The Strange and Unexplained Disappearance of Felix Moncla and Robert Wilson

To get to the heart of this incident, let's go back to the beginning. Felix Eugene Moncler was born on October the 21st, 1926 in Mansoura, Louisiana. Unfortunately, early on in Felix's life, his father became very ill and was later hospitalized. This caused the family, now consisting of Felix, his mother, and two older sisters, to move to Morrillville, also in Louisiana, to live with his uncle and great-aunt. It's said that Felix was a pretty high achiever throughout his academic life and eventually found himself with a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served during the events of the 1940s in occupied Japan. After the conflict reached its conclusion, Felix found himself spending a few months at a desk job in Texas, but was eventually sent to Connolly Air Force Base for basic pilot training. He would pass this and seemed to be a natural which led him to actively serve in the United States Air Force. Felix was not the only person central to this case. The other was 2nd Lieutenant Robert Wilson, though unfortunately I couldn't find any background information on him besides his service in the Air Force. However, the pair would come to disappear under strange circumstances on the 23rd of November, 1953. 1st Lieutenant Felix Moncler was piloting the F-89C Scorpion fighter jet, while 2nd Lieutenant Robert Wilson was acting as the radar operator. The men were dispatched to perform an air defence intercept over Lake Superior, but unfortunately neither would return. On the night of that November 23rd, U.S. Air Defence Command discovered a blip on the radar. However, the aircraft was in restricted airspace over Lake Superior, meaning it shouldn't have been there. After checking, the authorities determined that the aircraft was not one of theirs, and also that no other party had been granted access to fly in the area. Specifically and worryingly to Air Defence Command, the blip was close to Soo Locks, which is also the Great Lakes' most vital commercial gateway. Needless to say, this made officials anxious and they quickly dispatched an F-89C Scorpion jet from Truix Air Force Base in Madison, Wisconsin. Right from the get-go, this was described as an air defence intercept mission, so Felix and Robert were sent to investigate. It's important to note that both Felix and Robert were held in very high regards and Felix had over 100 hours of flying time in a similar aircraft and almost 1,000 hours of piloting time under his belt in total. As Felix and Robert were setting off from the base, no one realised that this would be the last time that either of them would ever be seen. According to History.com, once airborne, Lieutenant Wilson had difficulty tracking the unknown object, which kept changing course. So with ground control directing the aviators over the radio, the Scorpion gave chase. The jet, travelling at 500mph, pursued the object for 30 minutes, gradually closing in. On the ground, the radar operator guided the jet down from 25,000ft to 7,000ft, watching one blip chase the other across the radar screen. Gradually, the jet caught up to the unknown object about 70 miles off Keweenaw Point in Upper Michigan, at an altitude of 8,000ft, approximately 160 miles northwest of Sioux Locks. At that point, the two radar blips converged into one locked together as Kehoe, former Marine, corps naval aviator turned author, would put it later. And then, according to an official accident report, the radar return for the F-89 simply disappeared from the Ground Controlled Intercept Station's radar scope. It's worth mentioning that as personnel were watching the radar, they were fully expecting the blip to separate back into two followed by some kind of engagement. However, this didn't happen. Instead, shortly thereafter, the initial, now only remaining blip would veer off and disappear. This of course would begin the search efforts, but the United States Air Force didn't come alone. With them came the Coast Guard and the Canadian Air Force, and together, with their combined manpower, they conducted an extensive search of the area. However, no wreckage, or even a trace of the aircraft, nor its pilots, was ever found. Bizarrely, no distress messages were sent and unfortunately, shortly after disappearing, the weather did take a turn for the worse which did hinder the search efforts. At the time, there was not a lot of press coverage, but some did report on the incident. On the 24th of November, 1953, the Monroe Evening Times reported this. Snow and low visibility today hampered planes searching for an F-89 Air Force jet fighter missing over the bleak waters of Lake Superior since Monday night. Canadian and Air Force planes were expected to further their search when the weather conditions improved later today. At Madison Truix Airfield, where the plane was based, the men aboard the plane were identified as 1st Lieutenant Felix Moncler 26 and 2nd Lieutenant Robert Wilson 22. Truix officials said that the plane was on a special mission and was followed on a radar screen until it merged with another object about 70 miles off Keweenaw Point. It's important to clarify here that at the time during reporting, the authorities stated that they had no idea what this anomalous object was, how the two had merged or where it had gone afterwards. However, their stance quickly changed. The Air Force later stated that the ground control radar operator had misread the scope and instead the mission was a success and that Felix and Robert had intercepted