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1948 07 9670642 20Mi SofMontgomery Ala 144 (Project Blue Book case file)

Internet Archive · 2015-12-05 · 161 pages · text by OCR

This Project Blue Book case file, digitized by the Internet Archive, covers Incident 144: two Eastern Airlines pilots reported that a wingless, cigar-shaped object with a flaming exhaust passed their DC-3 about 20 miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama, on 24 July 1948. The file includes an OSI interview with a Robins Air Force Base employee who saw a similar object, negative aircraft traffic reports from many bases, and later correspondence. A December 1948 intelligence report found fairly consistent descriptions across four related sightings.

  • p. 11 …TED STATES AIR FORCE THE INSPECTOR GENERAL SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORT Office of Origin: Ho. Air Wateriel…
  • p. 12 …Cropper, Acting District Commander, 6th District Office of Special Investigations, interrogated Mr. Robins Air Force Base…
  • p. 22 …PERIOD 2 November 1949 OFFICE OF ORIGIN DO #8, Maxwell AFB, Alabama STATUS CLOSED CHARACTER SPECIAL…
  • p. 35 …In compliance with Hq AAC letter dated 6 July 1948, the 51xth Office of Special Investigations…
  • p. 93 …In compliance with Hq AMC letter dated 6 July 1948, the Sixth Office of Special Investigations…
  • p. 96 --- HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNCLASSIFIED REPORT OF INVESTIGATION…
# UNCLASSIFIED

Incident 144, 144 a and o -- page 2

voluminous collateral material is the report of a qualified Koins air tape observer, who stated that he saw a cylindrical object trailing a red flash of fire, but did not discover any windows or a double deck; (admittedly, from the ground no would have had less opportunity to do so). The time of his observation is exactly one hour earlier, if both times are given in 60f (as is stated). It is interesting to note, however, that -econ, doorgin, and -ontgoery, Alabama, are both on the line of flight as described by the lent- gory observers.

if those two sightings refer to the same object, there are two possible interpretations: One is that the object was some type of aircraft, regardless of its bizarre nature. The distance between Napoleon and Montgomerie is approximately 200 miles. From all reports the object was travelling definitely faster than 200 mph, so would have covered the distance between the two points in much less time than that noted. (The schedule is, of course, correct for an ordinary aircraft.)

The other possible explanation is that the object was a fireball, in which case it would have covered the distance from them to London in a matter of a minute or two. If the port- memory on survivors had been using daylight savings time (do not juggle,

Cases discussed

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 161 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.