Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, USA, in September 1946:
ACUFO-1946-09-00-REHOBOTHBEACH-1
This case first appeared in the newspaper Morning News, of Wilmington, Delaware, USA, for July 8, 1947.
The article told that "flying mayonnaise jars" had been seen by a pilot of 123 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, named Forrest Wenyon, who believed that these "mystery discs" he observed may have caused the airplane crash that occurred on Memorial Day.
Three sightings were reported; one was on June 2, 1947, one was "last night" - thus Kuly 7, 1947, another one afternoon of September 1946.
The september 1946 sighting was the most detailed of the three sightings in the article:
While flying north at about 1,000 feet, late in the afternoon, Mr. Wenyon suddenly saw at an estimated distance of 2,000 feet in front of his plane and traveling from west to east, an object going at tremendous speed; he was nevertheless able to note several things.
The most important of these observations, the article sais, is that the objects appeared to have some sort of rocket combustion; Mr. Wenyon said that "spurts of silver flame from the tail seemed to provide the propulsion." He said that the tail "appeared to be a lid which had been perforated and that from these perforations the flames escaped."
In a matter of 2 or at most 3 seconds the object had disappeared over and past Fort Miles. It had held a true course until it disappeared from sight, and this was the case in the three sightings.
The newspaper said that this "would indicate a guided missile at least an aimed missile while the course of the (1947) "saucers" has been described by observers as erratic."
The newspaper also told that Mr. Wenyon thought that the rockets he had seen was responsible for the crash of the Eastern Airlines plane at Port Deposit, Maryland, on Memorial Day, which killed 53 persons. Thus he called the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but they told him they were not interested, he said. He then called Eastern Airlines and the Civil Aeronautic Authority; both gave him a sympathetic hearing, thanked him and said they wold investigate, but to date he has received no answer from either.
Then an FBI document appeared, first declassified in the late 1970's and read by ufologists at that time, then published for everyone to see on the FBI's Electronic Reading Room on the Web in their UFO section, then again, in 2026, republished with much publicity about an "unprecedented UFO and alien life [sic] disclosure" under the so-called "Trump Administration" - this transparency effort actually being bi-partisan - so-called "U.S. Department of War" in a batch of FBI documents from that era (at www.war.gov/ufo).
The FBI document came from the Baltimore FBI office, and was dated September 4, 1947.
It contained a copy of the Morning News July 8, 1947 article, and added: "Mr. Wenyon stated that what he had seen traveled at such a high rate of speed that it was very difficult to describe it, but the description "flying mayonnaise jars" was concocted by the newspaper reporter".
It told that the FBI did not report about it to the military "in view or the fact that only a preliminary inquiry was conducted on the basis of a news article which sets forth essentially the facts obtained from Mr. Wenyon", and that "no further action in this matter is contemplated by this office unless advised otherwise by the Bureau."
The author of the FBI report explained that he was informed that Mr. Wenyon had called the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was advised that they were not interested, whereupon he notified the Eastern Airlines and the Civil Aeronautics authority of the objects ha had seen. Both agencies are reported to have accepted the information and said they would investigate, but Mr. Wenyon had received no answer to date from either agency.
The author of the FBI report explained that he received the newspaper article from the resident FBI agent's office at Wilmington, who told him that no agent in Wilmington had been contacted by Mr. Wenyon.
The FBI had then interviewed Mr. Wenyon, and "determined that his correct name was "Horace P. Wenyon", who said he had been an airline pilot for approximately thirty years.
Wenyon told the FBI that in September of 1946, while flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet, two of three miles south or Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, he noticed a projectile approximately fifteen inches in diameter which crossed his course at right angles and was moving in a west-to-east direction. He said that several jets of flames were spurting from the object and it was traveling at a very high rate of speed, 1,000 to 1,200 miles per hour. He stated that in October of 1946, he observed a similar projectile while flying over Rehoboth Beach at 1,400 feet. This was also traveling from east to west.
Wenyon told that he was convinced he has seen some sort of rocket being tested, and that he wished to call the matter to the attention of the appropriate authority inasmuch as he thought that the series of airplane crashes that have occurred recently might be in part explained by what he had observed. He stated that he had "reported the information to the civil Aeronautics Authority and had been telephonically interviewed by a reporter from the Wilmington Morning News.
