained flashes lit
Mombasa.
Captain Bicknell was born in Exeter and lived in london before joining East
Africa Airways in 1948.
Radio Operator Merrfield's parents live at Ellison Gardens, Southall, Middlesex.
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