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What Did Captain Thomas Mantell Chase? An Interview With His Grandson, Terry Mantell
This week, UFO Talker returns to one of the most important—and tragic—cases from the early history of the UFO phenomenon.
Originally released as Season 1, Episode 21, on January 18, 2023, this episode features an in-depth interview with Terry Mantell, grandson of Captain Thomas F. Mantell.
On January 7, 1948, military personnel at Godman Army Airfield in Kentucky observed an unidentified object in the sky. Captain Mantell, a decorated Second World War pilot serving with the Kentucky Air National Guard, was asked to investigate while flying a P-51 Mustang near the area.
Mantell climbed in pursuit of the object, but his aircraft crashed near Franklin, Kentucky. He was only 25 years old. The case made headlines around the world and became one of the earliest and most consequential military UFO encounters in American history.
Terry Mantell discusses the man behind the famous case: a courageous D-Day pilot, husband and father whose family spent decades searching for answers about his death. We examine Mantell’s distinguished wartime service, his extensive flying experience and the profound effect his loss had on his wife, children and mother.
The episode also explores:
- The official timeline of the January 7, 1948, encounter.
- The numerous military personnel who observed the object from the Godman control tower.
- Mantell’s final reported radio transmissions.
- Conflicting accounts of why his two wingmen ended their climb.
- The absence of statements from those wingmen in the released Air Force documents.
- Early claims that Mantell had been pursuing the planet Venus.
- The later theory that the object was a classified Skyhook balloon.
- Questions concerning whether any Skyhook balloon was actually launched that day.
- The controversial 1996 account of control-tower witness Quentin Blackwell.
- Blackwell’s claim that Mantell ordered his wingmen to return for aircraft with “hot guns.”
- His description of an enormous structured object with what appeared to be observation windows.
- The Mantell family’s belief that important information was withheld from them.
This episode does not claim to provide a definitive identification of the object. Instead, it examines the contradictions, missing testimony and unanswered questions that have prevented the Mantell Encounter from being comfortably resolved.
At the heart of the story is a family that lost a son, husband and father while he was serving his country—and which is still waiting for answers.
Originally broadcast: January 18, 2023
Original episode: Season 1, Episode 21
Summer “Best Of” repeat release: September 2, 2026
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Female announcer: Joy Ryan
Male announcer: Andrew Helbig
The National UFO Records Center link here
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