When the U.S. Air Force launched their "Project Grudge" UFO investigation, or debunking program, the case was recorded in their file. The case card mentions two sightings instead of three, provides a very brief summary, and offers the conclusion that he seen a "Missile".
The analysis ssummary indicated that the "incident contains nothing astronomical", and it is. "entirely possible that the objects observed on these three separate dates were "Bumble Bees", ram-jet missiles, as fired from Fort Miles by the Applied Physics Laboratory of John Hopkins University". But since the hour of observation of the various sightings and the exact day of the first two were not given in material submitted to the investigator, "positive identification cannot be made"; but "if these facts are known, inquiry at the above-mentioned laboratory (address: 6621 South Georgia Avenue, Silver Springs, Maryland) might bring forth definite identification".
The case then appears in several ufology articles. Regarding the "Missile" explanation by the Air Force, ufologist Ted Bloecher noted in 1967 that the sightings were unexplained because "it is inconceivable that the U.S. Government would be testing experimental rockets on the east coast at that time, particularly in commercial airlanes." Others also commented that "History, however, bears no documentation of rocket tests over that densely populated East Coast area," while others wondered if the objects were daytimes meteors, and while most late sources offer no explanation attempts at all.
But I found some other information.
First, the witness, Forrest Wenyon, was indeed an experienced pilot. He had served in the Royal Air force during WWII, ranking Captain, and I even found one newspaper saying he had been an "Ace" pilot. In the late 1920's and in the 1930's, he was a well-known pilot in the Rehoboth area, called a "famous aviator", appearing in public air shows performing dives, turns, loops and other stunts.
Second, missile tests were indeed conducted in the area at least at the time of the two first sightings. It was called "operation Bumblebee" and was a US Navy effort to develop surface-to-air, anti-aircraft, missiles. These first ones were rocket-powered and tested from launching ramps at Fort Miles, Delaware.
The missiles tested at Fort Miles in 1946 were generally launched with the help of clusters of solid-fueled rocket motors. This perfectly fits the description by Mr. Wenyon that "the tail" of the missiles "appeared to be a lid which had been perforated and that from these perforations the flames escaped".
It was sensible to wonder or doubt that such tests would be conducted in this populated area. But, indeed, the tests operations were then moved to other places, as if Mr. Wenyon's concerns about missiles hitting civilian planes were finally taken into account.
| Date: | September 1946 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Late in the afternoon. |
| Duration: | 2 or 3 seconds. |
| First known report date: | July 8, 1947 |
| Reporting delay: | 1 year. |
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Delaware |
| City or place: | Rehoboth Beach |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Reporting channel: | To the FBI, to the CAA, to Eastern Airlines, to the Press. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Day. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Flies in straight line. |
| Witnesses action: | Observed. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Missile test. |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1.
[ ] Airborne radar: N/A. [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | DD |
| Armed / unarmed: | Unarmed. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 3 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 0 |
| ACUFO: | Missile test. |
[Ref. wmn1:] "WILMINGTON MORNING NEWS":
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[?] pilot, Forrest Wenyon of 123 Rehoboth Avenue, observed last night that in the past 10 months he has been loosely described as "flying saucers" but mayonnaise jars."
Difference between the mysterious objects of Mr. Wenyon those which have now been observed in some 40 states in that the former, according to the pilot, held a true course until they disappeared from sight.
This would indicate a guided missile at least an aimed missile while the course of the "saucers" has been described by observers as erratic.
Mr. Wenyon said last night that he first saw what loosely resembled a "flying mayonnaise jar" one afternoon last September while flying at about 1,000 feet. It was late in the afternoon and the pilot was flying north.
Suddenly, at an estimated distance of 2,000 feet in front of his plane and traveling from west to east, Mr. Wenyon saw the "jar." It was going at tremendous speed but the pilot was able to note several things.
The most important of these observations, insofar as an explanation is possible, is that the "jar" appeared to have some sort of rocket combustion. Mr. Wenyon said that spurts of silver flame from the tail seemed to provide the propulsion.
Carrying out the description of the "flying mayonnaise jar," Mr. Wenyon said that the tail appeared to be a lid which had been perforated and that from these perforations the flames escaped.