a Royal Canadian Air Force C-46, which was flying off course and was misidentified on the radar. They furthered this line of thought and said that Felix must have been suffering from vertigo and had crashed into the lake as a result. However, Canadian officials did refute this. According to History.com, Canadian officials refuted the account stating that no flights had taken place in the area that night. Despite the fact that the incident received relatively little coverage, it's worth mentioning that the mood of the surrounding areas of the incident was that of worry and panic. It seems that people in the area were becoming somewhat nervous about what had taken place and were unsettled by the fact that the authorities were stating that they didn't know what had happened. This change of story though placed a dividing line between the two sides. Some believed that this was nothing more than an accident, while others contested that something highly unusual had taken place that night. This was further compounded by the explanations given by the Air Force. As mentioned, the Air Force stated that the mission was a success, but the accident was probably caused by vertigo and atmospheric conditions must have caused the unusual radar behaviour. They also stated that there was probably no wreckage to be found because of the deep waters in the lake, or rather a perfect storm had occurred as one commenter put it. Another oddity in regards to this sudden change of tact was that Felix's wife was said to have been given contradictory information by two different Air Force representatives. One stated that Felix had crashed into the lake, while the other stated that the jet exploded at a high altitude. Later investigations found that there didn't seem to be any official records on the incident, and the final word by the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Centre stated this. There is no record in the Air Force files of the incident over Lake Superior on the 23rd of November 1953. There is no case in the files which even closely parallels these circumstances. Another less well-known fact about this incident was that there was another US Air Force jet that had gone down not too far away on the same day just five hours prior. On the 25th of November 1953, the Madison, Wisconsin State Journal reported this. Two more Truix Field Flyers were presumed to have passed away Tuesday night after their F-89C Scorpion jet crashed in Lake Superior Monday night just five hours subsequent to another F-89C crash, in which two Truix officers passed away. NICAP.org continues. The 433d Fighter Interception Squadron was based at Truix, Madison, Wisconsin and flew Northrop F-98C Scorpion all-weather jet interceptors, which were the first US jet fighter specifically designed to carry radar and operate in night or bad weather conditions. Around 1230, on the afternoon of Monday, November 23rd, 1953, an F-89C took off from Truix for a short flight. At its controls was 1st Lieutenant John Smith, 28, and in the rear seat was Captain Glenn Collins, 30. Both men were experienced veterans who had flown combat duty in the Pacific Theater during the events of the 1940s. Their mission that day was a quick checkout of the afterburners of newly installed engines. The fighter climbed rapidly up to 40,000 feet and the engine tests were performed with no apparent problems. The men transmitted their instrument readings, signed off and headed back to Truix. About 10 minutes later, Mrs. Donald was standing outside her home in Madison when she suddenly saw a jet overhead. It was quite low, and I knew it was a jet, but there wasn't any noise like you would always hear from a jet. It was just still like, and suddenly, there was something just like an explosion, an awful huge noise. The jet then plummeted to earth just so fast that your eye could hardly follow it. Another witness who was about two miles from the crash site said, I heard the plane roaring across the hill, and I thought it was going to land in the marsh to the south of my house. Then it pulled up, lifted up over, and headed for the Arboretum. There was a puff of smoke, and the plane seemed to dive straight down. After that, there was a real loud thud, and I knew it had crashed. Now of course, there is no evidence or anything of that nature to suggest that the two incidents are related in any way, shape or form, but it's still interesting that the two incidents took place within hours of each other. This case had a resurgence in October of 1968 when an individual claimed to have found wreckage near the eastern shore of Lake Superior that looked similar to US fighter jets. But the finding was never officially recognized, and the finding remains unconfirmed. Fast forward 38 years later in 2006, a group who declared themselves as the Great Lake Dive Company stated that they had found Felix's jet at the bottom of Lake Superior. However, all contact attempts led to a man called Adam Jimenez who was not forthcoming about their supposed discovery. It was later discovered that the Great Lakes Dive Company didn't exist and that Adam disappeared, so it appears that this party were perhaps playing some kind of ruse. Two researchers by the names of John Tenney and Gordon Heath stated that when speaking to a member of the US Air Force who was present during the evening of the incident in question, he told them that two hours after their jet had vanished from the radar, they heard what they thought was Felix's thick southern accent audible over the radio communications. Of course, I cannot confirm