Type: Government Report
Source: Project Sign
The Gorman incident of October 1, 1948, was a key case investigated by Project Sign, where North Dakota Air National Guard pilot Second Lieutenant George F. Gorman pursued an unidentified object near Fargo, North Dakota, for 27 minutes. The object, described as glowing white-orange and measuring 6 to 10 meters in diameter, executed evasive maneuvers including rapid climbs and sharp dives that outpaced Gorman’s P-51 Mustang, which reached speeds of 320-400 mph.
Project Sign classified this event as one of three "classic" 1948 cases, noting that the object’s controlled, non-ballistic flight patterns were inconsistent with known weather phenomena or balloons. Although no radar lock was achieved, the incident was corroborated by ground observers, including a control tower operator, and was cited in the project's internal reasoning as evidence of intelligent direction, with some personnel favoring an extraterrestrial hypothesis based on the object's capabilities exceeding contemporary U.S. or Soviet technology