In a matter of two, at the most three, seconds the object had disappeared over and past Fort Miles. The pilot did not see it land and doesn't know whether it did or not.
Then on June 2 while flying at 1,400 feet in a Stinson four-passenger ship Mr. Wenyon, a pilot of 30 [years]
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Continued From First Page
[?] sized from the theory that they were radio controlled flying missiles sent aloft by U. S. military scientists to the suggestion that they might be merely sun light reflected on wing tanks of jet-propelled planes.
A. B. Cross of Chattanooga, Tenn., a 34-year-old watchmaker, announced he invented the "flying saucer" and submitted it to the War Department in 1943 but his idea was rejected as not practical "at the present time."
Later, he said, he became convinced that the department elaborated on his plan. His model was powdered with a rubber band. Cross said, but he believed atomic power now is being used.
A Spokane, Wash., woman insisted the objects she saw were of such size that together they would take up the space of a five-room house if they landed, but a Clearwater, Fla., woman said the disks she observed resembled "pie pans."
At Rutland, Vt., a woman reported she and her husband witnessed a brilliant object in the night sky which she assumed to be a "flying saucer" although it was stationary.
But at Cambridge, Mass., a housewife said she saw "a group of white, flying saucers whirling around and going at a tremendous speed."
The Massachusetts and Vermont reports brought to 40 the number of states in which the objects have been observed.
With New England getting into the game, the Harvard University astronomical observatory took note of the reports but said it had had no luck so far in photographing one of the discs.
The mysterious saucers first were reported June 25 in the State of Washington, but Charlie T. Hamlet, superintendent of the Kingsport, Tenn., Times News composing room, said yesterday he had seen the discs two years ago.
They were "of a bright, aluminum color" and "were going at terrific speed," Hamlet said, explaining he kept quiet about them because of [fear] [...missing part]
[Ref. fbi4:] FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI):
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L/Dir., FBI
9/4/47
Flying Discs
Miscellaneous
Mr. WENYON stated that what he had seen traveled at such a high rate of speed that it was very difficult to describe it, but the description "flying mayonnaise jars" was concocted by the newspaper reporter.
This information has not been brought to the attention of any Army sources 1n view or the fact that only a preliminary inquiry was conducted on the basis of a news article which sets forth essentially the facts obtained from Mr. WENYON.
No further action in this matter is contemplated by this office unless advised otherwise by the Bureau.
SB:arf
62-0
Attachment
|
DATE: 9/4/47
Director, FBI
[...] Baltimore
SUBJECT: FLYING DISCS
MISCELLANEOUS
The attached newspaper clipping appeared in the "Morning News" of Wilmington, Delaware, July 8, 1947. It reports that a FORREST WENYON, 123 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, an aircraft pilot, had disclosed that in the past ten months he had twice seen discs which he was reported to have described as "flying mayonnaise jars." He was reported to have seen the first flying disc during September, 1946, and to have noted another such object on June 2, 1947.
Mr. WENYON was quoted as having called the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was advised that the Bureau was not interested, whereupon he notified the Eastern Airlines and the Civil Aeronautics authority of the objects ha had seen. Both agencies are reported to have accepted the information stating they would investigate. The clipping further stated that Mr. WENYON had received no answer to date from either agency.
This clipping was submitted to me by the resident agent's office at Wilmington together with the advice that no agent in Wilmington had been contacted by Mr. WENYON. I directed Mr. WENYON to be interviewed to determine the full facts.
Mr. WENYON was interviewed and it was determined that his correct name is HORACE P. WENYON. Mr. WENYON advided that he had been an airline pilot approximately thirty years. He stated that in September of 1946, while flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet, two of three miles south or Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, he noticed a projectile approximately fifteen inches in diameter which crossed his course at right angles and was moving in a west-to-east direction. According to Mr. WENYON, several jets of flames were spurting from the object and it was traveling at a very high rate of speed, 1,000 to 1,200 miles per hour. He stated that in October of 1946, he observed a similar projectile while flying over Rehoboth Beach at 1,400 feet. This was also traveling from east to west.
