South African Air Force Intercept — Official Report, Pretoria

On September 3, 1965, South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ interceptors were scrambled from AFB Waterkloof near Pretoria after radar tracked an unidentified contact. Lt. Colonel D.F. Meiring and Lt. Colonel J.B. Brits both confirmed visual contact with a disc-shaped metallic object at approximately 26,000 feet. Meiring attempted an intercept. The object initially held position, then accelerated horizontally and then vertically at a rate that far exceeded the Mirage IIICZ's capabilities. The South African Air Force classified the incident report. The US Embassy in Pretoria sent a diplomatic cable to the State Department referencing the SAAF incident and the SAAF's classification of the object as of 'undetermined origin.' This cable is preserved in US State Department records and represents one of the earliest documented US diplomatic references to an allied nation's classified military UAP intercept case. The SAAF incident is notable both for the combat-trained pilot witnesses and the US diplomatic acknowledgment of the SAAF's inability to explain the contact.