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This Project Blue Book case file, released through The Black Vault, collects records on the 24 July 1948 sighting by two Eastern Airlines pilots of a wingless object about 20 miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama. It contains teletype replies from military bases reporting no aircraft movements, a 1948 Project Sign special investigation report with an interview of a Robins Air Force Base witness, and a December 1948 intelligence report. It also includes newspaper extracts, a Harvard College Observatory letter and Hynek's Project Grudge evaluation index.
“The Wash”11 pages
# HARVARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY CAMBRIDGE 38, MASSACHUSETTS Maj. William T. Coleman SAFOI-3 Room 4C-922 The Pentagon Washington 25, D. C. Dear Bill: On my return from the western swing I find a sizable amount of accumulated flying saucer material. I want to thank you and Major Friend, and Colonel Evans for all of the helpful material, including the suggestions for improving our chapters. Many thanks to all of you. On my western trip I ran into a daytime sighting that was a honey. I was driving on Highway 54 from El Paso, Texas to Alamogordo, New Mexico, and I was in the outskirts of the latter city, having just turned west where the road meets the one coming from Las Cruces and the Holloman Air Force Base. The time was 4:00 p.m. The sun was shining, although the sky was heavily clouded toward the west. It had clearly been raining in the mountains and heavy dust storms had forced me to stop two or three times along the highway. I was suddenly startled to see a V-shaped formation of flying saucers heading eastward directly toward me. They appeared to have a reddish glow and were moving very rapidly. I had the impression that they were nearly at cloud level. They approached me rapidly and suddenly seemed to drop in on me. I then realized that they were merely a grouping of tumbleweeds carried aloft in the heavy wind. They were, perhaps, some hundred feet over head. The weird glow was caused by the illumination of the setting sun. Keep this in mind for similar reports. and I have been struggling to interpret the famous Rapid City, South Dakota, case of 12 August, 1953. The report has so many features that are suggestive of the mirage of a star, that we have strongly leaned to that interpretation. The bright star, Capella, which happens to be circumpolar at Rapid City, was indeed very close to the horizon, just east of north. We do not have very good times or estimates of the total duration of the sighting. I wonder if you have any additional material that you could send us, in view of the importance that the UFO boys attach to this sighting. In particular, we should like to know what is the radius in miles, of the radar screen and what was the frequency. The weather records indicate
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