15.07.2025

January 10, 1961 - Benjamin, Texas

January 10, 1961--Benjamin, Texas. Glowing red, zigzagging UFO observed from air by pilot (also from ground by others); maneuvered and landed on large overgrown field. [V]1

Section V is in the table for pilot cases. The description reads:

Glowing red UFO changed course, descended, appeared to land. 2

There is no footnote associated with this sighting in the table but Section V has a very lengthy discussion about the case. It does provide a footnote, which cites a NICAP file.

Details

The UFO evidence has several paragraphs about the sighting:

Early in 1961, a private pilot in Texas witnessed an apparent landing of a UFO. NICAP Member Jack Varnell, Knox City, Texas, conducted an extensive investigation into the sighting and the resulting USAF interest. [44] An employee of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation office, he joined the search for the landed object shortly after noon of the day following the sighting, and observed proceedings firsthand from then on. January 10, 1961: Pilot W. K. Rutledge and passenger George Thomas, both of Abilene, Texas, were enroute to Abilene from Tulsa, Oklahoma. At 6,500 feet over Wichita Falls, Texas, about 9:00 p.m. they spotted a red object about 1,500 feet above the plane, glowing brilliantly in the night sky. Rutledge changed course to follow it at about 180 mph, establishing radio contact with the control tower at Shepard AFB, Wichita Falls, during the chase. He followed it WSW to Munday, then north to Vera (where several persons on the ground saw it). Then the object moved WSW again, toward Benjamin, finally turning SW. When beyond Benjamin, the object began to reduce its speed and altitude, going into a glide and appar-

ently landing 4 to 5 miles SW of the town in a heavily wooded area.

The pilot circled in his single-engine Beech “Debonair” while law officers, alerted by radio, sped to the scene. Included were Knox County Sheriff Homer T. Melton (now a Texas Ranger), one of his deputies, and the police chiefs of Knox City and Munday. Rutledge radioed his position to the Shepard AFB control tower when he began to circle, and the word was relayed to the converging patrol cars.

Poor communication between air and ground hampered Rutledge in his efforts to direct the search cars. At one point, a cruiser driven by Deputy Stone came within 100 yards of the landing spot, but the pilot was unable to direct him closer. During this period the glow from the UFO, which had been visible to Rutledge on the ground, was diminishing to a dull red. About the time Stone approached it (unknowingly) and blinked his lights, the glow from the UFO vanished completely.

After about 90 minutes of chasing and circling, Rutledge noticed he was running low on fuel and decided to go on to Abilene.

AIR FORCE INVESTIGATION

Next morning the search was resumed by police, about 20 high school boys, and several other citizens of the area. Despite a cold drizzle, they hunted until 3:00 p.m., when Rutledge and Thomas flew back from Abilene. Since there was no convenient airport, Rutledge landed on a highway near Benjamin. When they got into town they were immediately met by USAF Lieutenant McClure and a Sergeant; the four retired to a restaurant nearby for the questioning. NICAP Member Jack Varnell listened from the next table.

The Air Force officer’s opening implications that the object might have been a balloon or meteorite were quickly shortcut by Rutledge’s firm statement: “What I saw last night was certainly not a meteorite or a weather balloon.” He then made it clear that the object “came down slowly,” and did not “fall.” The lieutenant changed his tone at this point, Varnell reported, and became much more serious and interested.

As the interview progressed, the cafe began to fill, since the sighting was by this time the chief topic of conversation in the small Texas town. Questions were posed and answers noted for more than a half hour, but the muffled voices were hard to hear in the crowded room.

The USAF men expressed an interest in locating the site of the landing, so the group returned to Rutledge’s parked airplane. While Jack Varnell and the sheriff stopped traffic, Rutledge, Thomas, and Lieutenant McClure took off from the highway. The sergeant and the enlisted driver of the USAF car drove off.

The small plane made three or four passes over the 1,000 acre tract of mesquite where the object had reportedly landed, and then flew off.

Contrary to expectations, the other USAF men did not join the ground search party, which broke up about the time the plane departed. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., the three airmen, the pilot and his companion were seen at a drive-in restaurant near Knox City. Rutledge was observed by Jack Varnell to be filling out what appeared to be the standard USAF Technical Information Sheet with Lieutenant McClure.3

Project Blue Book had this sighting in their files under “Wichita Falls”.4 While the name is redacted, the description matches what is in the summary of the sighting in “The UFO Evidence”.

There are three witnesses in the file and I placed them in a table to make it easier to see the information:

Blue Book also mentions the aircraft attempting to get ground personnel to locate the “glowing” objects on the ground. However, just as mentioned by NICAP, nothing was found.

Analysis

Blue Book labeled this as a case of Venus setting. In my review of the Blue Book files for January-July 1960, I agreed with that classification.

It is important to note that at no time did the pilot, passenger, or ground witness mention seeing Venus in addition to the UFO. At 21:00, Venus was located at azimuth 255 and elevation 4 degrees for Wichita Falls. At 21:25, it was located at azimuth 258.5 and elevation 0 degrees. These are pretty close to the azimuth’s provided by the witnesses. It is also important to note that Venus set about the exact same time as when the object “landed”. Are these all coincidences? It seems likely that Venus is the probable explanation here. The setting of Venus in the distance gave the false impression that it had “landed” just beyond the line of sight.

This leaves us with the “flashes” and the “glowing objects” on the ground. It is difficult to say what the pilot and passenger saw.

Anything could have been the glowing objects. The area where they were circling was a field with no significant topography or buildings. The fact that no debris or burn marks were found by searches that night and on the next day doesn’t say a lot for the glowing objects or the two flashes that preceded them appearing. At best, this part of the sighting can be described as “insufficient information” since we don’t know the precise location of where the glowing objects were.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the primary source of this sighting was probably the planet Venus setting. It set at the time the primary object disappeared and was in the direction the witnesses were looking. They also did not mention the presence of Venus in addition to the UFO. Therefore, it is likely that Venus was the source of this part of the report. The physical evidence can be described as Insufficient information since no physical evidence of a landing was ever found. The case should be removed from the “best evidence” category.

This case is also a Weinstein catalog entry and it should be removed from that list as well.

Quelle: SUNlite 2/2025