Mystery Aircraft Over New England – 1917

Mystery Aircraft Over New England – 1917

     The following newspaper articles relate to some unidentified aircraft (Airplanes) reportedly seen at night by residents of Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire during March and April of 1917, a time when World War I was being waged in Europe, and foreign submarines were known to be prowling the waters off New England.  It’s unknown if the pilot(s) of these airplanes were ever identified.    

    It was initially assumed that the reported sightings were a mistake, for navigating an airplane at night between the hills, mountains, and valleys of northern New England was considered difficult if not impossible for even the best of pilots.  Besides dealing with unpredictable air currents, there was always the chance of blindly flying into the side of a mountain.

     The following newspaper story appeared in The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, (Brattleboro, VT), on March 24, 1917.  The initial sighting of the aircraft that reportedly passed over West Dummerston, Vermont, occurred two days earlier on Thursday, March 22.   At the time the article was written, the United States had not yet entered the war. 

MYSTERY STILL LACKS SOLUTION

Sound Thought To Have Been Made By Airplane Also heard Here

Mentioned To Wife By Esteyville Man

     George Houghton was in woodshed when something that sounded like airplane passed overhead – not likely that it was such a machine.

     Whatever it was that disturbed residents of West Dummerston Thursday night and gave them the idea that one or more airplanes were circling about the town was heard by George Houghton, a resident of Estyville, who reported to his wife as he entered the house from the woodshed that he had heard in the air what he believed was the noise of an airplane engine.  He saw no light and said nothing about the matter publicly until after the reports from West Dummerston were published in The Reformer yesterday.

     In spite of the insistence of those who were attracted by the strange noise and who saw the moving lights that they must have been airplanes, the probabilities are very strongly to the contrary.

     A. G. Thurber of West Dummerston said that one light which he watched for some time resembled an arc light and that it moved up rapidly and then appeared to maintain a level.  he said that it was apparently a long distance away, but was moving rapidly, he judged.  The other two lights were smaller and at different points of the compass and were red.  He heard no noise, but was indoors all the time.

     Airplanes, to maintain themselves in the air, require a speed of from 30 to 40 miles an hour and to mount higher the pilot finds it necessary to describe great circles.  While, according to Mr. Thurber, one of the lights might have been making the required speed, there seems to be no one who considered that the light was moving in great circles as it rose higher and higher.

     If it were to be conceded that one or more airplanes were in flight in this locality Thursday night there are men in the United States who are better airmen than the government experts ever suspected.  Since the European war developed, almost overnight wonderful improvements have been made in the construction of heavier-than-air machines, and since hundreds of pilots now drive machines on long raids at night there are very few, if any, who are able to manipulate machines at night low in the treacherous air currents to be found among the hills and valleys of Vermont.

     An airplane requires considerable ground from which to get started in its flight.  The pilot also requires a fair sized space , reasonably level and free from obstructions, upon which to alight and it is essential that he see where he is going when making a landing.  Pilots who make night flights in airplanes are guided to their landing places by a system of illumination prepared in advance and understood by the pilot.

     The probability of such a landing place being located anywhere within flying range of West Dummerston or Brattleboro is very remote.  If there is such, there is no need for the Vermont Aero Club to seek a landing place in the neighborhood of Brattleboro.  It has been proposed by the club, in the interests of aviation, to select numerous landing places throughout the state and have them designated so that pilots of the future would know where they might land.

     Meanwhile the mysterious noise in the air and the lights seen by several are mysteries still.  if not airplanes, what?  If airplanes, by whom operated, where from, and what for? 

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     The United States officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917. 

     On April 13, an unidentified airplane was sighted over the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, area, and fired upon by national guardsmen.  Portsmouth is about 100 miles to the east of West Dummerston, Vermont.  It is unknown if the West Dummerston and Portsmouth sightings were related.    

     The following newspaper article appeared in The Brattleboro Daily Reformer on April 13, 1917.  

MYSTERY ABOUT THIS AIRPLANE

Flew Close To Portsmouth Navy Yard And Was Fired At By National Guardsmen.

     Portsmouth, N.H., April 13 – National guardsmen stationed on the bridge between this city and Kittery, Me., early today fired several shots at an airplane which came in from the harbor and flew across the bridge.

     The airplane, evidently not hit, proceeded up the Piscataqua River and disappeared.  Officials at the navy yard were notified.  They said that no airplane had left the yard or any naval vessel stationed there. 

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     The following newspaper story appeared in The Barre Daily Times, (Barre, VT.), on April 18, 1917.  It referred to another sighting over the Piscataqua River which occurred on Monday, April 15th.  

NAVY CAPTAIN HUNTS STRANGE AEROPLANE

Mysterious Aircraft Seen Near Portsmouth Navy Yard – Sought In Mountains.

     Boston, April 18 – A Mysterious aeroplane was sighted over the Boston & Maine railroad bridge across the Piscataqua by Massachusetts National Guardsmen Monday night.   Capt. W. L. Howard, Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy Yard, sent a telephone message to Capt. William R. Bush , commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard, yesterday, and the latter issued the following statement on the report:  

     “Commanding officer of the 6th Massachusetts National Guard , detailed to watch the Boston & Maine railroad bridge over the Piscataqua River, reports that the sentry on watch at 11:20 p.m. last night distinctly saw an aeroplane coming, to which he called the attention to the other sentries on the bridge, and the four of them watched the aeroplane for five minutes, circling to the northward of the bridge.  It made no attempt to come over the bridge, but the four men are positive that they saw the aeroplane in the manner mentioned.

     The commandant thinks that there is something in this aeroplane business and thinks it must have a base in the mountains to the north of Portsmouth.

     The sheriff of Rochester, N. H., has sworn in a squad of men and they are circling the mountains in the district.  The commandant has taken it up with the press associations and asked their co-operation in getting information.” 

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     The following newspaper article appeared in The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, April 19, 1917. 

ANOTHER FLIGHT OVER PORTSMOUTH

Naval Authorities Renewing Search Today For Mysterious Airplane

May Have Base In White Mountains

Commandant Of The Navy Yard Has Called On The Civil Authorities To Co-operate In Effort To Locate The Aviator

     Portsmouth, N.H., April 19 – Naval authorities renewed the search today for a mysterious airplane whose night prowling over many parts of new Hampshire has been reported recently by citizens and soldiers, in view of the reports that another flight was made over this city last night.

     Messages stating an aviator had sailed over York Beach, Me., and Hampton, reached the navy yard shortly after telephone calls were received from persons here who asserted that they distinctly observed the craft in the vicinity of the yard.

      No government airplane of any description has been operated hereabouts according to naval officers, who frankly admitted that they could not account for the positive statement by members of the National Guard that they had fired on a machine over the city. 

     Capt. William Howard, commandant of the yard, has requested the civil authorities to co-operate with the government in its effort to locate the aviator and learn something regarding reports that he had been operating from a secret base in the White Mountains.

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