NUFORC Sighting 80105

Occurred: 2011-02-06 13:30 Local
Reported: 2011-02-17 18:52 Pacific
Duration: < 2 min.
No of observers: 1

Location: Center Conway, NH, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Left a trail, Emitted other objects, Aircraft nearby

Military Jets over New Hampshire Training or Fighting Something

Sunday Feb6, sometime shortly before 2 PM, I saw a very strange thing. While working outside, I first heard a jet engine far away, and then it got really loud, like it was accelerating, which made me look up to the southwest of where I was standing.

I had a very clear open blue sky view of what first looked to me like the Challenger disaster: 2-3 huge white plumes arcing away, bright orange glowing at the tips. Then, to the north, I saw something else with a steep upward trajectory and a distinct white exhaust trail that had dark spots, like debris falling away. That made me think I was seeing some sort of rocket, with the spent stages falling away.

Then, back to the southwest, coming out of the white cloud that had been created by the first 'explosion', I saw a fighter jet, and then another. These were light-colored and shaped roughly like paper airplanes, that is triangular. I would call them 'fighter jets'. They pulled up into a very steep ascent, very close to each other. I wondered if there had been three and it was a mid-air collision.

I watched the two planes veer southward, circling around to the east and then they headed west.

The whole event probably took less than two minutes. This entry is based on the email I sent to the 104th wing of the Nat'l Guard about 30 minutes after the event.

I am not a hysteric or a crank, but I am deeply curious about what I saw. It was very dramatic. I had supposed it was a training mission of some sort, but given the non-response from all the contacts I have tried to make, I'm open to it having been something less benign.

I cannot say for sure what the distance was. It could have been 20 or 50 miles as the crow flies, which would put them somewhere over Ossipee, NH. The planes were small to my eye, but clearly visible. They were probably at 15,000-20,000 feet above me when they circled overhead after the event.

I'm not much 'into' aviation, although I do travel by plane a fair bit. Mostly, I'd just like to know what the heck I saw.

As an afterthought, I will add that later on, perhaps an hour or so on, a very large white jetliner went over our property. It was extremely thin in the body and the wings and very long. It flew low compared to most of the commercial jets we see. I was obviously hyper alert to things in the sky, but I did not recognize it as a standard 737 and it was virtually silent. This surprised me, given that it really wasn't that high in the sky (I'm guessing < 7500') I wondered if it might be associated with the event and doing some sort of reconnaissance. Thanks, Tracy

Posted 2011-02-18

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