The Kinross incident
On 23 November 1953 a US Air Force jet sent to check an unknown radar target over Lake Superior merged with it on radar and the jet disappeared.
On the evening of 23 November 1953, ground radar operators of the Air Defense Command, based at Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan, spotted an unusual target above Lake Superior by the Soo Locks. A jet, an F-89C Scorpion based at Kinross Air Force Base, was scrambled. First Lieutenant Moncla piloted it, with Second Lieutenant Robert L. Wilson as radar operator.
History.com says the radar operator on the ground brought the jet from 25,000 feet to 7,000 while one blip chased the other. Northern Michigan History and Wikipedia have the jet reaching the object some 70 miles from the Keweenaw Peninsula, at around 8,000 feet, after a track of about 160 miles. Ground control watched the two blips grow closer until they appeared to merge, and expected them to separate again moments later. According to the Capital Times, the jet remained visible on the screen up to the moment its image fused with the object's.
The History.com and Northern Michigan History accounts go on to describe the jet disappearing. Fear of Landing adds that the Canadian air force files list no such incident over Lake Superior that day. It names one other aircraft in the area, a Dakota C-47 piloted by Gerald Fosberg. Fosberg denies having strayed off course or entered US airspace.
"Wilson had a difficult time tracking the object on the Scorpion's radar, so ground radar operators gave Moncla directions towards the object as he flew. Moncla eventually closed in on the object at about 8,000 feet in altitude. Ground Control tracked the Scorpion and the unidentified object as two "blips" on the radar screen. The two blips on the radar screen grew closer and closer until they seemed to merge. Assuming that Moncla had flown either under or over the target, Ground Control anticipated that moments later, the Scorpion and the object would again appear as two separate blips."
- UFO fighter jet disappears over Lake Superior (Kinross incident), History.com (2020)
- The Mysterious Disappearance of an Air Force Jet Over Lake Superior, Northern Michigan History
- Another Unsolved Mystery: The Kinross Incident, Fear of Landing
- Kinross Incident (opening), Wikipedia