Larson AFB, Washington: Two radars track 950-mph target, IFF reply received, F-86 too late

At 8:28 p.m., a radar station at Larson AFB (now Grant County International Airport) near Moses Lake, Washington, tracked an unidentified target at 13,000 feet moving at 950 mph on two different sets, an AN/CPS-1 and an AN/CPS-4, for about six minutes. An F-86 was scrambled, but radar contact was lost before the plane left the ground. An electronic signal received from the object appeared to be a mode-one IFF response from an AN/APX-6 transponder. The response was received twice, at roughly 115 and 80 miles from the station. The case is discussed by Ruppelt and listed among Blue Book unknowns. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.