Mr. WENYON stated that there is little question in his mind but that what he saw was some sort of rocket being tested. He stated that he wished to call the matter to the attention of the appropriate authority inasmuch as he thought that the series of airplane crashes that have occurred recently might be in part explained by what he had observed. He stated that he had reported the information to the civil Aeronautics Authority and had been telephonically interviewed by a reporter from the Wilmington "Morning News."
COPIED DESTROYED
NOV 18 1964
RECORDED & INDEXED
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Forrest Wenyon Believes Mystery Discs, Jet-Propelled, May Have Caused Big [?] Plane Crash on Memorial Day
Veteran Delaware pilot, Forrest Wenyon of 123 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, disclosed last night that in the past 10 months he has seen objects now being loosely described as "flying saucers" but he calls "flying mayonnaise jars."
[?] particular difference between the mysterious objects of Mr. Wenyon's report and those which have no been observed in sone 40 states in that the former, according to the pilot, heald a true course until they disappeared from sight.
This would indicate a guided or at least an aimed missile while the course of the "saucers" has been described by observers as erratic.
Mr. Wenyon said last night that he first saw what losely resembled a "flying mayonnaise jar" one afternoon last September while flying at about 1,000 feet. It was late in the afternoon and the pilot was flying north.
Suddenly, at an estimated distance of 2,000 feet in front of his plane and traveling from west to east, Mr. Wenyon saw the "jar". It was going at tremendous speed but the pilot was able to note several things.
The most important of these observations, insofar as an explanation is possible, is that the "jar" appeared to have some sort or rocket combustion. Mr. Wenyon said that spurts of silver flame from the tail seemed to provide the propulsion.
Carrying out the description of the "flying mayonnaise jar." Mr. Wenyon said that the tail appeared to be a lid which had been perforated and that from these perforation the flames escaped.
In a matter of two, at the most three, seconds the object had disappeared over and past Fort Miles. The pilot did not see it land and doesn't know whether it did or not.
Then on June 2 while flying at 1,400 feet in a Stinson four passenger ship Mt. Wenyon, a pilot of 30 years experience, saw another "jar."
He didn't say much about it to Rehoboth Airport attaches although he did mention it. Mr. Wenyon with a theory in mind called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They were not interested and told him so, he said. He then called Eastern Airlines and the Civil Aeronautic Authority both of which gave him a sympathetic hearing, thanked him and said they'd investigate.
To date he has received no answer from either.
Mr. Wenyon's theory is that one of these "jars" was responsible for the crash of the Eastern Airlines plane [?] Port Deposit, Md., on Memorial Day, which killed 53 persons. He [?] the stories of that accident [?] and believes now that the [?] collision in mid-air, [?] of witnesses, [?]
[Ref. bbk1:] US AIR FORCE PROJECT BLUE BOOK:
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PROJECT 10073 RECORD
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1. DATE - TIME GROUP 2. LOCATION Rehoboth Bomen, Delaware 3. SOURCE Civilian 4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS One 5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION Not reported 6. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Air-Visual 7. COURSE North 8. PHOTOS No 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE No 10. CONCLUSION Other (Missile) 11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS A "mayonnaise-jar" object heading north was sighted by observer. The observer was a civilian pilot with 30 yrs exp. Estimated speed of object was 2000-12000 mph. This is the second such object this observer has seen. Previous one in Sep 46. |
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Incident #60 -- Rehoboth Beach, Delaware -- September 1946 October 1946 2 June 1947
This incident contains nothing astronomical.
It is entirely possible that the objects observed on these three separate dates were "Bumble Bees", ram-jet missiles, as fired from Fort Miles by the Applied Physics Laboratory of John Hopkins University. Since the hour of observation of the various sightings (and the exact day of the first two) is not given in material submitted to this investigator, positive identification cannot be made; but if these facts are known, inquiry at the above-mentioned laboratory (address: 6621 South Georgia Avenue, Silver Springs, Maryland) might bring forth definite identification.
