The ChillX Zone

Veteran Pilots Recall Mysterious Encounter in Southern Skies

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most puzzling mid-air encounters in American aviation history.

In the early morning hours of July 24, 1948, an Eastern Air Lines DC-3 was flying over Montgomery, Alabama, when its seasoned flight crew—Captain Clarence S. Chiles and First Officer John B. Whitted—reported a close brush with an unidentified flying object unlike anything they had seen before.

According to both pilots, the object appeared suddenly in the distance, rapidly approached their aircraft, and then veered sharply away, vanishing into the clouds. They described it as a glowing, cigar-shaped craft, approximately 100 feet in length, with two rows of illuminated windows and a fiery exhaust streaming from its rear.

“It looked like a wingless fuselage,” Chiles reportedly said. “There was no sound—just a brilliant glow and the sensation that it knew we were there.”

Air Force and Civilian Experts Investigate

The sighting was immediately reported upon landing. Given the pilots’ high credibility and military backgrounds, the event drew the attention of U.S. Air Force investigators and civilian aviation authorities. Radar tracking had shown no unusual aircraft in the area at the time. Weather conditions were calm and clear, with no known atmospheric disturbances.

Although no physical evidence was recovered, and no other aircraft crews reported a similar sighting that night, the credibility of the witnesses ensured the case was not easily dismissed.

Some aviation analysts at the time suggested the object may have been a meteor or a rare type of atmospheric fireball. However, both Chiles and Whitted rejected that theory, citing the craft’s structured form and maneuverability.

A Pivotal Moment in Early UFO History

The 1948 Montgomery incident would go on to become one of the earliest and most influential cases in the Air Force’s newly formed investigation unit focused on aerial anomalies.

For many, the sighting marked a turning point in how seriously such reports were taken—especially when coming from trained flight personnel.

To this day, the Chiles–Whitted encounter, as it has come to be known, is remembered not only for its startling nature but for the measured and unwavering testimony of the men who witnessed it firsthand.

Legacy in the Skies

Seventy-seven years later, the skies over Alabama remain quiet, but the questions stirred that night still hang in the air. Was it a misidentified natural phenomenon? A glimpse at advanced experimental technology? Or something even stranger?

As night falls on this July 24th, some eyes will again turn upward—remembering a time when two pilots looked into the dark and saw something that couldn’t be explained.

And just maybe, they weren’t the only ones.