This is according to General Zvonimir Jurjevic, former commander of the Air Force and Air Defense of Yugoslavia. The story was first revealed in 2011 in a book on the 172 Aviation Regiment, which was lead by Jujevic. He recently discussed the UFO encounters again in an interview with Sputnik International.

According to Jujevic the UFO encounters began in January, 1975 and lasted for several days. Every night, 50 minutes after take off, he would see the object.

Soko J-21 fighter jet. This was the type of aircraft flown at the time of the incidents. The Soko J-21 Jastreb is a single-seat, light attack and reconnaissance aircraft designed in Yugoslavia in the 1960s. (Credit: Dennis Jarvis/Wikimedia Commons)

“The object looked like a glowing orb, very well visible, maybe ten times lighter than the brightest star at that moment,” Jurjevic told Sputnik International. “Color constantly changed: white, yellow, light red, orange, again white, and so on. It appeared from nowhere, unexpectedly.”

“It was attracting attention on purpose,” Jurjevic speculated.

Jurjevic was not the only one to see the object, many of the pilots in his regiment also reported it. However, it never turned up on radar.

Jurjevic recalls that on January 25, he decided to attempt to get a closer look. However, once he headed towards the object, it took off and was gone. Soon after, Jurjevic devised a better plan to catch the object off guard. He recruited the pilots of three other aircraft to join in him the hunt.

On that night, in late January, Jurjevic and another aircraft took off unannounced. Two other jets took off soon after. They had decided not to inform anyone of their plans, nor discuss it on radio, just in case the object was related to some sort of monitoring of their movements by a foreign country.

“I only just stabilized the flight somewhere over Cetinje, when suddenly the object flashed over Budva, and Lieutenant Machec saw it above Niksic,” Jurjevic recalled. “I ordered Machec to stay in place, and took a course parallel to the Adriatic coast, where I tried to establish at what distance the object was: it turned out that it was at about ten kilometers.”

10 kilometers was as close as Jurjevic could get. The object continued to match his speed and movements to stay the same distance away no matter what Jurjevic tired. Two supersonic Soviet MiG-21s were dispatched to the area from Belgrade. During the entire incident, the object could not be seen on radar, until the MiGs arrived. However, it was no help. The object was able to outmaneuver the MiGs as well.

Soviet MiG-21s (Credit: U.S. Department of Defense)

Jurjevic was met with a lot of curiosity by his colleagues, but also ridicule. He denied the object was of no danger, and since he did not want to deal with the ridicule, he decided to ignore it from there on out.

UFO blogger Billy Cox got ahold of a translation by Giuliano Marinkovic of the 2011 book in which Jurjevic first told the story. He gave this account of their last encounter with the unusual object.

“People watched me suspiciously and squadron commander approached and told me that 100 people at the apron are watching UFO and that I am only person who can’t see it. I replied loudly so other could hear me that I can’t see anything because I don’t want to see it so everyone should stop commenting and do his job as usual. After appearing above airport, UFO turned off its lights and vanished forever.”

U.S. acquired MiG-21 being tested near Area 51. (Credit: DOD Defense Intelligence Agency)

Jurjevic told Sputnik International the last encounter was on February 12, 1975.

This story is a great example, and a common one I have heard from military UFO witnesses. Often it is not a grand conspiracy that makes people in the military sweep UFO encounters under the rug. It is ridicule or the uneasiness of being associated with a UFO event.

One retired Navy radar tech told me that he faced a lot of ridicule for reporting UFOs they caught on their ship’s radar. When he asked fellow radar techs if they also observed extremely fast unidentified aircraft on their scopes, sometimes they said they had. When asked why they they did not report them, they said they didn’t want the headache of dealing with the fallout of reporting them.

You hear this same sentiment from commercial airline pilots, police officers and many others. It makes one wonder how many other extraordinary sightings go unreported and investigated.

Source: Open Minds