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CHECK-LIST - UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
Incident # 65
1. Date Sept of 1946
2. Time N/S
3. Location 2 or 3 miles south of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
4. Name of observer Horace P. Wenyon
5. Occupation of observer N/S however he is an airplane pilot of approx 30 years.
6. Address of observer 123 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
7. Place of observation air- 2 or 3 miles south of Rehoboth Beach, Del.
8. Number of objects 1
9. Distance of object from observer N/S
10. Time in sight N/A
11. Altitude 1,000 ft
12. Speed 1,000 to 1,200 MPH
13. Direction of flight west to east.
14. Tactics apparently horizontal
15. Sound N/S
16. Size 15 inches in diameter
17. Color N/S
18. Shape N/S
19. Odor detected N/A
20. Apparent construction N/S
21. Exhaust trails several jets of flame were spurting from the object.
22. Weather conditions N/S
23. Effect on clouds N/S
24. Sketches or photographs None
25. Manner of disappearance N/S
26. Remarks (over)
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Mr. Wenyon advised that he noticed a projectile approximately 15 inches in diameter cross his course at right angles moving in a west-to-east direction and traveling at an altitude of 1,000 ft. It was traveling at a very high rate of speed - from 1,000 to 1,200 MPH. Several jets or flames were spurting from the object. Then in October of 46 he observed a similar projectile at 1,400 ft while flying over the same beach. This object was also traveling west to east.
It was Mr. Wenyon's assumption that he saw some sort of rocket being tested. He associated a series of airplane crashes that had occurred around that time with the appearance of this missile and thought that the proper authorities should be notified.
[Ref. tbr1:] TED BLOECHER:
Case 6 -- June 2, near Lewes, Delaware: Forrest Wenyon, from Rehoboth Delaware, a pilot with more than 30 years experience, reported that he had seen an object shaped like "a mayonnaise jar" cross in front of his plane as he was flying north over Lewes, Delaware. It was the second time he had seen an object of that description - the first sighting took place in September, 1946. (This earlier case in the Air Force files has the name as Horace P. Wenyon)
Mr. Wenyon said the object was flying on a "true course" eastward at an estimated speed of 10,000 to 12,000 miles an hour. The pilot was flying at an altitude of 1,400 feet in a Stinson 4-passenger plane when the second sighting took place. The object crossed his flight path at approximately the same altitude. Although it was going at a tremendous speed, Mr. Wenyon was able to note several things: the silvery, "jar-shaped object" flew with the lid part aft, and appeared to have some kind of rocket propulsion, The "lid" appeared to be perforated, and from these openings he could see white flames escaping. The object disappeared within a few seconds. Worried because this projectile had been flying through commercial air lanes, and fearing a possible connection with a disastrous C-54 airliner crash just two days before at Port Deposit, Maryland, Wenyon notified the CAA, the FBI, and Eastern Airlines and told them about his observation. The FBI was not interested, and told him so. The CAA and Eastern listened to his report and said they would investigate. But more than a month later he heard of no results.
This sighting is included in the Air Force files -- possibly as a result of Wenyon's report to the CAA. It is explained as a "missile," which is in itself a mystery, as it is inconceivable that the U.S. Government would be testing experimental rockets on the east coast at that time, particularly in commercial air lanes.
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
The FBI also checked a news story in the Wilmington {Delaware) Morning News that referred to a local resident who claimed the sighting of a strange object twice, once in September, 1946, and another in October the same year. He described one of the objects as a sort of "flying tube" some 15 inches in diameter zipping through the air at 1,000 mph. It was jet powered and travelled west to east crossing the coast in Rehoboth beach area. 116.
The source reference "116" is described as: "Blue Book File #65."
[Ref. hwc1:] DAVID ALL AND WENDY CONNORS:
On the 2nd of June [1947] private pilot Forrest Wenyon saw a jar-shaped rocket-like object fly across the nose of his aircraft at great speed near Lewes, Delaware, heading in an easterly direction around his own altitude of 1,400 feet. Wenyon reported his observation to the CAA, Eastern Airlines, and the FBI because the object was spotted in commercial airline space. There was some speculation on his part that there could have been a connection to a crash of a C-54 from such an object just two days before. The sighting did end up in Air Force records but for whatever reason was not released to the National Archives when other UFO files were made public in 1976. Earlier researchers who had the chance to view that file indicate that the military attributed the sighting to a rocket test. History, however, bears no documentation of rocket tests over that densely populated East Coast area. This is one case in which it would be interesting to know if Alfred Loedding consulted on due to his experience in rocketry. (The Wenyon incident is detailed in recently released FBI records.)
