The Gorman UFO Dogfight

The Gorman UFO dogfight took place in the skies over Fargo, North Dakota on October 1, 1948 at approximately 9 PM. Second Lieutenant George Gorman was a WWII-veteran fighter pilot serving with the North Dakota Air National Guard. Gorman was logging some flight time in his F-51 Mustang. It was a clear, cloudless night. Perfect for night-flying.

Gorman noticed a Piper Cub flying about 500 feet below him. He then spotted another bright object flying to his west. Uncertain about what he was observing, Gorman radioed the control tower at Fargo's Hector Airport for assistance. The control tower informed Gorman that the only air traffic they were aware of was his F-51 and the Piper Cub. The pilot and passenger of the Piper Cub quickly reported that they could also see the bright flying object.

Gorman informed the control tower that he was going to investigate. The pilot was approaching the the mysterious object at about 5,000 feet when he first reported that it was travelling too fast for him to catch. Suddenly, the F-51 and UFO were on a collision course. Gorman reported that the object passed over him, barely avoiding collision.

Gorman temporarily lost sight of the object. When he saw it again the UFO had apparently made a 180-degree turn and was once again on a collision course with his Mustang. The mysterious light then made a sudden, steep vertical climb. Gorman pursued the UFO until his F-51 stalled at 14,000 feet. Regaining control of his aircraft, Gorman chased the object until he was twenty-five miles outside of Fargo. He broke off his pursuit at 9:27 PM and returned to Hector Airport.





After landing, George Gorman spoke with air-traffic controller L.D. Jensen and the pilot and passenger of the Piper Cub. All three told Gorman they had witnessed the strange encounter.



USAF investigators from Project Sign were soon on the scene to interview Gorman and the other three witnesses. Their initial report found the pilot and witnesses highly credible and concluded "that something remarkable had occurred" in the skies over Fargo. The investigators also discovered that Gorman's F-51 recorded an "unusually high" Geiger counter reading. They speculated that Gorman "may actually have been pursuing an atomic-powered craft".

Project Sign later revised their findings, announcing that Gorman had first been chasing a lighted weather balloon and then the planet Jupiter.