From: Don Ledger <dledger@ns.sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 19:20:22 -0300
Fwd Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 19:13:52 -0400
Subject: Re: Mantell - Ledger 


 >From: Bill Hamilton <skywatcher22@space.com>
 >To: ufoupdates@virtuallystrange.net
 >Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 07:37:37 -0700 (PDT)
 >Subject: Re: Mantell

 >>From: Richard Hall <hallrichard99@hotmail.com>
 >>To: ufoupdates@virtuallystrange.net
 >>Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 20:41:55 +0000
 >>Subject: Re: Mantell

 ><snip>

 >Clarification.

 >I know the Mantell case and know he was about to fly by. The
 >pilot on the ground I referred to was not Mantell, but
 >supposedly a witness. It turns out this witness did not believe
 >in UFOs and was certain later that Mantell was chasing a balloon
 >that looked disk-like.

 >I am still not convinced that Mantell was 'closing' on a
 >balloon.


Hi Bill,

I mis-understood that sentence it seems. I'm thinking that there
might have been a couple of balloons in the air near Godman that
day. Or at least one balloon and something as yet to be
identified. Witnesses on the ground and the police reported
quite a large object, a couple of hundred feet - estimated -
across. At low level the Skyhook would not have been lens or
disk-shaped but more in line with some of the reports from the
personnel at Godman tower who reported 'ice cream cone' or
'parachute-shaped' objects.

If Mantell's object was a Skyhook at higher altitudes, it then
could readily take on the flattened sphere or lens-shape, often
reported. I believe that its fully expanded shape was about 96
feet across.


Best,

Don