On 24 July 1948, Eastern Airlines pilots Clarence Chiles and John Whitted reported a large wingless torpedo-shaped craft passing their DC-3. The report was investigated and the object identity was never settled.
Chiles-Whitted matters because it is an airline-crew report of a large structured object — an early case that entered the official record with the object identity still unresolved.
Eastern Airlines DC-3 pilots Clarence Chiles and John Whitted reported a large wingless torpedo-shaped craft passing their aircraft near Montgomery, Alabama.
Documented
The pilots’ report is documented.
The object was described as large and wingless, with a visible exhaust. This structured description is the core of the report.
Documented
The structured description is documented.
Project Sign and Blue Book investigated. A competing reading attributes the sighting to a meteor or another aircraft. The object identity remains disputed.
Debated
The object identity is disputed.
No photograph or radar is established. The case rests on the two pilots’ report.
Unverified
Any extraterrestrial origin is unverified.
These sources do different jobs: Project Sign and Blue Book are the official records, and Ruppelt is a secondary treatment. None establishes the object identity.
The Air Force investigation.
The later Air Force record.
A later account, recorded as secondary.