Eastern Airlines Chiles-Whitted Rocket Encounter 1948

On July 24, 1948, Eastern Airlines Captain Clarence Chiles and First Officer John Whitted, both highly experienced commercial pilots, were flying a DC-3 near Montgomery, Alabama at approximately 11:45 PM. A torpedo-shaped craft approximately 100 feet long with two rows of square windows emitting brilliant blue-white light passed their aircraft at close range, slightly to the right. An orange-red exhaust trail approximately 50 feet long was visible. One passenger also observed a bright flash. The craft passed in approximately 10 seconds. Both pilots provided detailed independent accounts that were highly consistent. Project Sign's analysts considered the Chiles-Whitted encounter so significant that it was incorporated into Sign's 'Estimate of the Situation' — an official document concluding that UAP might be interplanetary in origin. Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg reportedly rejected and ordered the Estimate destroyed. The Chiles-Whitted case remains one of the most-documented early pilot UAP close encounter cases in American aviation history.