For 62-HQ-83894 serial 130, what did Alpheus O. Powell report?

Question

For 62-HQ-83894 serial 130, what did Alpheus O. Powell report?

Generated answer

On 4 August 1947 at 1600 EDT, Pan American Airways Captain Alpheus O. Powell reported sighting an unidentified flying object while piloting a Constellation from Gander, Newfoundland to La Guardia Field. The aircraft was at 8,000 feet, airspeed 265 mph, on a course of 244 degrees magnetic, at a position approximately midway between the Everett, Massachusetts Fan Marker and the Bedford Radio Beacon. After navigator Walter I. White called his attention to a bright orange object on the right side of the plane, Powell looked out his own side window and spotted a separate object at a 45-degree angle to the left, approximately one mile away at an altitude of roughly 7,800 feet [62-HQ-83894/130]. Powell described the object as approximately the length of a P-40 fuselage, cylindrical in shape, blunt at both ends, and bright orange in color. He stated the object had a definite shape and that there was no suggestion of gaseous dissipation, as there would be if the orange color were exhaust from a rocket or jet aircraft. He estimated the object's course at 200 degrees magnetic and its speed at approximately 150 mph. He observed it for about 30 seconds before a cloud came between the aircraft and the object. Pursuit was not continued, as it would have required departing from established airways [62-HQ-83894/130]. The interviewing agent noted that Powell had over 4,000 command pilot hours, appeared calm and intelligent, and was "not given to flights of fancy." Powell expressed a fear of publicity and was hesitant to tell his story. When asked whether the object could have been a tow target, pilot balloon, or radiosonic device, Powell stated he had seen numerous such objects on flights and that what he observed "definitely was not one of them" [62-HQ-83894/130].