E-006333LANDMARK CASE · HIGH CORROBORATIONDATE PRECISION: yearRECORD COMPLETENESS: 100%
Navy R7V-2 Giant Disc near Gander
1956Gander approach, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
A Navy R7V-2 carrying nearly thirty airmen reportedly encountered a cluster of lights that rose and appeared as a giant disc. The senior pilot said the object passed close to the transport, then paced it before accelerating away; Gander was later said to have tracked both targets on radar.
Claims are displayed with the source wording, locator, relationship and verification state. Competing claims remain separate rather than being averaged into a single answer.
“A Navy R7V-2 crew reportedly watched a cluster of lights climb and resolve into a huge disc, which passed close to the transport, paced it at about 100 yards, and then tilted upward and accelerated away.”
SRC-002107 · Gander Navy R7V-2 encounter; uploaded PDF pp. 50-50
SUPPORTS
CLAIM-689082reported
“After the encounter, the pilot reportedly contacted Gander and was told controllers had watched both the Navy aircraft and the other target on radar but had received no radio reply from the unidentified target.”
SRC-002107 · Gander provenance caveat; uploaded PDF pp. 50-50
SUPPORTS
CLAIM-694030reported
“Hall says that after the 1956 Navy transport encounter, an unnamed government scientist showed the aircraft commander a set of photographs; the commander reportedly identified one image as matching the object he had seen, after which the scientist declined comment and left.”
“The senior pilot estimated the object at three to four times the R7V-2 wingspan, roughly 370-500 feet, at least 30 feet thick in the center, and like one dish atop another.”
“Hall states that several Navy cases came through Donald Keyhoe's personal military contacts and that two Army intelligence reports were supplied to NICAP by service members.”
SRC-002107 · Section provenance and NICAP military contacts; uploaded PDF pp. 44-47
SUPPORTS
CLAIM-689057reported
“Hall reproduces two military communications: a September 1957 First Air Force letter quoting a Fort Devens report and a February 1957 Army intelligence memorandum from Kagnew Station.”