3 May 1957, Gordon Cooper, one of the original Project Mercury astronauts, witnessed a type of metallic craft without wings flying over Germany in the 1950s. At the time, Cooper believed these to be Soviet aircraft. His attitude later changed after an incident at Edwards Air Force Base. Cooper sent a crew of James Bittick and Jack Gettys out to a dry lakebed to set up data-recording photography equipment. Cooper said the two men, both familiar with experimental aircraft, came back shaken and talking about witnessing a wingless aircraft with retractable legs silently land and take off near them. Cooper reported the incident to The Pentagon which asked for all photographs of the craft. Cooper looked at the photos before sending them off and believed that the government covered up a UFO encounter.
S 34° 06.347′ E 138° 58.605′