Mantell Air Force Investigation Files
Type: Government Documents
Source: United States Air Force
Military correspondence, witness statements, and investigative documents concerning the Mantell Incident and subsequent evaluations. In 1948 the Air Force released an Accident Report on the Mantell incident. The cause of the crash and Mantell’s death were found to be anoxia due to lack of oxygen caused by Mantell climbing above the recommended height of 14,000 without oxygen equipment. This caused Mantell to lose consciousness and to lose control of his aircraft which then entered a dive and crashed. The report was less emphatic about what the object was that observers on the ground saw and Mantel tried to close in on. The report mentioned the possible presence of “a Navy cosmic ray balloon” in the area, but noted that it was not possible for a balloon to account for all sightings. The report also mentioned the possibility that all Mantell had seen was a reflection inside the canopy of his P-51but its final conclusion was that what he and everybody had seen was most likely the planet Venus. It stated that: “the first sightings were of some sort of balloon or aircraft and that when the reports came to Godman Field, a careful scrutiny of the sky revealed Venus, and it could be that Lieutenant Mantell did actually give chase to Venus.”
Evidence Files
