July 8,
1957,
2340 Jefferson Ave.,
West Vancouver, B.C.
NICAP,
1536 Connecticut Ave.,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir;
I was interested to read an article on
Unidentified Flying Objects in the Vancouver
Sun newspaper of July 6th, 1957. In it the
author gives your name for information to be
forwarded to by anybody who has sighted a
U.F.O. or so called "Flying Saucer".
On June 28th, 1957 at 12.05 P.M. Pacific
Daylight Time the following incident took
place;
While proceeding in my 21 foot motorboat the
"Harcliff S” northwest in Hove Sound when we
came within about 150 yards of Hood Point (the
north-east point of Bowen Island which lies
about 10 miles north-west from Vancouver,
B.C.) my wife sighted an U.F.O. hovering above
the trees and summer homes located back of
Hood Point. On the chart, the distance would
be about 1/2 mile from our boat. My wife asked
me what was that "funny looking object"? When
I looked and saw it, the U.F.O. was about one
mile away proceeding West at a fast rate away
from us. A hill back of Hood Point is shown as
1390 feet high, the object went around behind
it at about the 1200 foot level to emerge in
view going southerly at about 300 miles per
hour (about ½ the speed of the jet aircraft we
see overhead each trip). We called our
daughter (age 16 years) out of the boat cabin
and she saw the U.F.O. at about 1 ¼ to 1 ½
miles distance. All three of us watched as the
object went approximately South–West by South
in such a manner as to appear to pass a mile
or so West of the community of Snug Cove on
Bowen Island and the summer residences at
Cowan’s Point. It disappeared from view owing
to the height of the island interfering with
our vision. As my wife pointed out it seemed
to be stationary, hovering over the cabins
until she first saw it, when she fixed her
gaze on it the occupants of the U.F.O. seemed
to realize that she was looking at them and
they went into fast retreat. The course it
followed would tend to bear this thought out,
as it went away from us it hugged the terrain
in such a manner that I thought it was going
to hit the hill. Possibly it could be called
an evasive action for the route it followed
was such that there would be no one around to
see it as Bowen Island is only sparsely
populated.
We describe
it as being round, dome shaped, flat on the
bottom, no windows or openings were visible,
very shiny silver in color, definitely not
aluminum. Size would be 20 to 30 feet across
and about 8 to 10 feet in height. Flight was
very steady and level while my wife saw it
hovering then go straight up still maintaining
its level position in the air, then it moved
along horizontally until I saw it, and
heretofore described. There were no
protuberances out of it, nor did it appear to
be spinning. No ordinary type aircraft would
fly as low and close to the terrain as did
this U.F.O. especially as it was a windy day.
The wind was westerly 25 to 30 miles causing
all small craft to stay out of the Gulf of
Georgia owing to the heavy seas. The U.F.O.
wasn't bothered at all in its level smooth
flight against the wind which must have been
bouncing off the trees and hills which it
passed over.
Regarding sound, we heard none. Ordinarily in
our boat when underway we hear jet aircraft 4
to 5 miles away, single engine airplanes can
easily be heard several miles away. Our boat
speed was about 6 knots with our engine
coupled to a Maxim Exhaust Silencer. Although
it was windy there must have 20 to 30
residences occupied at this time, we neither
saw anyone come out nor have we heard of
anybody else seeing a U.F.O., so quite
possibly it is quite silent.
Upon arriving at Gibson's Landing, I phoned
Air Search reversing the charges and reported
the incident, time was about 2.20 P. M.
Pacific Daylight. The reply I received was
that he didn’t know what it was.
We didn't report it to the newspapers nor are
we anxious for publicity in this regard. We
hope that while this report is lengthy that it
will contain enough to answer any question
coming up.
Enclosed you will find a descriptive folder of
Bowen Island including a small rough map which
we have marked.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Fred H. Lightheart
2340 Jefferson Ave.,
West Vancouver, B.C.
NICAP, 1536 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C.
Wilbert Smith, Transport Dept., Ottawa.
RCAF, Ottawa, Canada
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