The UFO Chase

One Sunday afternoon at the old Baldwyn airport located east of town in a grassy pasture, some local pilots and spectators noticed a bright object in the sky. It was very brilliant and had moved across the horizon. Claude Gentry had some binoculars and after watching it for a while, decided to go aloft for a better look. A fellow pilot, Duke Young and he chased it for a long time before deciding they could not intercept it.

They noted that it had 2 distinguishable lights on it. Their non-supercharged airplane could not get high enough to get other details.

The story was something that had the townspeople talking for several days.The story at left from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution shows how far the story got.

Also several days later, the Tupelo Daily Journal got a bit of news that a similar craft, a plastic weather balloon, was found in a field near Eupora, Mississippi. They connected the stories but it is still unknown if they are realted. Don't know why they were written up as "River Pilots" in the AJC.



This is Mr. Claude and his Stinson Voyager plane. He used it for sport flying, in his business, and for
book research for some of his novels. Notice the painting on the side of the rear fuselage that is a representation of his first published book "Private John Allen".  He could get away from his business for an afternoon of fishing and be on Pickwick Lake and in his boat very quickly.
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Photo courtesy of BCR Museum, Ms Edwina Carpenter.