[Ref. prt4:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":
N - 1946.09 -- USA, day, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Private Pilot, encountered "flying mayonnaise jar" shaped UFOs. (Project Grudge: Bumble Bee Missiles Launched by John Hopkins University) (FBI files, Project Blue Book report summary, newspaper accounts)
[Ref. lgs2:] LOREN GROSS:
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The FBI also checked a news story in the Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News that referred to a local resident who claimed the sighting of a strange object twice, once in September, 1946, and another in October the same year. He described one of the objects as a sort of "flying tube" some 15 inches in diameter zipping through the air at 1,000 mph. It was jet powered and travelled west to east crossing the coast in Rehoboth beach area. 245.
The source reference "245" is described as: "Air Force BLUE BOOK File #65."
[Ref. bss1:] BRAD SPARKS:
June 2, 1947. 2-3 miles S [?] of Rehoboth Beach (near Lewes), Delaware. Pilot Horace P. Wenyon in aircraft flying N at 1,400 ft saw a silvery "mayonnaise jar"-shaped object 15 inches [?] in size cross in front of the plane at 1,000-1,200 mph heading W to E on a straight course at same altitude, with a silver-white fire exhaust. Confusion with previous sightings of "same object" in Sept and Oct 1946. [Daytime meteor?] (Sparks; Project 1947; McDonald list; FOIA; Bloecher 1967)
[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalog of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft ([dwn1]). The first case in February 2001 (6th edition) catalog appears as:
|
| DATE | 46.09.00 |
|---|---|
| TIME | |
| COUNTRY | USA |
| PLACE | Rehoboth Beach, Delaware |
| P | |
| TYPE OF PLANE AND WITNESSES | A Curtis wright pilot |
| DESCRIPTION OVNI | one round shiny disc-shaped object |
| Radar | |
| G | |
| X | |
| E | |
| SOURCES | 03 |
The source "03" is referenced at the end of the catalog as:
Project 1947 Reports, newsclippings and documents (cases from Jan Aldrich and Barry Greenwood)
[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
|
1946, September
USA, Rehoboth Beach (Delaware)
The pilot of a Curtis Wright saw a round and shiny object. (PROJECT ACUFOE, Catalogue 1999, Dominique Weinstein)
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
Time , unstated
Duration sev secs
aircraft unstated
United States
Private
1 observer
No EMI
No radar contact
Brad Sparks:
June 2, 1947; Rehoboth Beach (near Lewes), Delaware (BBU)
Time unstated. Pilot Forrest Wenyon in aircraft flying N at 1,400 ft saw a silvery jar-shaped object 15 inches [?] in size cross in front of the plane at 1,000-10,000 mph heading E on a straight course at same altitude, with a silver-white fire exhaust. [Daytime meteor?] Sev secs. (Project 1947; McDonald list; FOIA; Bloecher 1967)
Detailed reports and documents
reports/470602rehoboth_report.htm (Dan Wilson)
[Ref. nip2:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:49:23 +0000 (GMT)
From: daniel wilson
Subject: June 2, 1947; Rehoboth Beach (near Lewes), Delaware (BBU)/ AVCAT
To: AVCAT
The following pdf file contains all of the resized Project Blue Book documents below and is now housed on the NICAP site for security reasons.
http://www.nicap.org/docs/470602rehoboth_docs.pdf
The original over-sized docs from the Blue Book site are listed below:
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB1-492
PROJECT 10073 RECORD
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB1-493
This incident contains nothing astronomical
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=USAF-SIGN8-331
CHECK-LIST - UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS/ Speed 1,000 to 1,200 mph
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=USAF-SIGN8-332
Description of the incident
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=MAXW-PBB2-243
PROJECT BLUE BOOK MASTER INDEX JUNE 1947 SIGHTINGS
[Ref. get1:] GEORGE M. EBEHART:
June 2 [1947] - Private pilot Forrest Wenyon is flying over Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and sees a silvery, jar-shaped object cross in front of his plane. It has a silver-white, fiery exhaust. (NICAP, "Jar-Shaped Object Crosses in Front of Aircraft"; Bloecher, p. III-9; Sparks, p. 16)
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
|
Date: September, 1946
Location: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Time:
Summary: Round shiny disc-shaped object. An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One shiny disc was observed by one experienced male witness. Curtis Wright Pilot incident.
