The Disappearance of Felix Moncla and Robert Wilson
Date: November 23, 1953
Location: Upper Michigan, United States
Another tragic case related to the UFO phenomenon is the disappearance of Lieutenant Felix Moncla and Lieutenant Robert Wilson. These two men are presumed to be dead, disappearing as they were pursuing an unidentified flying object. Although we do not know the full details of what happened during the encounter, it does seem that the UFO played a part in their disappearance. What makes this case even more bizarre is that unlike the death of Thomas Mantell, no debris or wreckage was found to indicate that the fighter jet they were flying had crashed.
As we have seen so far in this book, it is not uncommon for radar operators to track unidentified targets on radar. Naturally, when an unidentified object does infiltrate a nation’s airspace without authorization, this is deemed a threat to national security.
November 23, 1953, was a day like no other for Moncla and Wilson. The sun had set, and the moon was illuminating the sky. Although there were scattered clouds here and there, the visibility was generally clear. At Truax Air Force Base in Wisconsin, the radar controllers started tracking an unidentified object on their radar, which was carrying out erratic maneuvers that distinguished it from conventional or military aircraft. The report was forwarded to Kinross Air Force Base (later renamed Kinchloe Air Force Base), located near Sault St. Marie, Michigan, where an F-89C Scorpion jet was scrambled to locate and identify the target. On board the Scorpion jet was Moncla, with Wilson in the rear seat serving as radar operator. The target was flying over Lake Superior and was being tracked by ground and airborne radar. Given that the two lieutenants disappeared during the encounter, it is unclear whether they had made visual contact with the object. All the information we have on this case was from the developments happening at the air force base.
The radar showed that with each turn the Scorpion jet made, the UFO followed, mirroring every move but maintaining a distance from the jet. Moncla and Wilson were exceeding five hundred miles per hour, but the UFO was faster, making it impossible for the lieutenants to close down on the object. For half an hour, the radar operators just watched the Scorpion jet chase after this unidentified flying object, until the unexpected happened.
After half an hour, the radar operators noticed that Moncla and Wilson were closing down the distance between their fighter jet and the UFO. The two blips started getting closer and closer. At an altitude of eight thousand feet, the two blips had merged into one, and although the radar operators were expecting them to separate once again, both targets simply disappeared, not to be seen again. Multiple attempts were made to communicate with Moncla and Wilson, but to no avail; no one heard from either of them again. A search and rescue team was immediately sent out to inspect the lake and surrounding areas.
The Investigation
The search and rescue team were unable to locate any wreckage or bodies. To this day, Wilson and Moncla are missing, presumably dead. Nobody knows what truly happened during the encounter, although it is evident that the UFO they were pursuing was responsible for their disappearance.
The incident was first investigated by air-safety experts, who confirmed that the weather conditions could not have caused the fighter jet to crash. With that, the air force was being pressed for answers, answers they did not have. Eventually, the air force stated that the UFO they were chasing was a Royal Canadian Air Force C-47 aircraft. The air force stated further that Moncla and Wilson had suffered from vertigo, which caused them to crash the F-89 jet into the lake. What they failed to explain, however, was why the fighter jet would intercept a Canadian aircraft to start with. Moreover, if the Scorpion jet had crashed into the river, why weren’t the search and rescue team able to locate the wreckage?
Over the years, UFO researchers have said that there was no Canadian aircraft in the sky. This information comes from a letter that was sent to NICAP by the chief of air staff at the Department of the National Defense in Ottawa. The letter reads as follows: “A check of the Royal Canadian Air Force records has revealed no report of an incident involving an RCAF aircraft in the Lake Superior area on the above date. May we point out that if an aircraft fails to answer a radio request to identify itself, it would normally be assumed that its radios are not functioning, or that the aircraft has suffered a complete electrical failure.” 136
This statement has been misinterpreted and misconstrued in UFO literature for several years. Although the letter states that there are no records that show a Canadian aircraft was involved in an accident on the night in question, this does not mean that there wasn’t a C-47 in the sky. The letter simply states that no aircraft was involved in an accident. As a matter of fact, UFO researcher Gord Heath managed to find records that show a C-47 aircraft did indeed fly over Lake Superior at the time of Moncla and Wilson’s disappearance. The Accident Investigation Report used the code “VC-912” as the identification code for the aircraft. Over the years, Heath has acquired the flight records for the 412 Transport Squadron, which operated the C-47. Over time, he managed to locate the crew members on board, one being Gerald Fosberg, the pilot on board the C-47 aircraft. In his correspondence with Heath, Fosber stated, “I remember the flight reasonably well, and just checked my log books to confirm the date. It was a night flight. We were probably at seven thousand or nine thousand feet over a solid cloud deck below and absolutely clear sky above. Somewhere near Sault Ste. Marie, and north of Kinross AFB, I think a ground station (can’t remember whether it was American or Canadian) asked us if we had seen another aircraft’s lights in our area. I do think I recall them saying at that time that the USAF had scrambled an interceptor and they had lost contact with it. We replied that we had not seen anything. A few days later I received a phone call from somebody at Kinross who was carrying out an investigation on a missing aircraft. I could only tell them that we had seen nothing. That was the last I ever heard of the incident.” 137
With that being said, Fosberg did confirm that the C-47 he was piloting was not the target being pursued by Moncla and Wilson. He also stated that he was unable to visually locate the Scorpion jet outside his cockpit window. Naturally, if we look at the details of the case, prior to the disappearance, the two blips merged into one, which meant that Wilson and Moncla were closing in on the target. If the C-47 and the Scorpion jet were that close in proximity, the pilot would have been able to visually locate the fighter jet effortlessly.
Secondly, it was also reported that Wilson and Moncla were flying at least five hundred miles per hour, and yet, the UFO was still somehow ahead of them. Given that the C-47 aircraft has a top speed of two hundred fifty miles per hour, this makes it impossible for it to have been the target. The third, and most obvious detail that disproves the theory is the fact that the two blips had merged into one and then disappeared. If the C-47 was the object being pursued, then the aircraft would have reemerged once again on radar.
Conclusion
The disappearance of Moncla and Wilson leave us with several unanswered questions. The lack of answers makes one wonder whether the UFO was interplanetary in nature and if these beings had malicious intentions. If they did, for what reason? If it was not an extraterrestrial aircraft, then why did the air force state that the UFO was a Canadian aircraft when it wasn’t? Was this explanation simply a scapegoat?
The only facts we do know about the case that suggest that the UFO was interplanetary are the following:
• Although the C-47 aircraft was in the sky, it was not the UFO being tracked on radar nor the aircraft being pursued by Moncla and Wilson.
• No wreckage or bodies were found in the lake or the surrounding areas.
• The UFO traveled well over five hundred miles per hour, making it faster than any fighter jet at the time.
All these factors support the theory that many UFO researchers believe: the UFO was responsible for Moncla and Wilson’s disappearance. All the factors discussed in this chapters cannot be simply attributed to mere coincidences.