Timeline (Contact '57)

NOTE: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

1957
July 10, 1957, 3:45 A.M. EST: U.S. Coast Guard watchman J.R. Tippit, sights "several weird aircraft" moving slowly through the sky with his binoculars while patrolling a beach in Long Branch, New Jersey. He reports this to his commanding officer, who dismisses it as the result of fatigue and sends him off to bed. Another officer replaces him for the remainder of his shift.

July 10, 1957, 1:57 P.M. Moscow+8 Kamchatka: A Soviet military transport reports several high-speed contacts over the Kamchatka Peninsula. Three Sukhoi Su-9 "Fishpot" jet interceptors are scrambled, and air defenses are powered up.

July 10, 1957, 2:18 P.M. Moscow+8 Kamchakta: Soviet ground control loses contact with the fighters, and several explosions are heard over the radio. Khrushchev is alerted.

July 10, 1957, 7:20 A.M. Moscow Time (?): Khrushchev sends an angry telegram to the White House about the incident.