Source: Weinstein, Dominique Aircraft UFO Encounters Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999
[Ref. fbk1:] "FACEBOOK" POSTS:
Case 6 -- June 2, near Lewes, Delaware: Forrest Wenyon, from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, “a pilot with more than 30 years experience, reported that he had seen an object shaped like "a mayonnaise jar" cross in front of his plane as he was flying north over Lewes, Delaware. It was the second time he had seen an object of that description - the first sighting took place in September, 1946. (This earlier case in the Air Force files has the name as Horace P. Wenyon)
Mr. Wenyon said the object was flying on a "true course" eastward at an estimated speed of 10,000 to 12,000 miles an hour. The pilot was flying at an altitude of 1,400 feet in a Stinson 4-passenger plane when the second sighting took place. The object crossed his flight path at approximately the same altitude. Although it was going at a tremendous speed, Mr. Wenyon was able to note several things: the silvery, "jar-shaped object" flew with the lid part aft, and appeared to have some kind of rocket propulsion, The "lid" appeared to be perforated, and from these openings he could see white flames escaping. The object disappeared within a few seconds. Worried because this projectile had been flying through commercial air lanes, and fearing a possible connection with a disastrous C-54 airliner crash just two days before at Port Deposit, Maryland, Wenyon notified the CAA, the FBI, and Eastern Airlines and told them about his observation. The FBI was not interested, and told him so. The CAA and Eastern listened to his report and said they would investigate. But more than a month later he heard of no results.” “This sighting is included in the Air Force files -- possibly as a result of Wenyon's report to the CAA. It is explained as a "missile," which is in itself a mystery, as it is inconceivable that the U.S. Government would be testing experimental rockets on the east coast at that time, particularly in commercial air lanes.”
[Ref. fmm1:] FORT MILES MUSEUM - "CAPE GAZETTE":
Fort Miles Museum Board
October 30, 2022
Operation Bumblebee was a Cold War project, but its story begins during World War II.
In 1943, the Nazi air force began attacking Allied ships with glide bombs. Warplanes could launch these bombs before getting in range of a ship’s guns, and the bombs could be guided using radio controls. In the Pacific, Allied ships faced suicide attacks by Imperial Japanese pilots called kamikazes. Glide bombs and kamikazes were difficult to defend against using the artillery guns on ships at the time.
Faced with these threats, the U.S. Navy asked its Applied Physics Lab to create a new weapon to defend American warships. APL researchers decided that for the project to succeed, they would need to use a ramjet. Ramjets suck in and compress air, using it to create more thrust. However, nobody had used one in a missile before.
Initial testing was done at Island Beach in New Jersey. It soon became clear that there were too many ships operating in the area for secret missile tests.
In December 1945, Bumblebee equipment began shifting to Fort Miles, where the area around Cape Henlopen offered more room for testing. New research buildings were raised near Battery Herring, while tracking equipment was attached to the battery and some of the World War II-era fire control towers.
Rockets were test fired from the beaches east and south of Herring Point. Eventually, the problems from Island Beach reappeared: there was too much activity in the area.
In March 1947, Bumblebee was relocated to Topsail Island, N.C. The project produced several successful missiles by the time it ended in the 1960s.
Research for Bumblebee also led to solid-fuel boosters used in vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Without Bumblebee and the tests conducted at Fort Miles, the U.S. might not have the modern space program.
One interesting footnote comes from civilian pilot Horace Wenyon. In September 1946, Wenyon was flying near Rehoboth Beach when he spotted an unidentified object streaking into the sky. A month later, the same thing happened. On June 2, 1947, he saw it again. Wenyon reported each sighting to the FBI.
Eventually his reports made their way to the Air Force, which was studying possible extraterrestrial sightings under the codename Bluebook. Wenyon never claimed he had spotted an extraterrestrial craft; he suggested a rocket, which is the same conclusion the Bluebook investigators reached. The objects Wenyon saw were officially declared to have been Bumblebee rockets from Fort Miles. However, Bumblebee testing at Fort Miles ended three months before the last sighting was reported. So did Wenyon get the date wrong, or did he see something unexplained? Perhaps further research can solve this mystery.
