Brad Sparks:
July 24, 1948, Montgomery, Alabama
2:35 a.m.  Eastern Airlines pilots, Captain C.S. Chiles and First Officer J.B. Whitted, reported that a cigar-shaped object with lights like portholes approached head-on, accelerated, climbed away. (Sparks lists this as possible meteor fireball. [Battelle Unknown No. 5] 5-10 secs) Ruppelt describes this incident in his book:

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt:

"At about 2:45 A.M., when the flight was 20 miles southwest of Montgomery, the captain, Chiles, saw a light dead ahead and closing fast. His first reaction, he later reported to an ATIC investigation team, was that it was a jet, but in an instant he realized that even a jet couldn't close as fast as this light was closing. Chiles said he reached over, gave Whitted, the other pilot, a quick tap on the arm, and pointed. The UFO was now almost on top of them. Chiles racked the DC-3 into a tight left turn. Just as the UFO flashed by about 700 feet to the right, the DC-3 hit turbulent air. Whitted looked back just as the UFO pulled up in a steep climb. Both the pilots had gotten a good look at the UFO and were able to give a good description to the Air Force intelligence people. It was a B-29 fuselage. The underside had a "deep blue glow." There were "two rows of windows from which bright lights glowed," and a "bright trail of orange red flame" shot out the back."