Knoxville: Radar detects 11 targets over Oak Ridge
Military radar at Knoxville Airport detected at least 11 unidentified objects over the restricted Oak Ridge zone at 11:25 p.m. An F-82 fighter was scrambled but found nothing visually.
Background
Event
On October 12, 1950 at 23:25, a military radar unit at Knoxville airport, Tennessee suddenly registered eleven or more unidentified targets. These were moving over the prohibited airspace of Oak Ridge, a sensitive nuclear restricted area.
Response
At 23:30 the radar station commander ordered an F-82 fighter to launch, which took off nine minutes later. The pilot was directed to two targets but could confirm nothing visually. Ground observations likewise produced no sightings in the sky.
Evidence and Witnesses
The primary evidence comes from the military radar. Sources include NICAP reports, a memo from Strategic Air Command to the FBI Director of October 25, 1950, as well as newspaper articles and the historian Loren E. Gross. There were no visual confirmations despite the sortie.
Significance
The case points to early military radar encounters with UAP over strategic zones during the early UFO wave of 1950, with Oak Ridge as the nuclear facility at its centre.