2 National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena www.narcap.org Study of an Unusual Phenomenon Observed by BOAC Aircrew over Labrador, Newfoundland

• Main Author: Martin Shough
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1954
• Subjects: Newfoundland; Champagne
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.469.3674; http://www.martinshough.com/aerialphenomena/BOAC aircrew sighting.pdf

This classic observation was made by crew and passengers of a 4-engine Boeing Stratocruiser3 of the British Overseas Airways Corporation. Flight 510-196 was a luxury flight bound for London on the "champagne and caviar run", departing New York at 1703 local (2103 GMT) on June 29, 1954 with 51 passengers aboard. Four hours later at sunset, 19,000ft over Labrador en route for Goose Bay, an apparently huge shape-changing UAP and a swarm of small attendant objects was seen against the bright sky off the left wing. The strange display persisted for 18 minutes. After a refuelling stop at Goose where they were met and questioned by US Air Force intelligence officers the crew proceeded to London, where the story rapidly appeared in national papers and magazines. Capt James R. Howard was filmed for BBC TV and cinema newsreels. It became big news and went around the world within days via the Associated Press syndicated wire. The standing of the witnesses, in particular 33-year-old Capt. Howard, a highly respected former RAF Squadron Leader with 7500 hours commercial flying on 256 Atlantic crossings to his credit at the time of the sighting, has never been called in question. They were convinced that their airliner was followed for 80 miles by a formation of solid