[3][4] Four F-51D Mustangs of C Flight, 165th Fighter Squadron Kentucky Air National Guard, one piloted by Captain Thomas F. Mantell, were told to approach the object.

Mantell continued to climb to 22,000 feet, but his wingmen did not follow due to lack of sufficient oxygen equipment and tried to contact him to request he discontinue his ascent.

According to UFO historian Curtis Peebles, among the rumors were claims that "the flying saucer was a Soviet missile; it was [an alien] spacecraft that shot down [Mantell's fighter] when it got too close; Captain Mantell's body was found riddled with bullets; the body was missing; the plane had completely disintegrated in the air; [and] the wreckage was radioactive.

[7] Venus had been in the same place in the sky that Mantell's UFO was observed, and the crash was initially thought to have been caused by the pilot mistaking the planet for an unidentified object, a conclusion reached by Project Blue Book investigator J. Allen Hynek in 1948.

[10] Captain Thomas Francis Mantell Jr. (30 June 1922 – 7 January 1948) was a United States Air Force officer and a World War II veteran.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for courageous action during D-Day, and an Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters for aerial achievement.

[9] Mantell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism while piloting a C-47 named Vulture's Delight and towing a glider under heavy anti-aircraft fire.

[9] After the war, Mantell returned to Louisville and joined the newly formed Kentucky Air National Guard on 16 February 1947, becoming a F-51D Mustang pilot in the 165th Fighter Squadron.