Bumblebee was an audacious project that successfully produced supersonic fleet defense missiles and advanced U.S. understanding of rocketry.
No aircraft information is given in the available documents about the 1946 sighting.
I can tell that in the 1930's and possibly in the 1940's, the Rehoboth airfield where Mr. Wenyon operated had several Fairchild 24's and Stinson "Voyageurs" planes. The June 2, 1947 sighting, according to the newspaper [wmn1], was made form a "Stinson four-passenger ship".
Below: a Fairchild 24, and a Stinson "Voyageur".
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The witness:
The newspaper Daily Times, of Salisbury, Maryland, for March 13, 1929 indicates that Captain Wenyon is piloting a photographic plane plane purchased by the local airport.
The History book "Rehoboth Beach - a story of surf and sand", by Michael Morgan, The History Press publishers, USA, 2009, lets us know that the name was Forrest Wenyon, he was a Captain, he flew a biplane in 1929 in Rehoboth beach for parachute jumper Mickey "Dare Devil of the Air" Efferson in public parachute shows. Wenyon performed dives turns, loops and other stunts; he was called "famous aviator" in the local Press.
We also learn that in the 1930's, Forrest Wenyon and John Beach Sr. established the Rehoboth Flying Club on the Dodd Farm, now site of the Rehoboth Elementary School. With two other pilots they formed an aviation company called "Air Service" that prospered for several years.
Other sources show he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol for Delaware at least in the 1930's, that he operated at the Rehoboth airfield, where 3 or 4 Fairchild 24's and a couple of Stinson Voyageurs planes were based.
In the newspaper Norfolk Virginian-Pilot for February 3, 1936, Wenyon is called Captain Forrest Wenyon and is reported piloting in the Tangier islands area in Virginia, and is described as a formy British army pilot. The Hagerstown Daily Mail for February 6, 1936, called Captain Wenyon a "British world war Ace".
It is thus quite obvious that Forrest Wenyon was indeed an experienced and skilled pilot.
The Press report:
In is quite interesting that, as the FBI determined, the expressions "flying mayonnaise jar" used in the article was not the words of the witness, but a depiction by the journalist. The same sorts of things would happen repeatedly in press reports, such as when Kenneth Arnold's sighting was depicted as "flying saucers" by journalists. Obviously "flying mayonnaise jars" had less success than "flying saucers".
The explanation:
To Mr. Wenyon, what he saw were missiles.
The Air Force project Blue Book later evaluated his three sightings as sightings of missiles, "as fired from Fort Miles by the Applied Physics Laboratory of John Hopkins University". They did not made a sure evaluation because the exact dates and times were not known. They obviously did not care to interview Mr. Wenyon.
As per source [fmm1], there were missiles tests in the area at that time.
This was called "operation Bumblebee" and was a US Navy effort to develop surface-to-air, anti-aircraft, missiles. These first ones were ramjet-powered. Three models and several submodels of 6-inch-diameter flying ramjets were developed and tested from launching ramps.
Tests were performed at Fort Miles, Delaware, near Rehoboth Beach, starting in January 1946. There was a test there with a 39.4 seconds of combustion time in September 1946. The device was called "PTV-N-4" in early 1948; it evolved in the RTV-N-6 "Bumblebee" Experimental Prototype Missile, which was the immediate predecessor of the XSAM-N-6 Talos in later years (see "Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 1").
As the tests moved away from Fort Miles on June 1, 1946, it is of course possible that the sighting on June 2, 1947, remains unexplained. The reason that the tests were moved away from Fort Miles is that there was too much aerial activities there; and this echoes the witness preoccupation that those missiles could hit planes or his theory that they did hit at least one plane.
The missiles tested at Fort Miles in 1946 were generally launched with the help of clusters of solid-fueled rocket motors. This perfectly fits the description by Mr. Wenyon that "the tail" of the missiles "appeared to be a lid which had been perforated and that from these perforations the flames escaped".
Missiles being tested.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | May 18, 2026 | Creation, [wmn1], [fbi1], [bbk1], [tbr1], [lgs1], [lgs2], [hwc1], [prt4], [bss1], [dwn1], [gvo1], [nip1], [nip2], [get1], [tai1], [fbk1], [fmm1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | May 18, 2026 | First published. |
