Southern Africa Unexplained

Case No 115 · UFO Afrinews No 13, February 1996

Strange Reports from Zambia: object over Kitwe seen from a transmitter mast

1958 ยท transmitter mast outside Kitwe, Ndola, Zambia

What was reported

Henk van der Linden, a senior engineer with the Federal Broadcasting Corporation, was erecting transmitter masts outside Kitwe in 1958 or 1959. High up a mast with Jack Grahame, Ian McFee and young apprentice Roger Hart, he saw through gaps in fleecy cloud a very large object, well above the clouds and completely still, which he reasoned could not be a balloon because it never drifted. It looked like a flattened football or rugby ball, or a thick saucer, dull white-grey with sharp edges and no glint from the sun, and made no sound or smell. It was there from about 8 am, still there at 5 pm when he came back from town, then vanished suddenly as they watched. Kitwe Airport had seen nothing, but Ndola Airport, which had radar, reported a stationary return for hours. Grahame begged the others not to tell the newspapers.

What Hind made of it

Printed as the witness's own account; the Ndola radar return is given as ruling out a weather balloon; Henk felt 'they' were interested in what was going on below.

Explanation offered
Balloon, rejected by the witness because it stayed still for hours; Ndola radar said it was not a weather balloon.

In their words

  • For God's sake, don't tell that to the newspapers, they will think we've been drinking too much whisky

    Jack Grahame, as recalled by Henk van der Linden, spread 22

  • it was a big, big object, completely still

    Henk van der Linden, spread 22

Cross references

  • Ndola Airport radar
  • Kitwe Airport
  • German engineer contact on the Ndola-Kitwe road, 13-22-2

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 13 (February 1996), spread 22

Nearby

Stories within 60 km