Chicago O’Hare Airport: History & Unusual UFO Phenomena

Has O’Hare airport been visited by UFOs?

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is well known as a travel destination, stop-over, or starting point, for vacationers and travelers from all over the world; but has it also been a destination for travelers from out-of-this-world? Learn how O’Hare airport got its name, and if the runways at O’Hare have had interstellar visitors.

History of How O’Hare Airport got Its Name

O’Hare airport, formerly known as Chicago’s Orchard Place Airport, was formally renamed after the conclusion of War II. Chicago’s City Council purchased Orchard Field from the U.S. Government. Approximately 3 years later, on September 19, 1949, Orchard Field had its name officially changed to O’Hare Field, Chicago International Airport.

The airport, newly christened O’Hare Field, was named after War II Navy pilot Butch O’Hare. “Fateful Rendezvous”, a biography of O’Hare, published on August 19, 1997, by US Naval Institute Press, and written by co-authors Steve Ewing and John B. Lundstrom, accredits Butch O’Hare with shooting down five Japanese bombers and crippling a sixth in a dogfight two months after Pearl Harbor.

O’Hare earned a Medal of Honor, along with three other combat-related citations, according to Ewing and Lundstrum’s book, published by the Naval Institute Press. Naval Officer O’Hare was shot down on November 27, 1943 while leading the Navy’s first-ever nighttime fighter attack launched from an aircraft carrier. Sadly, his aircraft was never recovered.

UFO Sighting at Chicago’s Own O’Hare Field

According to a news article, “In the sky! A bird? A plane? A … UFO?”, written on January 1, 2007, by Jon Hilkevitch, a Tribune transportation reporter, A UFO was reported to have been seen hovering low over Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. “Some United Airlines employees observed the flying saucer-like object for several minutes before it appeared to shoot through a thick covering of clouds, leaving behind only an eerie hole in the overcast skies over the airport. United Airlines denied that any of their employees filed reports of seeing saucer-like objects hovering in the skies over O’Hare.

Unique History and Unexplained Phenomena at O’Hare

O’Hare Field, Chicago International Airport has a history that dates back to the end of War II. Military war hero Butch O’Hare, Chicago’s O’Hare Airports namesake, earned the Medal of Honor along with 3 other citations for military excellence. An ace pilot, O’Hare is remembered for shooting down 5 Japanese bombers and crippling a sixth, during a dogfight. Sadly, Officer O’Hare lost his life in 1943, leading the very first nighttime fighter attack launched from an aircraft carrier.

Reports of a UFO, hovering above O’Hare field, flooded news networks in 2007 when some United Airlines employees claimed to have seen a saucer-like object in the overcast skies above the airport. In a statement issued by United Airlines, the popular airline denied that any of their employees had filed flying saucer reports.

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