Wheelus AFB low-speed radar returns cross approach scopes — September 14 1958

Between about 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. on September 14, 1958, unidentified returns appeared on ground-controlled-approach and ground-controlled-intercept radar at Wheelus Air Force Base near Tripoli. The returns resembled aircraft in size and intensity. GCA first detected a return about 400 feet high, one and a half miles away on a bearing of 110 degrees, while GCI detected a return approximately 700 feet high and thirty miles northeast of the station. The target entered the precision-approach scope from the north and repeatedly crossed back and forth, at times leaving the scope entirely, while area-surveillance radar displayed it in many directions. GCI tracked a return inbound to the coast before it veered south. Reported altitudes varied from about 200 to 1,000 feet and speeds from twenty-five to eighty knots. The target was ultimately lost in or near ground clutter close to runway 29.