that actually happened, and I'm not sure what that information means in terms of what it tells us about the disappearance. Now Felix's cousin, Buddy Moncler, 77 years old at the time, said that he is open to the idea that something highly unusual happened to Felix and Robert that night. Buddy said that he was told that the last transmission the Air Force received was Felix declaring and going in for a closer look. That is strange because it's not clear what piqued Felix's interest. The Canadians maintain that they didn't have any planes out anywhere near that area at the time, so it's unlikely it was a Canadian jet that drew Felix's attention. Could there have been another plane out there, but whose was it if that was the case, or was it something else entirely? Buddy himself didn't speculate too much over that, but he did say that he believes that it does mean that Felix saw something high over Lake Superior. He saw something, and the radar saw something. The radar made the story more controversial because the image of Felix's plane and the unknown objects converged into one blip and then it disappeared. What happened? They say he may have passed out at the high altitude, but what about his co-pilot? Now, Buddy was asked directly if he believed that some sort of aerial vehicle had taken Felix, Robert and the plane, and he replied stating that he believed that was the case. He added, whether it was an item Uncle Sam was experimenting with or something else, we'll probably never know. It's an interesting story. Buddy also stated that he was glad that this incident ended up generating a lot of interest and that he wishes that the Air Force would reopen the case to provide the family with some straight answers. Felix's older sister Leonie said, My mother was never the same. He was our only son. He was sweet to her. She tried to put up a brave front, but you knew it was devastating for her. After that incident, I was constantly looking in the sky every night. I never saw anything. It's a puzzle. Leonie's answer hints to what she felt had happened, but she was also asked the same question as Buddy about some sort of aerial vehicle. She replied, I think something like that could have happened. It's interesting that the family came to the conclusion that something completely out of the ordinary had taken place here. Meanwhile, at the time after the authorities stated that the blip was a Canadian jet, that is precisely how the press were reporting it. The final report I can find is by the Holland Evening Sentinel on the 27th of November 1953. The Coast Guard has abandoned its search for an F-89 jet interceptor which crashed into Lake Superior with two Air Force officers aboard. The jet plunged into the water Monday night while tracking an unidentified plane picked up by radar over the lake. The Coast Guard said no trace was found of the missing plane or its crewmen. The aircraft that the jet was tracking was later identified as a Canadian C-47 Transport. The search for the jet was concentrated about 70 miles north of here between Stannard Rock and Manitow Island at the northern end of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Rescue efforts by units of the Royal Canadian Air Force, U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard were hampered by high winds, waves and snow. The Cutter Wood Rush, the last vessel to give up the search was ordered back to its regular duties Thursday. There is one final account, however, I cannot confirm if the witness is telling the truth or otherwise. In the early 2000s, an anonymous individual came forwards claiming that they were a former member of the Air Force and was present in the radar operation room during the incident in question. His account was very similar to the reports we've heard so far with a few added details. He said that two F-89 jets were initially scrambled that evening, but the jet that was supposed to accompany Felix's turned back almost immediately due to a malfunction. Felix was given the chance to wait for another wingman or to continue alone and he decided to go ahead and intercept. This witness stated that during Felix's approach, the radar screen as well as the radio communications were increasingly infested with static that only worsened up until the blips merged together. Of course, it's worth mentioning that I can only find evidence of one US jet being in the air that night, so make of that what you will. To conclude, this disappearance was strange right from the get-go and leaves us with far more questions than it does answers. What was the initial blip? Was it as claimed a Canadian aircraft or was it something else? If it was a Canadian plane, why did Canada's officials deny that their aircraft was in the area? What happened exactly when the blip seemed to merge into one? Did the radar operator misread what had happened? Do share your thoughts on this one. Was it an unfortunate accident where the various variables seemed to align? Or similar to Felix's family members, do you think something completely out of the ordinary happened? Thank you for watching. If you found the video interesting, then please do leave a like and subscribe if you haven't already, it helps me a lot. If not, then feel free to leave a dislike, I'm just looking for your honest opinion, so do share your thoughts. I'd also just like to say a special thank you to my patrons who keep this channel moving forwards, so thank you very much for your support. I hope that you've had a great day or evening depending on where you are, and I'll see you next time. Peace.